Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 21st May 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks mostly rallied as the region took impetus from the gains on Wall Street, with global risk sentiment underpinned following a slide in oil prices due to increased optimism regarding a resolution to the Middle East conflict, after President Trump stated that they are in the final stages of talks with Iran. Furthermore, it was also reported that the Pakistani Army Chief may visit Iran today to announce the achievement of a final draft agreement, while the US side gave Iran a text through a Pakistani mediator after having received Iran's 14-point text a few days ago. ASX 200 climbed higher with the gains led by outperformance in the real estate, mining and materials industries, while the index also shrugged off the weak flash PMIs and disappointing jobs data. Nikkei 225 surged higher amid the decline in energy prices and heavy buying in tech stocks, with SoftBank shares up around 20% following the earnings beat from NVIDIA, while there was a slew of data from Japan which were ultimately mixed, but included stronger-than-expected trade figures. KOSPI outperformed amid tech strength with SK Hynix surging by a double-digit percentage, while Samsung Electronics was boosted by an eleventh-hour tentative wage agreement with the labour union to avert an 18-day mass walkout. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp lagged despite the increased liquidity effort by the PBoC, with price action rangebound and Chinese markets constrained amid weakness in energy stocks and automakers.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +2.09% at 5,975, Dax 40 +1.36% at 24,732, FTSE 100 +0.99% at 10,432, CAC 40 +1.70% at 8,117, FTSE MIB +1.71% at 49,182, IBEX 35 +2.04% at 18,031, PSI +0.96% at 9,248, SMI +0.39% at 13,417, AEX +1.46% at 1,034

SECTORS: IT 3.87%, Industrials 2.28%, Financials 1.96%, Consumer Disc 1.54%, Materials 1.49%, Healthcare 0.51%, Utilities 0.47%, Consumer Stpl -0.17%, Telecoms -0.48%, Energy -0.83%

FTSE 100

Ex-dividends - Imperial Brands (IMB LN) and Bunzl (BNZL LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-out. (dividenddata)

UK Tariffs - UK Chancellor Reeves is set to announce targeted cuts to agrifood tariffs expected to save consumers more than GBP 150mln annually, FT reports. She is also expected to announce free summer bus travel for children, and a GBP 400mln package for motorists and hauliers, including a postponed 5p fuel duty rise and a 12-month road tax holiday for hauliers saving up to GBP 912 per vehicle. Energy bill support for the poorest households will not begin until October, the report suggests. She will not announce on Thursday a radical policy for supermarkets to agree a voluntary cap on the prices of essential groceries after a fierce backlash from the sector, according to the FT. (FT)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

RWE (RWE GY) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at BNP Paribas

CAC

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Ubisoft (UBI FP) - FY 2025-26 (EUR): Adj. Operating Net -1.04bln (exp. -0.98bln), Revenue 1.40bln (prev. 1.90bln Y/Y), Q4 net booking 415mln (guided 390mln), expects a significantly stronger and diversified pipeline of content to come over FY27-28 and FY28-29. Net booking beat driven by stronger-than-expected performance across the back-catalog. Guides Q1 net booking around EUR 250mln, and FY 2026-27 net bookings down by a "high single-digit" percentage. (Ubisoft) Ubisoft results were published just ahead of the European cash close; pressure was seen in co. shares, where it closed -6.5%.

BROKER MOVES

Eiffage (FGR FP) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs

PAN EUROPE

Dsm-firmenich (DSFIR NA) - Co. announces that shares commence trading on SIX Swiss Exchange, establishing dual listing with Euronext Amsterdam. (Dsm-firmenich)

Flughafen Wien (FLU AV) - Q1 2026 (EUR): Net Income 37.2mln (prev. 39.9mln Y/Y), Revenue 240mln (prev. 226mln Y/Y), cuts FY26 Net income to 185mln (prev. guided 210mln). (Flughafen Wien)

Generali (G IM) - Q1 2026 (EUR): Adj. Net Result 1.27bln (prev. 1.20bln Y/Y), Operating Result 2.24bln (prev. 2.10bln Y/Y), Gross Written Premiums 28.16bln (prev. 26.54bln Y/Y), remains committed to deliver its 2025-27 targets. (Generali) Generali conference call to be held at 11:00 BST

KGHM Polska Miedz (PGH PW) - CEO, in an interview, said the Co. wants to strengthen its position in Europe and Africa while monitoring takeover targets in the Americas to grow its business. The CEO further said that it is aiming to add around 100k tonnes of its own annual production from the expansion effort closer to home. (Bloomberg)

SBO (SBO AV) - Q1 2026 (EUR): Sales 98.5mln (prev. 129.2mln Y/Y), EBITDA 11.4mln (prev. 26.4mln Y/Y), Bookings 117.6mln (prev. 108.3mln Y/Y), currently continues to expect a transition year with signs of recovery for the PT division. CEO: "The market environment remains volatile, particularly with regard to developments in the Middle East. With our global setup, we are well positioned to respond to regional shifts and to capture opportunities in different markets." (SBO)

Tech / Chip names - Nvidia shares edged lower in extended trading, despite beating expectations and giving upbeat guidance, amid lofty investor expectations. Some suggested the tech giants sales guidance was disappointing. Samsung (005930 SK) and SK Hynix (000660 SK) shares soared 7.9% and 11.2% respectively, in Asia trade. Full Nvidia result detailed in the US section below.

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Logitech (LOGI SW) - Co. targets mid- to high-single-digit sales growth every quarter in the midterm while keeping operating margins at the high end of the 15-18% long-term model. (Newswires)

Novartis (NOVN SW) - Novartis advances RLT innovation and reinforces leadership in prostate cancer, breast cancer and haematology with new data at ASCO and EHA. Pluvicto PSMAddition oral presentation to highlight efficacy outcomes by disease volume and de novo/recurrent metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. (Novartis)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Swiss Life (SLHN SW) - Q1 2026 (CHF): Fee income 686mln (prev. 659mln Y/Y), Premiums 8.2bln (prev. 7.9bln Y/Y). Co. announces the acquisition of TELIS Group, strengthening its position as a leading financial advisory. (Swiss Life)

BROKER MOVES

Flughafen Zurich (FHZN SW) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

Swiss Re (SREN SW) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS

SCANDINAVIA

Aker BP (AKRBP NO), Equinor (EQNR NO) - Aker BP and Equinor have entered into a strategic collaboration aimed at increasing production and value creation across selected parts of their portfolios on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). Deal valued at around USD 23mln. (Aker BP)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +1.08% at 7,433, NDX +1.66% at 29,298, DJI +1.31% at 50,014, RUT +2.56% at 2,817

SECTORS: Consumer Discretionary +2.50%, Technology +1.87%, Materials +1.39%, Industrials +1.20%, Real Estate +1.15%, Financials +1.07%, Utilities +0.40%, Communication Services +0.16%, Health -0.07%, Consumer Staples -0.97%, Energy -2.59%

Elf Beauty (ELF) - Shares rose in extended trading after it topped expectations on both revenue and profit, and also announced plans to reverse some tariff-driven price increases in acknowledgement of consumer pressure. Q4 EPS 0.32 (exp. 0.29), Q4 revenue USD 449.3mln (exp. 423.0mln). CEO said all five of its brands grew. CEO said that Elf Beauty will roll back some tariff-driven price increases after seeing unit degradation and a steeper demand pullback in recent months, saying the company wants to reinforce its value proposition as consumers face higher costs. Sees FY27 EPS between 3.27-3.32 (exp. 3.61), sees FY27 revenue between USD 1.835-1.865bln (exp. 1.86bln).

Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia shares edged lower in extended trading, despite beating expectations and giving upbeat guidance, amid lofty investor expectations. Some suggested the tech giants sales guidance was disappointing, as well as investors citing mounting competition from rival chipmakers in the AI space, while others pointed to NVDA's remarks that no Data Centre Hopper shipments to China occurred in the quarter, and uncertainty remains over whether any imports will be allowed into China. It reported Q1 adj. EPS 1.87 (exp. 1.75), Q1 revenue USD 81.615bln (exp. 78.78bln). Data centre revenue was USD 75.2bln (exp. 73.48bln), Hyperscale revenue of USD 37.87bln and AI Clouds, Industrial and Enterprise revenue of USD 37.38bln, while adj. gross margin was 75.0% (exp. 75.1%). Nvidia said Blackwell demand drove the fastest product ramp in its history, with partner data centres above ten megawatts nearly doubling in one year, and said Vera Rubin remains on track for production shipments in H2 2026 starting in Q3, though it expects to be supply constrained throughout Vera Rubin’s life. Increased its quarterly dividend to 0.25/shr (from 0.01) and approved an additional USD 80bln share repurchase authorisation, after returning about USD 20.0bln to shareholders in Q1. Nvidia said no Data Centre Hopper shipments to China occurred in the quarter, and it remains uncertain whether any imports will be allowed into China. Sees Q2 revenue between USD 89.18-92.82bln (exp. 86.79bln), sees Q2 adj. gross margin between 74.5-75.5% (exp. 75.0%), and sees Q2 adj. operating expenses about USD 8.3bln (exp. 7.93bln).

SpaceX (SPCX)- SpaceX filed for a Nasdaq IPO under the ticker SPCX; the listing is targeted as early as 12th June. The filing revealed a Q1 net loss of USD 4.28bln on revenue of USD 4.69bln; SpaceX had USD 18.7bln revenue in FY25. The company targets raising up to USD 75bln in its initial sale, at a roughly USD 1.75tln valuation; it would make it the largest stock market flotation ever. Elon Musk’s super-voting shares gives him 85.1% voting power. Goldman Sachs (GS) is expected to be named lead left underwriter for the IPO, with Morgan Stanley (MS) also serving as a lead banker on the prospectus, Reuters reports. Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), and JPMorgan (JPM) are also among 19 banks involved.