Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 20th February 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks followed suit to the predominantly negative mood on Wall Street, where risk appetite was subdued amid private credit fund concerns and geopolitical risks related to the US and Iran following Trump's latest threat and 10-15 day ultimatum. ASX 200 was lacklustre amid underperformance in the tech, telecoms and consumer sectors, while participants continued to digest a slew of earnings, although downside was stemmed by resilience in utilities and the top-weighted financial industry. Nikkei 225 stumbled back beneath the 57,000 level with the index pressured despite recent currency weakness and the softer inflation data, which essentially provides the BoJ with more policy space, while tech and autos were among the industries notably represented in the list of worst-performing stocks. Hang Seng retreated upon returning from the Lunar New Year holidays with the big tech names leading the declines in the index, while mainland markets and the Stock Connect remained shut and won't open until next Tuesday.

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Co. likely won an exclusive HBM4 deal for NVIDIA's (NVDA) top Vera Rubin GPU, according to ChosunBiz. (ChosunBiz)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -0.80% at 6,054, Dax 40 -1.03% at 25,018, FTSE 100 -0.55% at 10,627, CAC 40 -0.36% at 8,399, FTSE MIB -1.22% at 45,794, IBEX 35 -0.99% at 18,018, PSI -0.52% at 9,095, SMI -0.03% at 13,807, AEX -0.28% at 1,008

SECTORS: Energy 1.43%, Materials -1.24%, Industrials -0.65%, Consumer Disc -0.79%, Consumer Stpl 1.21%, Healthcare -0.74%, Financials -1.05%, IT -0.75%, Telecoms 1.03%, Utilities -1.84%

FTSE 100

Diageo (DGE LN) - Financial Times reports that CEO Dave Lewis is planning an exec. overhaul in the Co. (FT)

HSBC Group (HSBC) - HSBC cut 10% of its US-based debt capital markets team, including at least six employees in New York, as part of a business overhaul announced last October, Bloomberg reports. (Bloomberg)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Aggreko (AGK LN) - Co. is reportedly targeting a USD 12bln valuation with listing or stake sales, according to the Financial Times. (FT)

BROKER MOVES

St James Place (STJ LN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

ThyssenKrupp (TKA GY) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

CAC

Air Liquide (AI FP) - FY 2025 (EUR): Revenue 26.9bln (exp. 27.1bln), Recurring Operating Income 5.58bln (exp. 5.6bln) Dividend/share 3.7 (prev. 3.3 Y/Y); affirms FY26 outlook. (Air Liquide)

Danone (BN FP) - FY 2025 (EUR): Revenue 27.3bln (exp. 27.3bln), EPS 2.82 (exp. 3.50), Operating income 2.94bln (prev. 2.35bln Y/Y), Q4 LFL sales +4.7% (exp. 4.4%); guides initial FY26 LFL Rev. +3.5% (exp. 4.1%). (Danone)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Gaztransport et Technigaz (GTT FP) - FY 2025 (EUR): Revenue 803mln (exp. 809mln), EBITDA 542mln (exp. 540mln). (Gaztransport et Technigaz)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Moncler (MONC IM) - FY25 (EUR): Net 623mln (exp. 596mln), Revenue 3.13bln (exp. 3.07bln), Stone Island revenue 411.2mln. Co. said all regions grew positively in January and February, with strong performance in Asia and the US. (Moncler)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Novartis (NOVN SW) - Co. reportedly reaches an agreement to sell approximately 70.7% stake in its India unit. (Novartis). (Bloomberg)

Roche (ROG SW) - Roche announced that the FDA has accepted the company's New Drug Application for giredestrant, an investigational oral therapy, in combination with everolimus for the treatment of adult patients with oestrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative, ESR1-mutated locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer following recurrence or progression on a prior endocrine-based regimen. The FDA has set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act date of 18 December. (Roche)

Sika (SIKA SW)- FY25 (CHF): EPS 6.50 (exp. 6.76), Sales 11.2bln (exp. 11.3bln). Sika proposes an increase in dividend to CHF 3.70/shr (prev. CHF 3.60/shr). Outlook: Sales Growth 1-4%. Expects to deliver an EBITDA margin of 19.5-20.0%. As part of the Fast Forward program, Sika implemented targeted structural adjustments in China and introduced efficiency-enhancing measures in other markets. (Sika)

Swiss Re (SREN SW) - The commercial insurance arm of the Swiss Re Group, has agreed to acquire the Global Trade Credit and Surety business of QBE Insurance, subject to regulatory approvals; no terms disclosed. (Swiss Re)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Siegfried (SFZN SW) - FY25 (CHF): Sales 1.33bln (exp. 1.35bln), Adj. EBITDA 312.3mln (exp. 301.8mln), Adj. EBIT 217.5mln (exp. 211.1mln). Guidance: As a prudent assumption for the purpose of this guidance, Siegfried expects low-single-digit percentage growth in local currencies. (Siegfried)

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

ALK-Abello (ALKB DC) - Q4 2025 (DKK): Revenue 1.73bln (exp. 1.71bln), EBIT 387mln, pre-tax profit 1.64bln. (ALK-Abello)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.28% at 6,862, NDX -0.41% at 24,797, DJI -0.54% at 49,395, RUT +0.24% at 2,665

SECTORS: Financials -0.86%, Consumer Discretionary -0.53%, Technology -0.53%, Consumer Staples -0.38%, Real Estate -0.33%, Health -0.28%, Materials -0.21%, Communication Services -0.04%, Energy +0.64%, Industrials +0.77%, Utilities +1.13%.

Blue Owl (OWL) - Blue Owl said it is not halting investor liquidity in non-traded debt fund Blue Owl Capital Corp II after replacing quarterly redemptions with payouts. It will return 30% of net asset value and stop quarterly redemptions, instead distributing six times more capital to all shareholders over 45 days and continuing the plan in the coming quarters.

Dell Technologies (DELL) - Positive mention by US President Trump, who said people should go out and buy a Dell computer.

Akamai (AKAM)- Shares fell 8% in extended trading on weaker-than-expected guidance. Q4 EPS 1.84 (exp. 1.75), Q4 revenue USD 1.09bln (exp. 1.08bln). Cloud Infrastructure Services revenue +45% Y/Y to USD 94mln, with management citing accelerating AI-related demand, and 36% Y/Y growth across Guardicore Segmentation and API Security. Signed a 4yr USD 200mln cloud infrastructure commitment with a major US technology customer, with revenue recognition expected from Q4 2026. Sees Q1 EPS between 1.50-1.67 (exp. 1.76), Q1 revenue between USD 1.06-1.09bln (exp. 1.07bln), capex between USD 254-264mln. For FY26, sees EPS between 6.20-7.20 (exp. 7.34), revenue between USD 4.4-4.55bln (exp. 4.42bln), capex at between 23-26% of revenue, while noting around USD 200mln of additional 2026 capex due to inflationary pressure in computer hardware, particularly memory chips, alongside plans to invest approximately USD 250mln this year to expand its AI inference cloud.

Geopols - US President Trump reportedly weighs a limited strike to force Iran into the nuclear deal, according to WSJ; President considers a range of military options but says he still prefers diplomacy. (Truth Social)

OpenAI, NVIDIA (NVDA) - NVIDIA is close to a USD 30bln equity investment in OpenAI, replacing a previously announced USD 100bln multiyear agreement that never progressed beyond a memorandum, FT reports. The investment forms part of a funding round exceeding USD 100bln, valuing OpenAI at USD 730bln ex-new capital. SoftBank (SFTBY) plans USD 30bln, Amazon up to USD 50bln, and MGX and Microsoft (MSFT) are also expected to invest, the report adds.

Tesla (TSLA)- Tesla unveiled a cheaper dual-motor all-wheel-drive Cybertruck in the US priced at USD 59,990, its most affordable version, and cut the Cyberbeast price to USD 99,990 (from USD 114,990). The Luxe Package, including Supervised Full Self-Driving and free Supercharger access, appears discontinued, Reuters said. Other Cybertruck prices were unchanged.

Eli Lilly (LLY)- Barclays initiated coverage of Eli Lilly with an Overweight rating and a USD 1,350 price target. Its analysts cited GLP-1 weight loss treatments as a “durable structural shift” and expect Lilly to remain the market share leader in obesity, adding that its shares warrant a premium valuation.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Johnson & Johnson reported Phase 1b/2 OrigAMI-4 data showing investigational subcutaneous amivantamab and hyaluronidase-lpuj combined with a PD-1 inhibitor delivered clinically meaningful and durable antitumour activity in first-line recurrent or metastatic, PD-L1-positive, HPV-unrelated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

20 Feb 2026 - 07:03- Exclusive- Source: Newsquawk