Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 9th April 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks were lower in a mild pullback from yesterday's ceasefire-fuelled extremes and as the widespread euphoria gradually waned amid the wide gaps between each side's peace proposals. Furthermore, several strikes had continued in the 24 hours after the announcement, and the inclusion of Lebanon is seen as a key point of contention, while shipping in the Strait of Hormuz remains largely blocked, although a senior Iranian official stated that Iran could open Hormuz on Thursday or Friday ahead of their planned talks. ASX 200 traded little changed amid a lack of data or drivers and with resilience in energy, defensives and financials offsetting the firm losses in the tech sector Nikkei 225 pulled back after the prior day's stellar performance, with the index returning to beneath the 56,000 level amid very few fresh catalysts and the absence of tier-1 data to sustain the previous momentum. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp conformed to the uninspired mood amid concerns regarding the fragility of the US-Iran ceasefire, and with weakness in Chinese tech and property stocks, while there were prior reports that the US FCC will vote on a measure that would ban Chinese labs from testing US electronics.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +5.02% at 5,916, Dax 40 +4.74% at 24,007, FTSE 100 +2.51% at 10,609, CAC 40 +4.49% at 8,264, FTSE MIB +3.70% at 47,092, IBEX 35 +3.64% at 18,079, PSI +0.89% at 9,450, SMI +2.54% at 13,142, AEX +3.22% at 1,003

SECTORS: IT 7.17%, Industrials 6.94%, Consumer Disc 5.84%, Financials 4.60%, Materials 3.50%, Healthcare 2.09%, Consumer Stpl 2.08%, Telecoms 1.83%, Utilities 0.35%, Energy -4.68%

FTSE 100

Ex-Dividends - Lloyds (LLOY LN), InterContinental Hotels (IHG LN), Centrica (CNA LN), Croda (CRDA LN), Haleon (HLN LN), Howden Joinery (HWDN LN), Rentokil (RTO LN), ITV (ITV LN), Harbour Energy (HBR LN), Serco (SRP LN) and Reckitt Benckiser (RKT LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend. (dividenddata)

UK Housing - RICS House Price Balance (Mar) -23% vs. Exp. -18% (Prev. -12%); ead of market research and analysis for RICS said, “Indeed, with average fixed rates climbing back above 5% according to some sources, it is unsurprising that buyer demand has softened.The path ahead hinges on whether or not recent surges in oil and energy costs begin to reverse in what remains a highly uncertain geopolitical environment". (RICS)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Lloyds (LLOY LN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citi

Wickes (WIX LN) initiated with Buy at Berenberg

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Aurubis (NDA GY) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley

Deutsche Bank (DBK GY) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Citi

CAC

Danone (BN FP) - Construction unit expands in the Caribbean with two major education projects, valued at EUR 1.45bln, over the next five years. (Danone)

Kering (KER FP) - Constructive mention in the WSJ, which said that six months into his unexpected appointment at Kering, CEO Luca de Meo is making bold moves that are being closely watched across the luxury industry. The auto-industry veteran has spent his early tenure visiting operations and questioning employees in detail about how everything works. (WSJ)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

JCDecaux (DEC FP) - Co. wins advertising tender for Western Sydney International Airport, Sydney’s new 24-hour airport. (JCDecaux)

Technip Energies (TE FP) - Co. has been awarded a contract for Long Son Petrochemicals enhancement project in Vietnam. (Technip Energies)

Vallourec (VK FP) - Co., with Fervo Energy, announced a five-year supply agreement to support the scaled deployment of geothermal energy across the US. The deal is worth up to USD 800mln over the fiver years. (Vallourec)

BROKER MOVES

Rexel (RXL FP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

PAN EUROPE

Eni (ENI IM) - Libya's NOC Sonatrach has partnered with Eni North Africa in the discovery of new oil and gas at Ghadames Basin, with the well showing production rates of 13M cubic feet of gas and 327 barrels of condensates daily. (NOC)

Fagron (FAGR BB) - Q1 2025 (EUR): Revenue 263mln (exp. 260.7mln). Positive momentum in the roll out of our Brands strategy while operational excellence initiatives continue to deliver benefits. FY 2026 guidance: mid- to high-single digit organic sales growth at CER and a REBITDA margin of c.20% (H2 higher than H1), reflecting the Pharmavit acquisition. (Fagron)

Raiffeisen Bank (RBI AV) - Raiffeisen Bank International AG announces its intention to launch a voluntary takeover offer to the shareholders of Addiko Bank AG (ADKO AV). Co. intends to offer Addiko's shareholders a cash price of EUR 23.05 per Addiko share. (Raiffeisen Bank)

OMV (OMV AV) - Trading Update: Q1 2026 total hydrocarbon production 288k boepd (prev. 310k boepd Y/Y). In the E&P business, Q1/26 production volumes were impacted by the conflict in the Middle East. Sales volumes were additionally impacted by unfavourable lifting schedules in several countries. (OMV)

Shell (SHEL LN), Equinor (EQNR NO), TotalEnergies (TTE FP), Repsol (REP SM) - A Brazilian judge has issued a preliminary injunction to suspend the 12% crude oil export tax on the cos. This follows on from the dispute with the government considering the tax as unconstitutional. (Mercopress)

TomTom (TOM2 NA) - Co. launches Unified Speed Restrictions for higher-precision speed data across ISA, ADAS and automation. (TomTom)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Novartis (NOVN SW) - Co. announces expansion of community health programs to close gaps in heart disease and cancer care, targeting more than 30 countries by 2030. (Novartis)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Galderma (GALD SW) - Co. announced new data from two Investigator-initited trials, which demonstrated the power of Sculptra and Restylane in addressing the aesthetic changes associated with menopause and medication-driven weight loss for the face and body. (Galderma)

BROKER MOVES

Bucher Industries (BUCN SW) initiated with Neutral at Oddo

Swiss Prime Site (SPSN SW) initiated with Hold at Deutsche Bank

SCANDINAVIA

Skanska (SKAB SS) - Co. to build data centre in Georgia, USA, for USD 75mln. (Skanska)

BROKER MOVES

Boliden (BOL SS) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley

DNB (DNB NO) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

DNB (DNB NO) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Nordea

Norsk Hydro (NHY NO) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS

SEB (SEBA SS) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

Swedbank (SWEDA SS) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays

Tele2 (TEL2 SS) downgraded to Sell from Hold at SEB

US

CLOSES: SPX +2.52% at 6,783, NDX +2.90% at 24,903, DJI +2.85% at 47,911, RUT +3.05% at 2,623

SECTORS: Industrials +3.75%, Communication Services +3.44%, Materials +3.38%, Consumer Discretionary +2.82%, Technology +2.77%, Financials +2.59%, Consumer Staples +2.11%, Health +2.06%, Real Estate +1.73%, Utilities +1.02%, Energy -3.66%.

Disney (DIS) - Disney is planning layoffs of as many as 1,000 employees in the coming weeks, including many in its recently consolidated marketing department, WSJ reports. The cuts would be among the first significant moves under new CEO Josh D’Amaro, who took over last month. (WSJ)

Meta Platforms (META) - Meta announced Muse Spark, its first major new LLM in more than a year. The launch is a key test of Meta’s AI ambitions after the disappointing release of its previous model and an expensive overhaul of its AI operations, WSJ writes. The company has spent billions on talent to catch up with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google (GOOG) DeepMind. (WSJ)