Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 9th December 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks were subdued following the lacklustre lead from Wall Street with markets cautious ahead of the FOMC policy announcement on Wednesday, where participants will also be eyeing the central bank's latest dot plot projections, while downside was stemmed in the region amid a further warming of US-China trade relations after US President Trump confirmed that the US will permit NVIDIA (NVDA) to sell its H200 chips to China. ASX 200 was pressured following the RBA rate decision where the central bank unsurprisingly kept the Cash Rate unchanged at 3.60%, although comments from RBA Governor Bullock at the press conference leaned hawkish as she stated that it looks like more rate cuts are not needed and she doesn't see rate cuts in the foreseeable future, while she added that the outlook is for an extended pause or hikes, but would not put a probability on it. Nikkei 225 lacked conviction and swung between gains and losses within a narrow range following recent currency weakness and anticipation that the BoJ will hike rates next week. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were subdued after the readout from yesterday's Politburo meeting underwhelmed, as some were hoping for more forceful measures, while chipmakers in China were pressured in early trade after US President Trump's announcement to allow NVIDIA to sell chips to approved customers in China.

BHP (BHP AT) - Co. enters a USD 2bln binding agreement with Global Infrastructure Partners on WAIO's Inland Power network. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.01% at 5,724, Dax 40 +0.11% at 24,056, FTSE 100 -0.23% at 9,645, CAC 40 -0.08% at 8,108, FTSE MIB +0.00% at 43,433, IBEX 35 +0.14% at 16,712, PSI +0.02% at 8,200, SMI +0.37% at 12,984, AEX -0.25% at 945.

SECTORS: Industrials 0.51%, Financials 0.47%, IT 0.43%, Utilities 0.06%, Healthcare -0.03%, Energy -0.26%, Materials -0.65%, Telecoms -0.94%, Consumer Stpl -0.95%, Consumer Disc -1.11%

FTSE 100

UK Consumer Spending - Barclays UK November Consumer Spending fell 1.1% Y/Y (prev. -0.8%), largest decline since February 2021. (Barclays)

UK BRC - UK BRC Total Sales YY (Nov) 1.4% (Prev. 1.6%); Retail Sales YY (Nov) 1.2% (Prev. 1.5%); an analyst at KPMG said, "Rising household costs and nervousness about the economy continue to impact discretionary buying". (BRC)

Unilever (ULVR LN) - Co. to consolidate shares on an 8-for-9 ratio, following the demerger of its Magnum ice cream unit. Shareholders to receive 8 new shares for every 9 existing, which will become effective 9 December 2025. (Unilever)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Man (EMG LN) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan; analysts see material earnings growth thanks to improving fund performance.

DAX

Siemens Energy (ENR GY) - Ananym Capital has built a stake in Siemens Energy and is pushing the Co. to spin off its wind business, according to the FT. Ananym said strong gas turbine and grid power demand is being held back by the loss-making wind business. In response, Siemens said the co. values constructive input from shareholders. (FT)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Evotec (EVT GY) - Bloomberg reports that Novo Nordisk (NOVOB DC) is looking to cut its stake in Evotec; Novo Holdings aims to sell 9.4mln shares, which represents approx. 5% of the share capital. (Bloomberg)

Thyssenkrupp (TKA GY) - Co. now expects to see a net loss in 2026 amidst steel restructuring provisions. In 25/26 (EUR): Expects Net Loss 400-800mln (prev. 465mln in 24/25). Sees FCF before M&A of -300 to -600mln (prev. 363mln in 24/25). Expects Sales Development of -2% to +1% in 25/26 (exp. +3.7%). In Q4: Expects Order Intake 6.98bln, -12% Y/Y. Sees Sales 8.28bln (exp. 8.31bln). To propose a stable dividend of EUR 0.15/shr for 24/25. CFO: "Through the measures that are planned for the current year and already factored in ... we are creating the basis for sustainably improving our earnings". (Thyssenkrupp) Shares -3.9% in pre-market trade

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Co. received an order for 102 MW in France and Belgium. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

French stocks - French PM Lecornu faces a crucial National Assembly vote on Tuesday on the 2026 social security budget, which includes welfare, health and pension spending and concessions to opposition groups; the outcome could heighten political turbulence and uncertainty over France’s plans to address gaps in its public finances. (Newswires)

Renault (RNO FP) and Ford (F) - Cos announce a joint partnership to develop Ford-branded small EVs for Europe. Renault to produce two affordable EVs for Ford at its plant in Northern France. Partnership will also include the development of commercial vans for Europe. (Renault)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Spie (SPIE FP) - Co. acquired Cyqueo, no terms. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Sodexo (SW FP) downgraded to Add from Buy at AlphaValue

PAN EUROPE

ASM International (ASM NA) - CEO and Supervisory Board member nominated for reappointment, with the latter to retire in 2027. (Newswires)

Defence names - Germany is to approve EUR 52bln in military orders, via Bloomberg. (Bloomberg) German defence names such as Rheinmetall (RHM GY) and Renk (R3NK GY) are indicated higher by 2-4%.

Geopols - Ukrainian President Zelensky said talks in London were productive and there is small progress towards peace. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Novartis (NOVN SW) - Co. will pay as much as USD 1.7bln to Relation Therapeutics to help find drug targets which aim to treat allergic diseases, according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

Roche (ROG SW) - Roche launches new PCR test to help improve diagnostic accuracy for women affected by vaginitis in countries following the CE Mark. The new PCR test aids in the diagnosis of infectious causes of vaginitis through the detection of bacteria associated with bacterial vaginosis and yeast associated with candida vaginitis. Elsewhere, European Commission approves Roche’s Gazyva/Gazyvaro for adults with active lupus nephritis. (Roche)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

DKSH (DKSH SW) - Co. has submitted an offer to fully take over its Malaysian subsidiary DKSH Holdings, by taking over the remaining outstanding 25.7% of shares currently held by minority shareholders. (DKSH)

Genmab (GMAB DC) - Genmab announced new and updated data from three arms of the ongoing Phase 1b/2 EPCORE® CLL-1 trial (NCT04623541) evaluating the efficacy and safety of epcoritamab-bysp, a T-cell engaging bispecific antibody administered subcutaneously, as a monotherapy and in combination for the treatment of patients with Richter transformation (RT), a rare complication in which chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) evolves into an aggressive lymphoma, most often diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). (Genmab)

BROKER MOVES

Swiss Re (SREN SW) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citi

Swiss Re (SREN SW) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Berenberg

SCANDINAVIA

Skanska (SKAB SS) - Co. signs an additional contract for a data centre in the US, for USD 105mln. (Newswires)

Sydbank (SYDB DC) - Bankdata is chosen as IT solutions provider for Al Sydbank. Merger and integration costs exp. to be around DKK 1.4-1.9bln. Sees FY Net Income DKK 1.7-1.9bln. (Newswires)

Volvo (VOLCARB SS) - Co. is reportedly looking to offer its software to rivals, suggesting it has moved past recent coding-related delays, writes Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

EQT (EQT SS) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.35% at 6,847, NDX -0.25% at 25,628, DJI -0.45% at 47,739, RUT -0.02% at 2,251

SECTORS: Communication Services -1.77%, Materials -1.66%, Consumer Discretionary -1.53%, Utilities -1.30%, Health -1.27%, Energy -1.04%, Consumer Staples -0.90%, Real Estate -0.65%, Financials -0.39%, Industrials -0.14%, Technology +0.93%.

Alphabet (GOOG) - Google’s TPU demand is expected to remain strong through 2027 on AI workloads such as Gemini, but 2026 output growth may be constrained by limited CoWoS advanced-packaging capacity and memory supply, according to Digitimes.

Kinder Morgan (KMI) - Raised FY26 adj. EPS view to 1.37 (exp. 1.37; prev. saw 1.27), with management expecting approx. +4% adj. EBITDA growth and +8% adj. EPS growth vs the 2025 guidance given on the Q3 earnings call, driven by expansion projects in the Natural Gas Pipelines segment. It sees an annualised 2026 dividend of USD 1.19, marking a ninth consecutive yearly increase, and sees year-end 2026 net debt/adj. EBITDA at 3.8x, the low end of its 3.5–4.5x range. Execs highlighted continued execution on expansion projects and strong natural gas fundamentals and cited a stable base business with growth led by Natural Gas Pipelines.

NVIDIA (NVDA) - US President Trump says he informed Chinese President Xi that US will allow NVIDIA (NVDA) to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China and other countries, adds same approach will apply to AMD (AMD), Intel (INTC) and other great US companies. (Newswires)

PepsiCo (PEP) - PepsiCo reached an agreement with Elliott Investment Management, which in September disclosed a USD 4bln stake, to cut costs and reduce prices to revive its slowing food business, WSJ reports. The beverage maker will lower expenses, reduce US product lines by 20% and cut some food prices in the new year.

S&P 500 (SPX) - Ares Management (ARES) will join the S&P 500 on 11th December, replacing Kellanova (K), which is being acquired by Mars. Vital Farms (VITL) will enter the S&P SmallCap 600 the same day, replacing Heidrick & Struggles (HSII). Sezzle (SEZL) will join the index on 15th December, replacing Vital Energy (VTLE), which Crescent Energy (CRGY) is acquiring.

09 Dec 2025 - 06:59- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk