EUROPEAN EQUITY UPDATE: Stocks at lows in quiet newsflow ahead of Trump-Putin talks on Friday

STOXX 600: U/C

• Began the session on the front foot, attempting to add to a two-day win streak, though early morning gains pared amid pressure in the risk tone alongside the opening of the US Premarket: NVIDIA (-1.4%), AMD (-2.7%).
• Weekend newsflow was light, the US licensed NVIDIA to export chips to China, and the FT reported that 15% of NVIDIA and AMD’s revenue from China chips is to be paid to the US government. Additionally, the Fed Chair list is now said to include two new candidates: a former St. Louis Fed President, Bullard and former George W. Bush adviser Sumerlin, according to WSJ.
• Performance across Europe is mixed, Copenhagen underperforms after Orsted (-27.0%) reported H1 earnings, planning for a USD 9.4bln rights issue. The DAX 40 is also pressured, with losses led by defence names including Rheinmetall (-5.0%), ahead of the highly anticipated meeting between US President Trump and Russian President Putin on August 15th.
• On the US data front, July CPI is due on Tuesday, the penultimate read before the September Fed meeting, while retail sales figures are expected on Friday.

Sectors: Mixed

• Opened almost entirely in the green, though in line with the broader risk tone, have since turned more negative.
• Healthcare outperforms after Novartis (+2.2%) said both Ianalumab Phase III clinical trials met primary endpoints.
• At the bottom of the pile lies Industrials, led by broad weakness across European defence names including Rheinmetall, Thales and Babcock, which trade with losses between -1.5 and -5% ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting on Friday.

US Equity Futures: ES U/C, NQ U/C%, RTY +0.5%

• Mostly trading lower, and languishing near session lows. Bucking the trend is RTY, which benefits from the lower yield environment ahead of the week’s aforementioned risk events, including the Trump-Putin meeting, US CPI and Retail sales.