EUROPEAN EQUITY UPDATE: European equities shrug off US-China trade concerns after positive earnings from Volvo Cars and Kering

STOXX 600: +0.2%

• European equities have opened mostly firmer, shrugging off trade concerns between US and China after the Trump administration announced that they are weighing export restrictions on China, which saw pressure on US and APAC stocks.


• Strong earnings report from Volvo Car (+32%), Kering (+9.7%) and LSEG (+6.1%) with revenue beating expectations have seen their stocks gains, leading to upside FTSE 100 (+0.2%), Euro Stoxx 50 (+0.3%) and CAC 40 (+0.4%) with the only the DAX 40 (-0.2%) under pressure due to losses in SAP (-2.7%).


• Looking ahead: EU consumer confidence. Not many speakers ahead, but the Chief Economist of the ECB, Lane is set to speak later.

Sectors: Mixed

• European sectors have opened mixed. Upside can be seen in Energy (+2.1%), Consumer Products and Services (+1.3%) and Basic Resources (+0.9%) lead the way. Energy continues to pick up momentum from rising crude prices due to sanctions by the USA on Russia’s biggest producers.


• Consumer Products & Services have been given a lift by positive earnings from Kering (+9.7%) after Q3 revenue beat expectations. In Basic Resources, sentiment has been fuelled by upside in copper prices


• Towards the bottom of the pile reside; Travel and Leisure (-1.8%), Technology (-0.9%) and Optimised Personal Care Drug (-0.6%). The former has been weighed down by post-earning losses in Evolution (-7%), whilst SAP (+2.7%) after initially opening firmer has seen a dip in shares, due to revenue and cloud revenue failing to meet expectation. Sticking to Tech, STMicroelectronics (-2.3%) dips after profit slipped.

Movers:

• Volvo Cars (+32%) - Q3 (SEK): Revenue 86.4bln (exp. 82.436bln), adj. EBIT 6.3bln, no longer provides guidance for 2025 and 2026, continues to see an increasingly challenging market, demand for plug-in hybrids remains strong. (Volvo)


• London Stock Exchange (+5.2%) - Q3 (GBP): Total income 2.308bln, raises margin guidance and increases share buyback, to acquire a higher proportion of surplus revenue in Swapclear business for a total cash consideration of 1.15bln.


• Shell (+2.1%) - Co. to appeal against the decision of a South African court to block exploration in offshore blocks 5,6,7. (Shell)


• Orange (+0.7%) - Q3 (EUR): Revenue 9.99bln, +0.8% Y/Y. EBITDAaL 3.43bln, +3.7% Y/Y. Full-year 2025 EBITDAaL guidance raised to at least 3.5%. (Orange)


• Lloyds (-0.3%) - Q3 (GBP): NII 3.451bln (exp. 3.426bln), underlying impairment charge of 618mln in Q3, outlook for 2025 sees underlying NII to be near 13.6bln, intends to gradually pay down to a CET1 near 13% by end of 2026. (Lloyds)

US Equity Futures:

• US futures are mixed/flat with upsides in RTY (+0.6%) whilst the NQ and ES are essentially flat. US President Trump's administration is in talks to take equity stakes in quantum computing firms, according to WSJ, fuelling sentiment for the premarket US trade.


• Looking ahead we have Fed Bowman and Bar to speak but it’s important to note that they won’t be commenting on monetary policy due to the Fed blackout.

23 Oct 2025 - 10:15- EquitiesGeopolitical- Source: Newsquawk