Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 12th December 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks were predominantly higher following on from the mostly positive handover from Wall St, where the S&P 500 and DJIA notched record closes, but the Nasdaq lagged on Oracle-related headwinds. ASX 200 rallied with mining, materials and financials leading the broad advances, with nearly all sectors in the green. Nikkei 225 advanced after Japan's Lower House recently approved the supplementary budget bill, with the index briefly returning to above the 51,000 level before fading some of the gains. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were somewhat mixed as the Hong Kong benchmark conformed to the upbeat mood in the region, although the mainland lagged despite the recent Central Economic Work Conference where it was stated that China is to make use of RRR and rate cuts flexibly, while China's pledge to implement an appropriately loose monetary policy, implement more proactive fiscal policy, and stabilise the property market with city-specific measures, failed to inspire.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.88% at 5,758, Dax 40 +0.61% at 24,278, FTSE 100 +0.49% at 9,703, CAC 40 +0.79% at 8,086, FTSE MIB +0.54% at 43,702, IBEX 35 +0.72% at 16,883, PSI -0.31% at 7,994, SMI -0.02% at 12,920, AEX +0.35% at 947.

SECTORS: Financials 1.05%, Industrials 0.76%, Consumer Disc 0.72%, Materials 0.61%, Consumer Stpl 0.60%, Healthcare 0.29%, Telecoms 0.06%, Energy -0.32%, IT -0.38%, Utilities -0.62%

FTSE 100

GSK (GSK LN) - Blujepa (gepotidacin) has been approved by the US FDA as an oral option for treatment of uncomplicated urogenital gonorrhoea (uGC). (GSK)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Centrica (CNA LN) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

Pennon Group (PNN LN) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan

Severn Trent (SVT LN) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

United Utilities (UU/ LN) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

Whitbread (WTB LN) upgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

DAX

Siemens Energy (ENR GY) - S&P upgrades the Co.'s credit rating to 'BBB'; outlook stable. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

AXA (CS FP) – Co. announces appointment of Ewout Steenbergen as Chair of its Audit Committee. (Newswires)

BNP Paribas (BNP FP) – Co. has entered into exclusive discussions for a potential sale of its 67% stake in its Moroccan subsidiary BMCI with the Holmarcom Group, a partner and shareholder of BMCI for 30 years. (BNP Paribas)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

JC Decaux (DEC FP) – Co. intends to sell additional part of its stake in APG|SGA to NZZ. Expected to complete in spring 2026. (JC Decaux)

Sopra Steria (SOP FP) - Co. appoints Rajesh Krishnamurthy as CEO, effective 2 February 2026. (Sopra Steria)

Spie (SPIE FP) - Co. is to acquire a 93% stake in Artemys, deal to be finalised early 2026. (Spie)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

ASML (ASML NA) - Positive mention in Bloomberg which highlights ASML’s central role in the AI boom, with CEO Christophe Fouquet stressing that the company’s unmatched lithography technology underpins the most advanced chips used by Nvidia, Apple and leading AI developers. Bloomberg notes ASML’s 100% share of the high-end lithography market, its deep integration with customers’ long-term roadmaps and confidence in meeting AI-driven demand for the next 10–15 years. The article underscores strong growth prospects, with revenue rising sharply alongside AI data centre investment, while investors watch whether spending momentum holds. It also flags key risks around geopolitics, China restrictions and the complex transition from EUV to next-generation High NA systems, which Fouquet sees as critical to sustaining ASML’s dominance.

Aegon (AGN NA) / UK Insurers – The Times writes that Aegon’s UK arm is being sought after by several large UK insurers. Panmure Liberum suggests Aegon could receive around GBP 1.5-3bln. (The Times)

Generali (G IM) - Co. is expected to announce dropping asset management tie-up deal with France's BPE within hours, according to Reuters citing sources. (Reuters)

BROKER MOVES

Lottomatica (LTMC IM) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Julius Baer (BAER SW) initiated with Outperform at Oddo Securities

SCANDINAVIA

Genmab (GMAB DC) – Co. expects to launch Petosemtamab in 2027 and intends to broaden and accelerate the development with potential expansion into other lines of therapy. Co. believes that Petosemtamab will be accretive to EBITDA with at least USD 1bln annual sales potential by 2029. (Newswires)

Novo Nordisk (NOVOB DC) - Co. launches diabetes drug Ozempic in India. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Fortum Oyj (FORTUM FH) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.21% at 6,901, NDX -0.35% at 25,687, DJI +1.34% at 48,704, RUT +1.21% at 2,591

SECTORS: Materials +2.23%, Financials +1.84%, Industrials +1.06%, Health +0.95%, Utilities +0.74%, Consumer Staples +0.71%, Real Estate +0.49%, Consumer Discretionary +0.08%, Energy -0.42%, Technology -0.55%, Communication Services -1.01%.

Broadcom (AVGO) - Broadcom shares fell almost 4% in extended trading as investors were unsettled by the CEO’s comments on call that the AI order backlog, while large, did not exceed market expectations for the pace and scale of AI revenue growth, according to Bloomberg. It reported Q4 adj. EPS of 1.95 (exp. 1.87), Q4 revenue USD 18.105bln (exp. 17.46bln), driven by AI semiconductor revenue +74% Y/Y, with record free cash flow USD 7.466bln in the quarter; management cited secured AI chip orders including USD 11bln from Anthropic and USD 1bln from a fifth AI customer, and sees a minimum USD 73bln in AI chip sales over the next six quarters, though it is not expecting much OpenAI revenue in FY26. Raised quarterly dividend +10% to USD 0.65/shr. CEO said AI momentum should continue into Q1 with AI semiconductor revenue expected to double Y/Y to USD 8.2bln, while the CFO highlighted record adj. EBITDA and cash generation. For Q1, sees revenue of USD 19.1bln (exp. 18.31bln), with an adj. EBITDA margin of 67%, and noted gross margin on AI products is seen narrowing by about 1%, while it expects growing AI chip spending momentum into FY26.

Costco (COST) - Costco's slipped in afterhours trading as an earnings beat failed to clear high expectations, with worries over moderating membership renewal rates, tariff-related cost pressures and a rich valuation tempering sentiment. Q1 EPS 4.50 (exp. 4.28), including a tax benefit of USD 72mln, or 0.16/shr from stock-based compensation; Q1 revenue USD 67.31bln (exp. 67.12bln); Q1 comparable sales +6.4%; shopping frequency +3.1% worldwide and average ticket +3.2% worldwide, both with and without gas price deflation and FX impacts; digital site traffic +24% and app traffic +48%; US food courts set a daily record on Halloween with 358,000 whole pizzas sold, Black Friday was a record day for US e-commerce, and US bakeries sold 4.5mln pies in the three days ahead of Thanksgiving. Management said it sees significant opportunities for future warehouse growth domestically and internationally and continues to plan for 30-plus net warehouse openings per year in future years.

Lululemon (LULU) - Lululemon shares rose over 10% in extended trading after reporting Q3 earnings and revenue ahead of expectations, supported by stronger-than-expected international performance, as well as boosting its buyback and announcing a CEO transition plan; Calvin McDonald steps down as CEO on 31st January, will remain on as an advisor March; Marti Morfitt becomes Executive Chair immediately; Meghan Frank and Andre Maestrini were appointed interim co-CEOs. Reported Q3 EPS of 2.59 (exp. 2.21), Q3 revenue USD 2.57bln (exp. 2.48bln); Q3 comparable sales +1% Y/Y (+2% constant currency), with Americas comps -5% and International comps +18%. Board approved a USD 1.0bln increase to the share repurchase programme, taking remaining authorisation to about USD 1.6bln. CEO said the company is making progress on its US action plan, while maintaining strong international momentum, with early holiday performance encouraging. Sees Q4 EPS between 4.66–4.76 (exp. 4.93), and Q4 revenue between USD 3.50–3.59bln (exp. 3.57bln). Raises FY25 guidance, sees EPS between 12.92–13.02 (exp. 12.85; prev. saw 12.77–12.97), and FY revenue between USD 10.96–11.05bln (exp. 10.96; prev. saw 10.85–11.0).

OpenAI - Jefferies said it is bullish on OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 release, citing a larger than expected improvement over GPT-5.1, strong enterprise and coding gains, and a best-in-class CRO hire, reinforcing conviction in OpenAI’s FY26 enterprise push and upside for Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL) and CoreWeave (CRWV)

T-Mobile US (TMUS) - T-Mobile's board authorised a shareholder return programme of up to USD 14.6bln through December 2026, covering share repurchases and cash dividends. It supplements an existing USD 14.0bln programme running through 31st December 2025, with unused amounts carried forward.US AI Order - US President Trump signed an executive order blocking states from enforcing their own AI regulations, arguing for a single federal approach. The move favours technology companies but has drawn criticism from states including California, which say state laws are needed to protect residents in the absence of strong federal safeguards. Additionally, Reuters reports that the US government will require AI vendors to measure political bias to sell chatbots to federal agencies, excluding national security systems, under a Trump administration directive. Developers must avoid encoding partisan judgments. The policy affects large language models supplied by firms including Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META).

12 Dec 2025 - 06:59- Exclusive- Source: Newsquawk