Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 23rd September 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks eventually traded mixed as the positive sentiment from Wall Street failed to sustain during APAC trade despite a lack of fresh catalysts, whilst there was an absence of Japanese volume as participants were away due to the Autumnal Equinox holiday. ASX 200 eked gains, once again lifted by gold miners as the yellow metal printed fresh all-time highs, although upside was capped by a deterioration in Flash PMIs. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp eventually traded lower with catalysts sparse, but amid the hangover from the anticlimactic Trump-Xi call last week, whilst Hong Kong markets braced for the Super Typhoon, expected to be the worst since at least 2018. KOSPI was again supported by the strong performance in its Tech sector after the NVIDIA/OpenAI announcement. Nifty 50 trimmed its earlier mild gains with the index continuing to be hampered by the US H-1B visa update.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -0.30% at 5,442, Dax 40 -0.49% at 23,530, FTSE 100 +0.07% at 9,223, CAC 40 -0.30% at 7,830, FTSE MIB +0.22% at 42,404, IBEX 35 -1.55% at 15,077, PSI +0.19% at 7,719, SMI +0.00% at 12,122, AEX +0.07% at 931

SECTORS: Utilities 0.77%, IT 0.60%, Healthcare 0.49%, Industrials 0.12%, Energy 0.10%, Materials -0.12%, Financials -0.28%, Consumer Disc -0.96%, Telecoms -1.01%, Consumer Stpl -1.26%

FTSE 100

GSK (GSK LN) - GSK to submit label update for Wellcovorin (leucovorin) at US FDA’s request. GSK is supporting this initiative as the NDA holder by adding data from case reports identified by the FDA of genetically confirmed CFD into the US prescribing information for Wellcovorin. GSK does not manufacture or market leucovorin, which is available in generic formulations in the US. (GSK)

Shell (SHEL LN) - Malaysian court orders Shell Malaysia to pay overdue gas payments to Petronas, which could potentially reach MYR 1bln. (Newswires)

UK Tax - UK Chancellor Reeves could raise GBP 6bln of income tax without harming employees by focusing increases on pensioners, landlords and the self-employed, according to the Resolution Foundation, via Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

Unilever (ULVR LN) - The Co's Magnum ice cream business is set to IPO in November; will improve/formulate products using NotCo AI. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Mercedes Benz (MBG GY) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC

CAC

L'Oreal (OR FP) - Co. is reportedly only interested in Armani's profitable beauty business. (Bloomberg) As a reminder, the late Giorgio Armani named L'Oreal, LVMH (MC FP) and EssilorLuxottica (EL FP) were named as preferred bidders for an initial stake of 15% in Armani.

Sanofi (SAN FP) - SAR44628 earns US fast track designation for the treatment of non-congenital myotonic dystrophy type 1. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

ASM International (ASM NA) - Confirms Q3 Revenue guidance -5% to flat, lowers H2 guidance, due to lower-than-exp. demand in leading-edge logic and foundry. Cuts FY25 Revenue "low end" of +10-20% (prev. guided "mid-point" +10-20% Y/Y). Bookings in H2'25: Above-mentioned demand weakness is projected to result in a book to bill of below 1 in H2'25. Q4: Guides Q4 Revenue "below earlier expectations". 2030: FCF exp. to increase more than EUR 1bln. Revenue is exp. to increase more than EUR 5.7bln. (Newswires)

ABN AMRO (ABN NA) / KBC (KBC BB) - Bloomberg reports that KBC is exploring a potential deal for ABN AMRO, as it aims to expand across Europe, via Bloomberg. Following this report, KBC said that they are only studying a potential acquisition of Ethias, a Belgin insurer. (Bloomberg / Newswires)

BMPS (BMPS IM) / Mediobanca (MB IM) - BMPS secured 86.3% of Mediobanca. (Newswires)

Heineken (HEIA NA) - Co. to acquire Fifco's Beverage and Retail businesses; to pay USD 3.2bln for equity stakes. Deal is exp. to be accretive to op. margin and EPS. Anticipates USD 50mln in cost savings. (Newswire)

Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) - Co. is to halt production at its Poissy plant in France, for around three weeks in October; Co. explains the decision by saying it is "in order to adapt its production rate to a difficult market in Europe". (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Orsted (ORSTED DC) - US judge grants injunction enabling Orsted to resume construction on Rhode Island offshore wind project. Co. said it will resume the impacted construction work as soon as possible. (Newswires) Orsted ADR shares rose 8.67% in US-trade

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.44% at 6,694, NDX +0.55% at 24,761, DJI +0.14% at 46,382, RUT +0.59% at 2,463.

SECTORS: Communication Services -0.92%, Consumer Staples -0.89%, Consumer Discretionary -0.43%, Energy -0.18%, Financials -0.14%, Health -0.04%, Materials unch, Real Estate +0.32%, Industrials +0.37%, Utilities +0.92%, Technology +1.74%.

Disney (DIS) - Disney (DIS) to return Kimmel show to the air on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported. (Bloomberg)

OpenAI and NVIDIA (NVDA) - Co's announce strategic partnership to deploy 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems; NVIDIA to invest up to USD 100bln in OpenAI. OpenAI to deploy 10 gigawatts of AI data centres with NVIDIA. First gigawatt of Nvidia systems to deploy in 2026. Looks forward to finalising details in the coming weeks NVIDIA (NVDA) and OpenAI deal doesn't change any of OpenAI's compute plans, including partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) or its efforts to build its own chips, according to Reuters, citing sources. (Reuters)

Meta Platforms (META) - Co. says today, they're introducing a dating assistant and Meet Cute, 2 new Facebook dating features; dating assistant will begin rolling out gradually in the US and Canada. (Newswires)

23 Sep 2025 - 06:57- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk