Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 21st July 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks began the week mostly in the green but with gains capped following relatively light macro catalysts from over the weekend, aside from Japan's upper house election with the ruling coalition set to lose a majority, although markets in Japan were shut for a holiday. ASX 200 retreated with the index dragged lower by underperformance in its top-weighted financial sector, while miners were showing some resilience as South32 gained following its quarterly and full-year production update. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were kept afloat amid strength in tech and energy stocks, while China's LPRs were unsurprisingly maintained and there were also recent reports that US President Trump could meet with Chinese President Xi ahead of or during the October APEC meeting in South Korea.

Chinese LPR - 1 Year (Jul) 3.00% vs. Exp. 3.00% (Prev. 3.00%); 5 Year (Jul) 3.50% vs. Exp. 3.50% (Prev. 3.50%). (Newswires)

Japanese Upper House Election - Japanese PM Ishiba vowed to stay on despite exit polls from the election showing that the ruling coalition lost its majority. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -0.29% at 5,362, Dax 40 -0.34% at 24,288, FTSE 100 +0.22% at 8,992, CAC 40 +0.01% at 7,823, FTSE MIB +0.46% at 40,312, IBEX 35 -0.01% at 13,994, PSI -0.28% at 7,674, SMI +0.15% at 11,969, AEX -0.29% at 912

SECTORS: Utilities 0.52%, Consumer Stpl 0.47%, Energy 0.39%, Financials 0.25%, Telecoms 0.08%, Materials -0.08%, Industrials -0.10%, Consumer Disc -0.19%, Healthcare -0.59%, IT -1.07%

FTSE 100

BP (BP/ LN) - It was reported on Sunday 20th July that the Board were to meet to finalise the appointment of a successor to Chairman Lund, according to Sky's Kleinman on X. He writes that "an announcement may come tonight [Sunday] or tomorrow [Monday]". (X)

HSBC (HSBA LN) - HSBC has launched a new search for its next chair after slow progress narrowing candidates from over 100 to a final shortlist, the FT reports citing insiders. (FT)

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG LN) - Co. is considering the launch of 24-hour trading, according to FT. Sources added that the group is "having important commercial, policy and regulatory discussions". (FT)

UK Housing - UK Rightmove House Prices MM (Jul) -1.2% (Prev. -0.3%); steepest M/M decline since series began in 2001; YY (Jul) 0.1% (Prev. 0.8%). "With the number of available homes still at a decade-high level, summer sellers are pricing even more competitively to attract buyer interest", a Rightmove expert writes. (Newswires)

UK Pensions - UK pensions overhaul looms as pension minister Bell warns of a slump in retirement income, while he noted the government would revive the Pensions Commission that heralded sweeping changes under the Blair Labour government in the early 2000s and argued that reforms were only “a job half done”, according to FT. (FT)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Allianz (ALV GY) - Co. and Jio Financial Services to form a 50:50 reinsurance JV. (Newswires)

Daimler Truck (DTG GY) - Co. is considering a Chinese production exit as it reportedly faces a "crazy" down cycle, according to the FT. A Co. exec said, "Basically we’re looking at everything". (FT)

Merck (MRK GY) - European Commission grants conditional approval of Ezmekly. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Carrefour (CA FP) - Bloomberg reports that the Co. is working with Rothschild for a potential sale of its Italian operations. The strategic review of assets is reportedly in "good progress", though any transaction would need support from Carrefour's anchor shareholders. (Bloomberg)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Covivo (COV FP) - H1 (EUR): Revenue 527mln (prev. 256mln Y/Y), Recurring Net Income 263.2mln, +14% Y/Y. (Newswires)

Vivendi (VIV FP) - EU Commission has sent statement of objections to Vivendi for possible breach of merger rules in Lagardere (MMB FP) acquisition. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Bawag (BG AV) - ECB approved a share buyback of EUR 175mln. (Newswires)

EU M&A - EU reportedly cracks down on state meddling in bank M&A as it recently issued warnings last week against meddling by the Italian and Spanish governments in banking tie-ups, according to the FT. (FT)

EVs - EU is to force car rental companies to purchase EVs only from 2030, according to Bild. (Bild)

Trade - US President Trump reportedly pushing for 15-20% minimum tariff on all EU goods, according to FT Trump rejects reducing 25% sectoral duties on EU cars. US admin is now looking at a reciprocal tariff rate that exceeds 10%, even if a deal is reached. EU trade commissioner gave a downbeat assessment of his recent talks in Washington to EU ambassadors on Friday. EU envoys are set to meet as early as this week to formalise a retaliation plan in the event of a possible no-deal scenario with the US, Bloomberg. (FT / Bloomberg)

Ryanair (RYA ID) - Q1 (EUR): Net Income 820mln (exp. 690mln), Revenue 4.34bln (exp. 4.23bln), Load Factor 94% (exp. 93.2%), Total Customers 57.9mln (exp. 58.02mln). Revenue per passenger +15% Y/Y. Still sees FY customers at 206mln (exp. 206.43mln). Q2 fare increases will be lower than in Q1. Now expects to recover almost all of the 7% fare decline suffered in Q2 last year. On Boeing: Notes of heavily delayed Boeing deliveries. Remains confident that the remaining 29, 737 Max orders will be delivered ahead of Summer 2026. CFO: Expects relatively good summer trading this year. Across the piece, bookings are good. They are not seeing later-than-normal bookings reported by competitors. "We're not seeing those kind of trends at all." Says competitors had benefited from Ryanair problems with online travel agents and those issues are now resolved. Says consumer sentiment in Europe is very strong. Says there was a bit more confidence of a tariff carve-out for commercial aircraft a few weeks ago before mention of 30% tariff. Saw strong close-in bookings particularly in May and June. CEO: Q2 demand is robust. Sees modest cost inflation of 1-2% this year. (Newswires)

Mining Names - Codelco Chairman Pacheco says the lack of details from the US on tariffs relating to copper has created anxiety for consumers, adding that open trade is valuable for all. (FT)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Roche (ROGN SW) - Genentech give update on SBLA for Culumvi combination for people with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell Lymphoma. Starglo data is insufficient for second-lice DLBCL indication in US. Remains under accelerated approval for third-line DLBCL. FDA discussions are ongoing for Skyglo study postmarketing requirement. Elsewhere, Roche provides update on astegolimab in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The phase III ARNASA study did not meet the primary endpoint of a statistically significant reduction in the AER at 52 weeks (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Belimo (BEAN SW) - H1 (CHF): Revenue 561.5mln, +18.6% Y/Y, EBIT Margin 22.8% (prev. 19.6% Y/Y). Confirms 2025 outlook. (Newswires)

DKSH (DKSH SW) - Co. to acquire Eppendorf's Direct Presence in Thailand; exp. to close Q3'25. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

ABB (ABBN SW) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citi

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Boliden (BOL SS) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Berenberg

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.01% at 6,296, NDX -0.07% at 23,065, DJI -0.32% at 44,342, RUT -0.62% at 2,239.

SECTORS: Utilities +1.71%, Consumer Discretionary +0.98%, Real Estate +0.35%, Materials +0.35%, Financials +0.07%, Technology -0.10%, Industrials -0.19%, Communication Services -0.22%, Consumer Staples -0.37%, Health -0.60%, Energy -0.96%

Apple (AAPL) - F1’s deal with Apple TV+ may cause short-term subscriber losses as casual fans face paywalls, Bloomberg reports. However, the partnership is expected to pay off long term, with Apple’s upscale brand and technology enhancing F1’s appeal and fan experience.

Microsoft (MSFT) - Microsoft said it will cease using China-based engineers for US military tech support following a report on cybersecurity risks, Reuters reports, after the US Defense Secretary Hegseth launched a two-week review of Pentagon cloud deals. Microsoft said changes were made to reassure that no China-based teams assist the Pentagon. WaPo reports that Hackers exploited an unpatched zero-day flaw in Microsoft SharePoint, breaching US federal and state agencies, universities, and global organisations; Microsoft released one patch, but two versions remain vulnerable. Researchers warned attackers may retain access even post-patch.

Nasdaq 100 (NDX), Thomson Reuters (TRI), ANSYS (ANSS) - Thomson Reuters will join the Nasdaq 100 and Nasdaq 100 Equal Weighted Index on July 28th, replacing ANSYS in both indexes before market open.

Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia told Chinese customers it has limited supplies of H20 AI chips, the most powerful allowed under US export restrictions, The Information reports. US April bans forced Nvidia to cancel orders and TSMC (TSM) to shift production. Restarting H20 chip manufacturing could take nine months. Nvidia plans a compliant RTX Pro GPU for China.

S&P 500 (SPZ), Block (XYZ), Hess (HES) - Block will replace Hess in the S&P 500 prior to market open on July 23rd, following the completion of Chevron’s (CVX) acquisition of Hess on July 18th.

21 Jul 2025 - 06:50- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk