Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 29th May 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly higher with sentiment underpinned following NVIDIA's earnings and after the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade blocked President Trump's Liberation Day tariffs and deemed that the sweeping tariffs under the emergency powers law were unlawful. However, the Trump administration has since filed an appeal and has other tools it could apply to maintain such tariffs. ASX 200 was led higher by outperformance in energy, telecoms and tech although gains were capped with miners, real estate and defensives at the other end of the spectrum. Nikkei 225 outperformed and climbed back above the 38,000 level following the recent currency weakness and blow to Trump's tariff agenda. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp conformed to the constructive mood although US-China frictions lingered after the Trump administration ordered US chip designers to stop selling to China and US Secretary of State Rubio announced to ‘aggressively’ revoke visas of Chinese students.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -0.66 % at 24,067, FTSE 100: -0.59 % at 8,726, CAC 40: -0.49 % at 7,788, Euro Stoxx 50: -0.72 % at 5,376, AEX: -0.61 % at 924, IBEX 35: -0.90 % at 14,111, FTSE MIB: +0.01 % at 40,128, SMI: -1.21 % at 12,190, PSI: -0.13 % at 7,361

SECTORS: Energy 0.00%, Industrials -0.31%, Consumer Disc -0.35%, Utilities -0.65%, Consumer Stpl -0.71%, IT -0.78%, Financials -0.81%, Healthcare -0.91%, Telecoms -1.08%, Materials -1.16%

FTSE 100

BP (BP/ LN) - Co. reportedly planned sale of Castrol unit attracting Reliance, Apollo, and Lone Star. (Bloomberg)

Ex-Dividends - Intertek Group (ITRK LN), Informa (INF LN), Coca-Cola HBC (CCH LN), Associated British Foods (ABF LN), Alliance Witan (ALW LN), National Grid (NG/ LN), Sage Group (SGE LN), Diploma (DPLM LN), LondonMetric Property (LMP LN), Marks and Spencer Group (MKS LN), Severn Trent (SVN LN). (dividenddata)

UK-US Trade - UK is seeking to accelerate implementation of trade deals with the US, according to FT. (FT)

UK Pension Funds - The UK Government has told some pension funds to merge and become "megafunds" with at least GBP 25bln of assets by 2030. Bloomberg reports that the UK plans to mandate pension funds to invest in private markets and the domestic economy. (Newswires/Bloomberg)

WPP (WPP LN) - WPP Media launches as a fully integrated, AI powered media Co. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Bayer (BAYN GY) - FDA accepts new drug application under priority review for Sevabertnib. (Newswires)

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Volkswagen of America will continue to hold vehicle pricing at current MSRPs through June. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Heidelberg Materials (HEI GY) - Secondary ABB offer size of around 1.5mln existing shares. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

LVMH (MC FP) - Deputy CEO Bianchi says Chinese clients travelling and spending less over last three months; sees certain nationalism in China to buy locally. Will still continue to invest in China, "we are not worried". US demand showing some signs of picking up. High jewellery is performing extremely well. Can hike prices by 2-3% per year, but beyond that market won't be able to absorb. Don't want to raise prices too much yet, need to preserve leeway for when it's needed. Cognac and beauty products won't have the option to raise prices. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Trade - Manhattan-based Court of International Trade blocks President Trump's Liberation Day tariffs, according to Reuters. US President Trump's administration files an appeal following the recent ruling by Court of International Trade that Trump's tariffs are unlawful. White House says not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency. (Reuters / Newswires)

Aircraft / Chips - US stops exporting aircraft engine technology and chip software to China, according to NYT. (NYT)

ABN AMRO (ABN NA) - Co. will pay a fine of EUR 14mln for involvement of intentionally filing incorrect tax returns. Co. says it was not involved in the tax returns. (Newswires)

Beauty Names / Beiersdorf (BEI GY) - Elf Beauty (ELF) shares rose 3.1% afterhours after beating on top- and bottom-line metrics. See US section below for details

Chip names / ASML (ASML NA) - NVIDIA (NVDA) shares rose almost 5% after hours following a Q1 sales and profit beat, shrugging off soft guidance, and China curbs. See US section below for details

Cloud Software / SAP (SAP GY) - Salesforce (CRM) shares finished the extended trading session with gains of 1.1% after Salesforce reported Q1 top- and bottom-line beats, and raised FY sales guidance. See US section below for details

Naturgy (NTGY SM) - Authorises partial voluntary takeover bid for the Co. launched by the Co. itself. (Newswires)

OMV (OMV AV) - Announces new investment in large 140 MW Green Hydrogen Plant. Investment of mid-three-digit mln Euro; production expected by end-2027. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Swiss & Scandinavian Holiday (Ascension Day)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Swiss & Scandinavian Holiday (Ascension Day)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.56% at 5,889, NDX -0.45% at 21,318, DJI -0.58% at 42,099, RUT -1.08% at 2,068

SECTORS: Utilities -1.44%, Materials -1.27%, Energy -1.25%, Consumer Discretionary -0.93%, Financials -0.70%, Health -0.57%, Consumer Staples -0.56%, Industrials -0.52%, Technology -0.34%, Communication Services -0.17%, Real Estate -0.01%.

Elf Beauty (ELF) - Q4 EPS 0.78 (exp. 0.72), revenue USD 332.6mln (exp. 326.67mln). Net sales rose +28% in FY25 with 190bps US market share gain. Company not providing FY26 outlook due to tariff uncertainty. Will acquire Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand rhode for up to USD 1bln, including USD 800mln in cash and stock at closing and a USD 200mln earnout; the deal values rhode at 3.8x LTM sales of USD 212mln. Closing expected in Q2 FY26, pending regulatory approval.

HP Inc. (HPQ) - Shares tumbled 15% in extended trading after the company missed on earnings, and issued soft guidance due to the added costs from tariffs. Q2 EPS 0.71 (exp. 0.80), Q2 revenue USD 13.22bln (exp. 13.12bln). CEO highlighted solid revenue growth driven by strong Commercial performance in Personal Systems and momentum behind the future of work strategy, despite regulatory challenges. The company accelerated manufacturing expansion and cost reduction to support sustainable growth. Sees Q3 EPS 0.68-0.80 (exp. 0.91). Cuts FY25 EPS view to 3.00-3.30 (exp. 3.49) citing restructuring, acquisition charges, and tariff-related costs. Free cash flow expected between USD 2.6-3.0bln.

Moderna (MRNA) - The US HHS is cancelling nearly USD 600mln of Moderna’s flu vaccine contract for pandemic strains, including H5N1, impacting pandemic preparedness. Moderna’s Phase 1/2 data showed strong immune response and safety for its H5 avian flu vaccine; the company plans to seek alternative late-stage development paths.

Nvidia (NVDA) - Shares rose almost 5% after hours following a Q1 sales and profit beat, shrugging off soft guidance, and China curbs. It reported Q1 adj. EPS of 0.96 (exp. 0.93), revenue of USD 44.06bln (exp. 43.31bln); Q1 data centre revenue +73% Y/Y to 39.1bln (exp. 39.2bln), Q1 Gaming +42% revenue, auto/robotics +72%. Nvidia said the US government told it during the quarter that its previously approved H20 processor for China now required an export licence; as a result, it took a USD 4.5bln charge tied to excess inventory, and said it missed out on USD 2.5bln in potential sales. Q1 adj gross margin 61% (exp. 71%), would have been 71.3% excluding the China charge). Q2 GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be between 71.8-72.0%, respectively, plus or minus 50bps; Q2 revenue is seen at USD 45.0bln (exp. 46.4bln); it said that the Q2 outlook reflects USD 8bln loss in H20 revenue. Exec said that as AI agents become mainstream, demand for AI computing will accelerate; Blackwell NVL72 AI supercomputer is now in full-scale production across system markets and cloud service providers. Said that as of April 27th, outstanding inventory purchase and long-term supply and capacity obligations increased from the prior year to USD 29.8bln due to commitments, capacity and components for the Blackwell architecture. Microsoft (MSFT) has already deployed tens of thousands of Blackwell GPUs, is expected to ramp to hundreds of thousands of GB200s with OpenAI as one of its key customers. CEO gave interviews post results, and said that US President Trump has a plan, and Huang trusts him. He confirmed that Nvidia is considering new data centre chip for China, but gave no further comment on its current plans for China.

Salesforce (CRM) - Shares finished the extended trading session with gains of 1.1% after Salesforce reported Q1 top- and bottom-line beats, and raised FY sales guidance. Q1 adj. EPS 2.58 (exp. 2.54), Q1 revenue USD 9.80bln (exp. 9.74bln). Q1 adj. operating margin 32.3% (exp. 32.6%). Data Cloud and AI ARR topped USD 1bln (+120% Y/Y); operating cash flow reached USD 6.5bln. Confirmed that it plans to acquire Informatica (INFA). Returned USD 3.1bln to shareholders via buybacks and dividends. Exec said that with the USD weakening in Q1, it now expects a currency tailwind for the business; this has been incorporated into its updated FY26 guidance. Sees Q2 adj. EPS between 2.76-2.78 (exp. 2.72), and Q2 revenue between USD 10.11bln-10.16bln (exp. 10.01bln). Raised FY26 revenue guidance to 41.00-41.3bln (exp. 40.8bln; prev. saw 40.5-40.9bln), citing expected gains from its AI agent product; FY adj. EPS seen between 11.27-11.33 (exp. 11.14).

Tesla (TSLA) - Tesla plans to launch its robotaxi service in Austin on June 12th, ahead of the previously stated end-of-June target, Bloomberg reports. It marks a key step in CEO Musk’s vision to focus Tesla on driverless vehicles and AI, though the date may still be subject to change, the report adds. (Newswires)

US-China - US Commerce spokesperson says US is reviewing exports of strategic significance to China and has suspended some export license while review takes place. (Newswires)

29 May 2025 - 06:58- Data- Source: Newsquawk