Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 22nd July 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mixed after failing to sustain the early upward momentum seen at the open following the fresh record intraday highs on Wall St and with two-way price action seen in Japan following the ruling coalition's upper house election loss. ASX 200 was rangebound as strength in the mining, materials, resources and healthcare sectors offset the losses in financials, energy and industrials, while the RBA Minutes from the July meeting provided very little to shift the dial but continued to signal future cuts ahead. Nikkei 225 initially surged to above the 40,000 level as participants returned from the long weekend, but then wiped out its gains and then some, as participants second-guessed the ramifications of the ruling coalition's upper house election setback. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp kept afloat in rangebound trade amid a lack of major fresh catalysts and after the Hong Kong benchmark breached the 25,000 level.

CK Hutchison (CKHUY) - China’s state-owned shipping giant Cosco Shipping is joining the consortium acquiring tycoon Li Ka-shing’s 43 overseas ports and is seeking veto rights or equivalent powers over the new entity. This move aims to secure Beijing’s approval by allowing Cosco to block decisions potentially harmful to China’s interests, including strategic ports near the Panama Canal. (Newswires)

Chinese Smartphones - China smartphone shipments were down by 2.4% in Q2, while Apple's Q2 China sales were down 1.6% Y/Y, Huawei Q2 sales rose 17.6% Y/Y and was the top vendor with a share of 18.1%, followed by Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi (1810 HK), according to Counterpoint. (Counterpoint)

SoftBank (9984 JT) - Co. and OpenAI's USD 500bln AI project struggles to get off the ground with the Stargate venture, introduced at the White House earlier this year, now setting a more modest goal of building a small data centre by year-end, according to WSJ. (WSJ)

Trade - Japan's tariff negotiator Akazawa and US Commerce Secretary Lutnick met for over two hours in Washington on Monday and held frank talks to seek agreement benefiting both Japan and the US. Japan's government said Japan will continue to seek common ground on tariff issues with the US. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -0.33% at 5,342, Dax 40 +0.04% at 24,298, FTSE 100 +0.23% at 9,013, CAC 40 -0.31% at 7,798, FTSE MIB -0.36% at 40,167, IBEX 35 +0.28% at 14,028, PSI -0.03% at 7,672, SMI -0.37% at 11,927, AEX -0.38% at 908

SECTORS: Materials 1.23%, Utilities 0.80%, Financials 0.27%, Telecoms -0.22%, Industrials -0.23%, Consumer Disc -0.23%, Consumer Stpl -0.30%, Energy -0.32%, IT -0.49%, Healthcare -0.89%

FTSE 100

AstraZeneca (AZN LN) - AstraZeneca plans a USD 50bln US expansion by 2030, including a new Virginia manufacturing facility and R&D growth in Maryland, Texas, Massachusetts, California, and Indiana, the company announced. The investment aims to create tens of thousands of jobs and supports AstraZeneca’s goal of USD 80bln in annual revenue by 2030, with half from the US. (Newswires)

BP (BP/ LN) - BP-chartered oil tanker Talara leaves EU-sanctioned Nayara Energy's Vadinar port without loading diesel, according to industry sources and shipping data. Elsewhere, Elliott Investment Management says new BP chair should urgently address shortcomings; BP needs decisive leadership to turn around company; notes BP's new chair manifold's track record at CRH (CRH). (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Tullow Oil (TLW LN) - Co. to sell Kenyan assets to Gulf Energy for USD 120mln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Legal & General (LGEN LN) downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Sanofi (SAN FP) - Acquires Vicebio for USD 1.15bln upfront; expected to close in Q4'25. Acquisition will not have a significant impact on Sanofi's financial guidance for 2025. (Newswires)

Safran (SAF FP) - Co. announced acquisition of flight control and actuation activities from Collins Aerospace; transaction exp. to generate USD 50mln of annual pre-tax run rate cost synergies by 2028. (Newswires)

Vinci (DG FP) - Co. awarded contracts in Australia worth EUR 431mln. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Sartorius Stedim Biotech (DIM FP) - H1 (EUR): Underlying Net Income 81mln (exp. 106mln, prev. 60.9mln Y/Y), Revenue 1.49bln (exp. 735mln, prev. 1.4bln Y/Y). Affirms guidance. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Akzo Nobel (AKZA NA) - Q2 (EUR): Net Income 124mln (exp. 160mln), Adj. Op. Income 303mln (exp. 313mln), Revenue 2.63bln (exp. 2.65bln). Cuts FY25 Adj. EBITDA 1.48bln (prev. guided 1.55bln). (Newswires)

Energy Names - Shell (SHEL LN) and Aker BP (AKRBP NO) are among the firms that have left the Science-Based Targets advisory group initiative, which was working towards defining net-zero standards, via FT; Cos reportedly left after the draft included a halt to developing new oil and gas fields. (FT)

Semiconductor names - NXP's (NXPI) shares declined 5.5% in late trading as its Q2 results, whereby headline metrics beat but outlook failed to impress investors. Details in the US section below

