Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 6th January 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly higher following the positive handover from Wall Street, where all major indices gained amid outperformance in energy and a softer yield environment. ASX 200 was the laggard with the index dragged lower by weakness in defensives and the top weighted financial sector, while metal and mining stocks were boosted after the recent climb in underlying commodity prices and reports of an AUD 8.8bln takeover offer for BlueScope Steel. Nikkei 225 rallied at the open to back above the 52,000 level with the advances led by mining and tech-related stocks. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp conformed to the predominantly upbeat mood, with outperformance in Hong Kong helped by strength in some property names and miners, while aluminium producer China Hongqiao Group led the advances as aluminium prices printed fresh three-year highs.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +1.30% at 5,926, Dax 40 +1.29% at 24,856, FTSE 100 +0.54% at 10,005, CAC 40 +0.20% at 8,212, FTSE MIB +1.04% at 45,847, IBEX 35 +0.70% at 17,614, PSI +0.82% at 8,470, SMI -0.24% at 13,235, AEX +1.81% at 985

SECTORS: IT 4.26%, Industrials 2.49%, Financials 1.10%, Materials 0.77%, Utilities 0.17%, Energy 0.04%, Consumer Disc 0.01%, Healthcare -0.06%, Telecoms -0.15%, Consumer Stpl -1.38%

FTSE 100

BP (BP/ LN), TechnipFMC (FTI) - TechnipFMC was awarded a large iEPCI contract by BP for the greenfield Tiber development in the Gulf of America, leveraging work from the Kaskida project awarded in 2024. The contract is valued at USD 600–800mln and was included in inbound orders in the fourth quarter of 2025. (Newswires)

FTSE 100 - Goldman Sachs raises FTSE 100 target to 10,400 (prev. 10,300) for the next 12 months. (Newswires)

UK BRC - UK BRC Shop Price Index YY (Dec) 0.7% (Prev. 0.6%). "This year, retailers will continue to do all they can to keep prices down. While falling energy prices and improved crop supply should help ease some cost pressures, increased public policy costs and regulation will likely keep inflation sticky". (BRC)

UK Debt - UK looks to promote short-term Treasury bills to retail investors, via FT. Push by Treasury comes as government seeks to cut reliance on long-term debt issuance. (FT)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DCC (DCC LN) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Diageo (DGE LN) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC 

DAX

BMW (BMW GY) - Co. to integrate Amazon’s (AMZN) Alexa+ into in-vehicle voice assistant. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Nordex Group receives orders from UKA totalling 224 MW for projects in Germany. The orders for N175/6.X turbines with a total output of 224.4 MW are part of an existing framework agreement between the two companies. (Nordex)

BROKER MOVES

Adidas (ADS GY) downgraded to Underperform from Buy at Bank of America

CAC

Nexans (NEX FP) - Co. states that the Great Sea Interconnector project is going ahead in-line with the milestones defined since 2023. Some rescheduling has occurred, but will not affect 2028 guidance. (Nexans)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

AB InBev (ABI BB) - Co. reacquired 49.9% in US metal container plants for USD 3bln; deal includes the acquisition of seven plants across six different states. The Co. is expected to fund the deal with cash, and exp. to close in Q1'26. (AB InBev)

A2A (A2A IM) - Co. says Italy antitrust regulator opens investigation into the Co. over alleged violations in EV charging services market. (Newswires)

ENI (ENI IM) - Co. and Repsol (REP SM) are said to be in a struggle to recoup USD 6bln in gas payments from Venezuela, according to FT. (FT)

Fagron (FAGR BB) - Announces the completion of the transaction of Purifama in Brazil. (Fagron)

Pirelli (PIRC IM) - The Italian government, Pirelli and shareholders are seeking to end Sinochem’s 37% stake amid pressure ahead of a US ban on Chinese-backed car software and hardware taking effect in March, FT reports. Sinochem has appointed BNP Paribas to explore options, including a sale, as Rome considers using its golden powers. (FT)

STOXX 600 - Goldman Sachs raises STOXX 600 target to 625 (prev. 615) for the next 12 months. By Sector (Europe): Upgrades; Basic Resources to Neutral from Underweight, Financials to Overweight from Neutral. Downgrades; Insurance to Neutral from Overweight, Food, Bev & Tobacco to Neutral from Overweight. (Newswires)

Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) - Q4 US sales +4% Y/Y to 121.2k. (Stellantis)

TomTom (TOM2 NA) - TomTom and Uber strengthen ties to enhance on-demand travel experiences globally. (TomTom)

WDP (WDP BB) - Co. invests EUR 58mln in the Port of Le Havre and realises disposal to end-user. (WDP)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Holcim (HOLN SW) - Co. said it had completed the acquisition of Alkern. Value-accretive acquisition to deliver run-rate EBITDA synergies of EUR 11 million in year three, EPS accretive in year one. Acquisition to advance Holcim's NextGen Growth 2030 target for Building Solutions to reach 50% of 2030 net sales. (Holcim)

Nestle (NESN SW) - Co. is recalling a number of baby formula batches, citing toxin related risks which have been leading to nausea and vomiting. In the notice, Nestle said it was a "precautionary measure" and that "the safety and wellbeing of babies is our absolute priority". (Sky News)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Bucher Industries (BUCN SW) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS

SGS (SGSN SW) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.64% at 6,902, NDX +0.77% at 25,401, DJI +1.23% at 48,977, RUT +1.58% at 2,548

SECTORS: Utilities -1.16%, Consumer Staples -0.33%, Health -0.31%, Technology -0.15%, Real Estate +0.15%, Communication Services +0.73%, Industrials +1.14%, Materials +1.21%, Consumer Discretionary +1.93%, Financials +2.16%, Energy +2.67%.

AMD (AMD) - AMD's CEO Su showcased MI455 and MI440X AI chips at CES, and previewed MI500 processors promising major performance gains, and are set to launch in 2027. OpenAI endorsed the advances. AMD also launched Ryzen AI 400 and AI Max+ chips, as competition with Nvidia (NVDA) and Intel (INTC) intensifies. (Newswires)

CoreWeave (CRWV), Nvidia (NVDA) - CoreWeave will add Nvidia’s Rubin technology to its AI cloud platform, expanding support for agentic AI, reasoning and large-scale inference workloads. The company expects to be among the first cloud providers to deploy the Rubin platform in H2 2026. (Newswires)

Energy Names - Trump admin has held no conversations with Exxon (XOM), Conoco (COP), or Chevron (CVX) about Venezuela before or since Maduro’s capture, according to reports citing four oil industry execs. (Newswires)

Eli Lilly (LLY) - Eli Lilly cut prices of its obesity and diabetes drug Mounjaro in China, intensifying competition with Novo Nordisk (NVO) and local rivals, Bloomberg reports. The lowest dose now sells for CNY 599 (down from CNY 1,758), while the highest dose costs CNY 1,599 (vs CNY 4,758 previously), with further discounts online. (Bloomberg)

Intel (INTC) - Intel launched its Panther Lake mobile processors as Core Ultra Series 3 at CES 2026, with laptops shipping this week. Built on Intel 18A, the rearchitected SoC targets higher performance and efficiency, features Arc B390 integrated graphics with XeSS 3, supports gaming handhelds, and emphasises on-device AI advantages. (Intel)

Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia CEO Huang said the company’s next generation of chips is in full production, delivering up to five times more AI computing. The Vera Rubin platform is set to debut later this year. Huang said there is strong demand from China for H200 chips, while the company has applied for licenses to ship these H200 chips to China, and US government is working to process them. Nvidia also announced the Alpamayo model for thinking vehicles and unveiled Cosmos open-world foundation models aimed at enabling more humanlike AI reasoning. It also launched new Nemotron, Cosmos and Clara AI models designed to advance speech intelligence, multimodal reasoning and real-world medical applications. (Newswires)

Microchip Technology (MCHP) - Shares rose 3% in extended trading after it raised its FY26 Q3 net sales forecast to about USD 1.19bln (prev. saw 1.11–1.15bln), citing recovery across end markets and strong bookings. The company cut inventory, expects lower write-offs, plans March quarter production ramp. Updated guidance comes ahead of results due on 5th February. (Microchip)

06 Jan 2026 - 06:55- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk