Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 18th March 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly higher following the positive handover from Wall Street and as oil prices retreated, while markets now await a flurry of upcoming central bank policy decisions, including from the FOMC later today. ASX 200 gained with the help of strength in tech, utilities and real estate, but with gains limited amid weakness in health care and the consumer sectors following the recent central bank rate hike, while money markets are currently pricing a coin flip for a third consecutive hike in May. Nikkei 225 climbed back above the 55,000 level amid several positive factors, such as mostly better-than-expected trade data, which showed a surprise surplus and with exports topping forecasts. US and Japan are also set to agree on the joint development of rare earths, copper, and lithium at a summit on Thursday, while they will jointly develop AI shipbuilding robots. Furthermore, participants mull over the first wave of corporate responses to the Shunto wage demands, and the BoJ also kick-started its 2-day policy meeting. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mixed with weakness seen in auto stocks and China's oil majors, while reports that multiple Chinese companies were said to have received approval from authorities to purchase NVIDIA H200 AI chips failed to inspire the mainland.

Alibaba (9988 HK/BABA) - Alibaba is raising prices for AI computing and storage products by up to 34% amid strong demand and higher infrastructure costs. Prices for T-Head AI computing chips, including Zhenwu 810E, will increase by 5-34%, while Cloud Parallel File Storage prices will rise 30%, Bloomberg reports.

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Samsung is considering multi-year memory chip contracts of 3-5yrs (vs its current quarterly or annual agreements), co-CEO Jun Young-hyun said; the move may help stabilise supply and ease shortage concerns as demand for AI memory chips is expected to keep rising in 2026. Added that rising memory prices could reduce PC and mobile shipments. Its chip division head said the memory market is in an unprecedented supercycle. Samsung will produce Tesla (TSLA) chips in late 2027, while warning power supply could become a bottleneck for AI growth. Separately, Yonhap reported unionised workers had voted to strike.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.50% at 5,768, Dax 40 +0.67% at 23,721, FTSE 100 +0.83% at 10,404, CAC 40 +0.49% at 7,974, FTSE MIB +1.22% at 44,888, IBEX 35 +0.92% at 17,247, PSI +0.50% at 9,175, SMI +0.50% at 12,959, AEX +0.50% at 1,013

SECTORS: Energy 2.44%, Utilities 1.60%, Financials 1.12%, Telecoms 0.83%, Materials 0.73%, Healthcare 0.44%, Industrials 0.39%, IT 0.00%, Consumer Stpl -0.07%, Consumer Disc -0.26%

FTSE 100

BP (BP/ LN) - Co. issued a lockout notice, blocking 800 United Steelworkers (USW) union workers from its Whiting refinery due to little move in contract negotiations. (BP)

Prudential (PRU LN) - FY 2025 (USD): IFRS Net Profit 4.12bln (prev. 2.42bln Y/Y), Adj. Operating Profit 3.31bln (prev. 3.13bln Y/Y), commenced an additional USD 1.2bln share buyback in 2026 after completing USD 2bln share buyback. (Prudential)

RELX (REL LN) - Bookrunner says an institutional seller is to offload 24mln shares. (Newswires)

Unilever (ULVR LN) - Co. is reportedly in the early stages of considering a separation of its food assets, Bloomberg reports citing sources. Talks are in the preliminary stages, though it may not pursue any deal before 2027. (Bloomberg)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

National Grid (NG/ LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Hellofresh (HFG GY) - Q4 2025 (EUR): Revenue 1.55bln (exp. 1.56bln), Adj. EBITDA 166mln (exp. 163.3mln), sees FY2026 Adj. EBITDA between 375-425mln (exp. 428.4mln). FY: Revenue 6.76bln (prev. 7.66bln Y/Y), Adj. EBITDA 423mln (prev. 399mln Y/Y). CEO: "Two years ago, we made a deliberate choice. Before we could credibly invest in growth, we needed to fix the foundation of the business.". (Hellofresh)

Lanxess (LXS GY) - Co. is rising prices for alkylated diphenylamine (ADPA) and diphenylamine (DPA) by at least 50% with immediate effect for all noncontractual volumes, due to significantly higher energy, critical raw materials and logistics costs. (Lanxess)

Tag Immobilien (TEG GY) - FY 2025 (EUR): Net Profit 90.3mln (prev. 122.1mln Y/Y), FFO I 181mln (prev. 175.1mln Y/Y), Adj. Net Income from Poland sales 68mln (prev. 66.2mln Y/Y), guides 2026 FFO I between 187-197mln and profit on sales in Poland between 92-98mln. (Tag Immobilien)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Sanofi (SAN FP) - The US FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to Venglustat, a investigational oral GCSi inhibitor, for the treatment of neurological manifestations of type 3 Gaucher disease. (Sanofi)

