Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 9th October 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks were predominantly higher following the tech rebound stateside, where the S&P 500 and NDX notched fresh record levels, while participants were encouraged by an agreement on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal, and with Chinese traders returning from the National Day Golden Week holiday. ASX 200 eked mild gains with strength in mining and materials, while tech and the top-weighted financial industry lagged. Nikkei 225 resumed its recent rally with the ascent spearheaded by tech advances following the strength in US counterparts. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were somewhat mixed as the Hong Kong benchmark took a backseat to the Mainland Chinese markets, which reopened for the first time this month, while there were also divergences between some banks as Hang Seng Bank was the biggest gainer after jumping more than 26% and with HSBC in the red after proposing to take the former private.

Rare Earths - China government announces export controls on rare earth materials with MOFCOM stating that foreign firms and individuals must obtain dual use items export license regarding rare earth exports, requirements take effect from December 1st. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.63% at 5,649, Dax 40 +0.98% at 24,624, FTSE 100 +0.69% at 9,549, CAC 40 +1.07% at 8,060, FTSE MIB +0.96% at 43,484, IBEX 35 +1.15% at 15,706, PSI +0.40% at 8,149, SMI +0.95% at 12,651, AEX -0.01% at 961

SECTORS: Financials 1.22%, Industrials 1.07%, Healthcare 0.97%, Consumer Disc 0.82%, Materials 0.74%, Consumer Stpl 0.54%, Utilities 0.49%, Telecoms 0.45%, Energy -0.01%, IT -0.79% 

FTSE 100

Ex-dividends - Tesco (TSCO LN), Barratt Redrow (BTRW LN), Kingfisher (KGF LN) , WPP (WPP LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out. (dividenddata)

HSBC (HSBA LN) - Co. proposes privatisation of Hang Seng Bank (11 HK). CEO says communicated about Hang Seng Bank's commercial real estate exposure, and we remain constructive on the outlook for the sector in the medium to long term. (Newswires)

Shell (SHEL LN) - Co. nears US license to export Venezuelan gas to Trinidad, Bloomberg reports. (Bloomberg)

UK Energy - Britain's energy grid operators are confident of sufficient electricity and gas supply this winter, while peak British day gas demand seen at 182 MCM this winter versus peak supply 565 MCM. (Newswires)

Unilever (ULVR LN) - Co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, Ben Cohen, said he expects the conflict between the ice-cream maker and Unilever to continue. (Newswires)

UK RICS - UK RICS Housing Survey (Sep) -15.0 vs. Exp. -18.0 (Prev. -19.0, Rev. -18). (RICS)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Anglo American (AAL LN) PT raised to 2760p (prev. 1980p) at JP Morgan

Burberry (BRBY LN) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

Glencore (GLEN LN) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan; PT 400p (prev. 370p)

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) PT raised to 6170p (prev. 5450p) at JP Morgan

DAX

Mercedes Benz (MBG GY) - Mercedes Benz Mobility is to merge with Mercedes Benz AG under new leadership. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Gerresheimer (GXI GY) - Q3 (EUR): Revenue 560.7mln, -18% Y/Y. Downgrades guidance and now sees Organic Revenues to fall 2-4% (prev. guided +0-2%). Co. said it expects a stronger Q4'25 versus the prior quarter due to planned production ramp-ups for drug delivery systems, but still not enough to achieve previously announced guidance. (Newswires)

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - 9M Order Intake increased to 2,170 MW (prev. 1,726 MW). Sees continued stable pricing environment. (Newswires)

Suedzucker (SZU GY) - Q2 (EUR): Op. Profit 20mln (prev. 114mln Y//Y), EBITDA 189mln (prev. 420mln Y/Y). Co. cited low EU sugar prices, and a reduction in prices was unable to compensate. Confirms outlook. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Nordex (NDX1 GY) initiated with Underperform at RBC

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP) - September update: 73 deliveries (prev. 61), 10 gross orders (prev. 99), 507 deliveries from Jan-Sept (prev. 434). (Newswires)

Alstom (ALO FP) - Co. names Martin Sion CEO as of April 1st, 2026. (Newswires)

French stocks - Caretaker PM French Lecornu says as of this evening, he considers the mission finished; there is a majority in parliament that are against the dissolution of parliament, could have a new PM in 48 hours Told French President Macron that the prospect of dissolution is becoming more remote. French President Macron will name new PM in next 48 hours, Elysee reports; says there is a possible path to a budget by December 31st

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Alten (ATE FP) - Co. names Cyril Malarge as CEO, effective 31 January 2026. Simon Azoulay will remain on the board as Chairman. (Alten)

Sodexo (SW FP) - Co. appoints Thierry Delaporte as CEO, effective November 10 2025. (Sodexo)

Sopra Steria (SOP FP) - CEO Cyril Malarge to step down, effective immediately. (Sopra Steria)

BROKER MOVES

LVMH (MC FP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

Worldline (WLN FP) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

PAN EUROPE

Advertising names / WPP (WPP LN) / Publicis (PUB FP) - India's Madison communications asked the Court to end antitrust probe into the Ad agency, via Reuters citing a court filing. (Reuters) As a reminder, WPP and Publicis were among the firms raided previously

Edison (EDNR IM) - EDF execs meet with bankers in Paris to discuss IPO options for Edison. (Newswires)

Freeneet (FNTN GY) - Co. acquired MobileZone Deutschland; transaction is exp. to be completed in Q4'25. (Newswires)

Geopols - Hamas-Israel agree on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire deal. Israel's Channel 14 reports the ceasefire will come into effect today at 12:00 noon (10:00BST/05:00EDT), according to Al Arabiya. (Al Arabiya)

Repsol (REP SM) - Co. estimates Q3 production at 551k BOE/D, Q3 refining margin indicator in Spain at USD 8.80/bbl. (Newswires)

OMV (OMV AV) - Co. recorded lower avg. energy prices in Q3. Q3 average realized natural gas price was EUR 27.3 per megawatt hour. Q3 OMV refining indicator margin Europe was USD 11.54/bbl. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

ASML (ASML NA) raised PT to EUR 900 (prev. EUR 680) at Barclays

EDP (EDPR PL) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

Kingspan (KGP ID) downgraded to Underweight from Equal weight at Barclays

Puig (PUIG SM) downgraded to Underweight from Overweight at JP Morgan

SMI

Clariant (CLN SW) - Expands its capacity at Daya Bay facility in China, representing a total investment of CHF 100mln. (Clariant)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Givaudan (GIVN SW) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Norsk Hydro (NHY NO) upgraded to Buy from Hold at SEB.

US

BlackRock (BLK) is seeking cash from Jefferies (JEF) fund hit by First Brands, according to Bloomberg

Ford Motor (F) - Cp. is reportedly pausing production next week at the Dearborn, Michigan, plant that makes its F-150 Lightning electric pickup, according to Reuters citing a union official; due to the fire at a supplier's NY aluminium factor. (Reuters)

Jefferies Financial (JEF) - Jefferies is under scrutiny following the collapse of First Brands Group, its long-time client. The bankruptcy, driven by heavy reliance on supply-chain financing, has raised questions about Jefferies’ role as First Brands’ go-to banker over the past decade.

Microsoft (MSFT), OpenAI - Microsoft is expanding its AI ambitions beyond OpenAI, focusing on healthcare to strengthen its Copilot chatbot and build its own AI brand, and is increasing staffing at its internal lab to accelerate development, WSJ reports. It is updating its Copilot AI assistant with healthcare capabilities through a new partnership with Harvard Medical School, using content from Harvard Health Publishing; the update, which WSJ said is expected this month, involves a licensing fee to the university and forms part of Microsoft’s strategy to reduce reliance on OpenAI for AI training models.

NVIDIA (NVDA) - The US approved several billion dollars worth of NVIDIA chip exports to the UAE under a bilateral AI agreement signed in May. The licences, issued by the Commerce Department, will support UAE data centre expansion. The deal allows imports of up to 500k advanced Nvidia chips annually from 2025.

09 Oct 2025 - 07:02- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk