Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 15th July 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks were ultimately mixed with the region indecisive in the aftermath of the latest Chinese GDP and activity data, while participants also awaited CPI data and the start of earnings season stateside. ASX 200 gained with strength in tech and some defensive sectors, while the positive sentiment was also facilitated by an increase in Consumer Confidence and as Australian PM Albanese met with Chinese President Xi. Nikkei 225 traded indecisively following recent currency weakness and rising JGB yields. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp diverged following the somewhat mixed tier-1 data releases from China in which GDP figures for Q2 and Industrial Production in June topped forecasts but Retail Sales and Fixed Assets Investments disappointed, while House Prices were varied and continued to contract.

Chinese Commentary - China holds urban work conference and will vigorously promote the optimisation of urban structure, according to Xinhua. China will continue to promote urbanisation of the rural migrant population and carry out high-quality urban renewal. China will strictly limit construction of super-tall buildings and comprehensively enhance the safety guarantee level of housing. (Xinhua)

Chinese Data - Chinese GDP QQ SA (Q2) 1.1% vs. Exp. 0.9% (Prev. 1.2%). Chinese GDP YY (Q2) 5.2% vs. Exp. 5.1% (Prev. 5.4%). Chinese Industrial Production YY (Jun) 6.8% vs. Exp. 5.7% (Prev. 5.8%). Chinese Retail Sales YY (Jun) 4.8% vs. Exp. 5.4% (Prev. 6.4%)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -0.25% at 5,370, Dax 40 -0.37% at 24,166, FTSE 100 +0.64% at 8,998, CAC 40 -0.27% at 7,808, FTSE MIB +0.27% at 40,186, IBEX 35 +0.23% at 14,041, PSI -0.25% at 7,708, SMI -0.15% at 11,919, AEX -0.11% at 921

SECTORS: Utilities 0.58%, Healthcare 0.54%, Consumer Stpl 0.48%, Telecoms 0.37%, Financials 0.24%, IT -0.22%, Industrials -0.41%, Materials -0.71%, Consumer Disc -1.06%, Energy -1.27%                         

FTSE 100

Diageo (DGE LN) - Co. has filed its response to a lawsuit which called into question the purity of its tequila, calling the claim "baseless" (Newswires)

GSK (GSK LN) - VIIV Healthcare extends voluntary licensing agreement to enable access to innovative HIV treatment. (Newswires)

NatWest (NWG LN) - Intends to sell shares in Permanent TSB (PTSB LN) and entirely exit its interest in the Co; currently holds around a 11.7% stake in Permanent TSB. (Newswires)

UK Barclays Consumer Spending - Barclays UK June Consumer Spending fell 0.1% Y/Y (prev. +1.0%); Barclays Chief Economist Meaning said, "Consumers are remaining cautious and maintaining savings buffers...we expect this to lead to limited GDP growth for the remainder of this year, before falling interest rates and a stronger sense of certainty drive a return to growth next year." (Newswires)

UK BRC - UK BRC Total Sales YY (Jun) 3.1% (Prev. 1.0%); BRC Retail Sales YY (Jun) 2.7% (Prev. 0.6%); BRC Chief said, "the soaring temperatures increased sales of electric fans while sports and leisure equipment was boosted by both the weather and the start of Wimbledon". (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Starling Bank IPO - Co. is considering an IPO in New York as it aims to expand its operations in the US. (Reuters)

BROKER MOVES

Fresnillo (FRES LN) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley; analysts see negative risk-reward for the Co. given reliance on higher silver prices and lack of valuation buffer.

Watches of Switzerland (WOSG LN) initiated with Neutral at UBS

DAX

BMW (BMW GY) - Signs deal with Momenta to co-develop China-tailored driving assistance systems. (Newswires) Do note that BMW are holding its Investor and Analyst Days on July 15-16.

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Kontron (KTN GY) - Signs three-digit million-euro contract with SNCF. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Aircraft / Alcohol Names - EU draws up retaliatory tariffs for US goods in case a trade deal is not reached with aircraft and booze among imports targeted as EU debates how to respond to Trump’s latest trade threats, according to WSJ. (WSJ)

Solvay (SOLB BB) - Q2 (EUR): EBITDA 230mln (exp. 232mln). Revises 2025 Outlook: Sees EBITDA between 880-930mln (prev. guided 1-1.1bln, exp. 1.00bln). (Newswires)

TomTom (TOM2 NA) - Q2 (EUR): Revenue 146mln (prev. 152mln Y/Y). FY Guidance: Upgrades FCF guidance to around +5% of rev. at mid-point of guided range. Sees Revenue 535-565mln (prev. guided 505-565mln). Sees FY Group and Location Tech revenue to reach upper end of initial guidance. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Sandoz (SDZ SW) - Sandoz has expanded its voluntary nationwide recall to include an additional lot of Cefazolin for Injection, USP, 1 gram per vial, due to a customer complaint that four vials were incorrectly labelled as Penicillin G Potassium for Injection, USP, 20M units. The mislabelled vials actually contain Cefazolin.

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Aker BP (AKERB NO) - Q2 (USD): Revenue 2.6bln (exp. 2.61bln). FY Production Guidance upped to 400-420mboepd (prev. guided 390-420mboped). (Newswires)

Ericsson (ERICB SS) - Q2 (SEK) Net Sales 56.13bln (exp. 59.36bln), Adj. EBIT 7.04bln (exp. 6.08bln). Network Adj. Gross Margin 49.5% (prev. 46.1% Y/Y), Adj. Op. Profit 7bln (exp. 6.1bln). Is increasing AI investments; restructuring charges for 2025 exp. to remain at elevated levels. Q3: Adj. Gross Margin exp. to be in range of 48-50%. Sales Growth in Cloud Software and Services exp. to be broadly similar to 3-year average seasonality. CFO: Expects North American market to continue to be good. Slowdown in India is temporary and is to come back strong. (Newswires)

Mowi (MOWI NO) - Q2 (EUR): Op. EBIT 189mln (exp. 174.8mln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.14% at 6,269, NDX +0.33% at 22,856, DJI +0.20% at 44,460, RUT +0.67% at 2,250

SECTORS: Energy -1.20%, Materials -0.44%, Technology -0.25%, Health -0.10%, Consumer Staples +0.13%, Utilities +0.35%, Consumer Discretionary +0.37%, Industrials +0.54%, Financials +0.67%, Real Estate +0.67%, Communication Services +0.73%

ConocoPhillips (COP) - ConocoPhillips plans to expand oil exploration near its Alaska Willow project, aiming to tap additional reserves, Bloomberg reports. The project is still under construction and is forecasted to yield 600mln barrels over 30 years.

Organogenesis (ORGO), MiMedx (MDXG) - Organogenesis and MiMedx shares both fell by over 20% in extended trading after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed classifying skin substitutes as incident-to supplies in 2026, cutting reimbursement by nearly 90%. Medicare spending on such products surged from USD 256mln in 2019 to over USD 10bln in 2024, prompting cost-cutting reforms in the draft physician fee schedule.

S&P 500 (SPX), Trade Desk (TTD), ANSYS (ANSS) - Trade Desk will join the S&P 500, replacing ANSYS, effective July 18th, as Synopsys (SNPS) is set to complete its acquisition of ANSYS on July 17th.

NVIDIA (NVDA) - Nvidia will resume H20 GPU sales to China after applying for US licences, with deliveries expected soon, Reuters reports. It also launched a new RTX Pro GPU tailored for China, fully compliant with export rules. The H20 ban earlier forced a USD 5.5bln inventory write-down and USD 15bln in lost sales. (Newswires)

15 Jul 2025 - 06:50- Data- Source: Newsquawk