Vinci (DG FP) - February airports traffic +1.6%; autoroutes traffic -0.8%. (Vinci)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Bollore (BOL FP) - FY 2025 (EUR): Revenue 2.93bln (exp. 3.0bln), Net Income 0.35bln (prev. 1.84bln Y/Y), Adj. EBITA 286mln (prev. 1.0mln Y/Y), explains the Net Income weakness due to the inclusion of net capital gain on the disposal of Bolloré Logistics and the capital loss on the deconsolidation of companies resulting from the spin-off of Vivendi. (Bollore)

Ipsen (IPN FP) - Co. announced the latest data for T-cell activator IPN01203. The latest preclinical data reinforces the first-in-class potential of IPN01203 to improve outcomes where there are significant unmet needs for people living with solid tumours. (Ipsen)

Vallourec (VK FP) - Co. announced it has secured a contract with BP Berau to supply premium Corrosion Resistant Alloy (CRA) pipes and VAM connections for the development of the Tangguh project, the first Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) offshore project in Indonesia. (Vallourec)

BROKER MOVES

JCDecaux (DEC FP) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan

TotalEnergies (TTE FP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at TD Cowen

PAN EUROPE

EU Banks - The FT reports that the EU is moving to delay increase in bank capital requirements over competitiveness concerns. According to sources, Brussels will adopt legislation to neutralise the short-term impact of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book. The plan is to introduce a temporary multiplier that negates the increase for banks’ trading activities for up to three years. (FT)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Logitech (LOGN SW) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS

Sonova (SOON SW) downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies

SCANDINAVIA

Skanska (SKAB SS) - Co. has been awarded a SEK 440mln contract to build a new high school for civil engineering, including a sports hall. (Skanska)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.25% at 6,716, NDX +0.51% at 24,780, DJI +0.10% at 46,994, RUT +0.67% at 2,520

SECTORS: Health -0.92%, Consumer Staples -0.48%, Utilities -0.26%, Materials +0.17%, Real Estate +0.20%, Technology +0.21%, Industrials +0.25%, Financials +0.51%, Communication Services +0.67%, Consumer Discretionary +1.00%, Energy +1.02%.

Amazon (AMZN) - Microsoft (MSFT) is weighing legal action against Amazon and OpenAI over a reported USD 50bln cloud deal that could breach its exclusive cloud partnership with OpenAI, according to the FT. The dispute centres on whether Amazon Web Services can offer OpenAI’s new commercial product, Frontier, without violating the requirement to route model access through Microsoft Azure. Separately, Amazon plans to reduce packages shipped through the US Postal Service by at least two-thirds by Autumn, when its current contract expires, according to the WSJ citing sources. The company has already started lowering postal volume. The move could cost the Postal Service billions of dollars in revenue, WSJ said. (WSJ)

Apple (AAPL) - Apple home devices hardware chief Brian Lynch is leaving for Oura after overseeing the unit since 2022, Bloomberg reports. Lynch has joined Oura as Senior Vice President of hardware engineering. Bloomberg said that the departure is a setback for Apple’s home devices unit, which is already facing product delays. (Bloomberg)

Lululemon (LULU) - Shares fell 2% in extended US trading after its earnings beat was overshadowed by soft guidance. Q4 adj. EPS 5.01 (exp. 4.77), Q4 revenue USD 3.6bln (exp. 3.58bln). International revenue grew 17% in the quarter, while gross margin fell 550bps, including a 520bps hit from US import tariffs. Management said Q4 results beat both Street expectations and January preliminary guidance, but noted softer demand, a need for greater product newness and a focus on restoring full-price sales growth in North America through SKU reduction and inventory rebalancing. Interim Co-CEO and CFO Meghan Frank said improving full-price sales through 2026 is a key priority to support brand health and long-term growth. Appointed former Levi (LEVI) CEO Chip Bergh to its board, while David Mussafer will not stand for re-election following his current term. Sees Q1 adj. EPS between 1.63-1.68 (exp. 2.07), sees Q1 revenue between USD 2.4-2.43bln (exp. 2.48bln); sees FY26 adj. EPS between 12.10-12.30 (exp. 12.56), and sees FY26 revenue between USD 11.35-11.5bln (exp. 11.52bln). Said FY26 outlook reflects a gross US import tariff impact of about USD 380mln and that it expects to offset almost all of that impact. (Bloomberg)

Nvidia (NVDA) - CEO Jensen Huang said the company has received orders from China for H200 processors, and is restarting manufacturing after securing clearance from both sides, CNBC reports. Earlier export restrictions had halted sales and led Nvidia to take a USD 5.5bln charge. CFO Colette Kress in February said that approved H200 products had yet to generate revenue. (CNBC)

18 Mar 2026 - 06:57- Exclusive- Source: Newsquawk