TotalEnergies (TTE FP) / Tenaris (TEN IM) - Tenaris awarded a contract by TotalEnergies to supply casing for Granmorgu project in Suriname. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Givaudan (GIVN SW) - H1 (CHF): Sales 3.86bln (exp. 3.91bln), EBITDA 945mln, (prev. 906mln Y/Y); co. results missed expectations on strong CHF. Aiming to achieve organic sales growth of 4-5% on LFL basis. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Julius Baer (BAER SW) - H1 2025 (CHF): Net Income 295mln (exp. 393mln), -35% Y/Y, CET1 15.6% (prev. 17.8% end-2024), AuM 484bln (exp. 481.4bln). CFO: “It is encouraging to see the positive momentum with net new money more than doubling year on year and underlying net profit increasing double digit due to our continued focus on clients and risk management". (Newswires)

Lindt & Spruengli (LISN SW) H1 2025 (CHF): Revenue 2.35bln (exp. 2.29bln), EBIT 259mln (exp. 270mln). Raises FY sales guidance, 9-11% (prev. guided 7-9%). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Alfa Laval (ALFA SS) - Q2 (SEK): Sales 16.81bln (exp. 17.49bln). Notes that demand was sequentially stable in the quarter and regionally both China and the US developed well. Outlook for Q3: Expects demand in Q3 to be somewhat stronger than in Q2. (Newswires)

Electrolux Professional AB (EPROB SS) - Q2 (SEK): Revenue 3.19bln (exp. 3.19bln), Net Income 217mln (exp. 273mln). (Newswires)

Kesko (KESKOB FH) - Q2 (EUR): EPS 0.29 (prev. 0.30 Y/Y), EBIT 177.9mln (exp. 183.2mln, prev. 159.2mln Y/Y), Revenue 3.19bln (exp. 3.19bln, prev. 3.09bln Y/Y). Narrows FY25 Adj. EBIT 640-700mln (prev. guided 640-700mln). (Newswires)

Norsk Hydro (NHY NO) - Q2 (NOK): Underlying Net Income 3.58bln (prev. 1.68bln Y/Y), Adj. EBITDA 7.79bln (exp. 7.29bln, prev. 5.84bln Y/Y), Revenue 53.1bln (exp. 47.9bln, prev. 50.9bln Y/Y). Co. is introducing external hiring freeze and structured review of white-collar workforce. Notes that tariff impacts still uncertain; order bookings started to develop better for domestic producers due to lower imports. (Newswires)

Nordea (NDAFI FH) - Nordea signed a contract with Mynt, a Swedish start-up which offers white-label products in the financial services industry. (Bloomberg)

Var Energi (VAR NO) - Q2 (USD): EBIT 1.19mln (exp. 1.34mln). Sees 2025 exploration Capex 380mln (prev. saw 350mln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Telia (TELIA SS) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Kepler Cheuvreux

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.14% at 6,306, NDX +0.50% at 23,180, DJI -0.04% at 44,323, RUT -0.40% at 2,231.

SECTORS: Communication Services +1.90%, Consumer Discretionary +0.60%, Materials +0.54%, Real Estate +0.35%, Utilities +0.29%, Technology +0.13%, Consumer Staples +0.04%, Financials -0.29%, Industrials -0.60%, Health -0.61%, Energy -0.96%.

NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI) - NXP's shares declined in late trading as its outlook failed to impress investors. Q2 adj. EPS 2.72 (exp. 2.66), Q2 revenue 2.926bln (exp. 2.90bln); Q2 adj. Gross Margin 56.5%, adj. EBIT margin 32%. Sees Q3 revenue between USD 3.05-3.250bln (exp. 3.07bln) and sees Q3 adj. EPS between 2.89-3.30 (exp. 3.02); while the revenue outlook has a midpoint above Wall Street’s average estimate, it was still below some bullish forecasts above USD 3.3bln. Exec said guidance for Q3 reflects the combination of an emerging cyclical improvement in NXP's core end markets, as well as the performance of company specific growth drivers. Q3 operating margin is seen between 32.7-34.6%.

Norfolk Southern (NSC), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Union Pacific (UNP) - Berkshire-owned BNSF is working with Goldman Sachs (GS) to explore a rival railroad takeover amid Union Pacific’s pursuit of Norfolk Southern. It’s unclear whether BNSF is targeting Norfolk or CSX, but any move could spark major rail consolidation and test the Trump administration’s stance on mergers, Semafor reports.

Steel Dynamics (STLD) - Q2 EPS 2.01 (exp. 2.06), Q2 revenue USD 4.565bln (exp. 4.74bln). Q2 net income USD 302mln (exp. 345mln). Said uncertainty regarding trade policy continues to cause hesitancy in customer order patterns. CEO said Q2 adj. EBITDA rose on higher steel prices and expanded margins, despite lower steel and fabrication shipments due to trade uncertainty and inventory overhang. He noted demand remains supported by infrastructure and onshoring and expects growth as trade policy stabilises and agreements are finalised. CEO reiterated confidence in long-term domestic steel and aluminium demand, supported by easing policy uncertainty and preference for low-emission products. He highlighted potential benefits from USITC action on coated imports, aluminium ramp-up progress in Mississippi and Mexico, and a 2025 exit utilisation rate of 40-50%, reaching 75% by end-2026.

SoftBank (SFTBY), OpenAI - The USD 500bln Stargate AI project, launched at the White House with President Trump, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, has struggled to progress, WSJ reports. Six months on, the venture has yet to close any data centre deals and has scaled back its initial ambitious plans.

22 Jul 2025 - 06:55- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk