[MARKET ANALYSIS] European bourses softer as US apply new levies, ITX SM bid on encouraging earnings; US equity futures mixed

European bourses (STOXX 600 -0.3%) start Wednesday's session with modest losses due to the introduction of new levies on US imports related to its 301 investigations. A 10% tariff has been applied to imports from Canada, Mexico, the EU, Taiwan and the UK, while some countries, including China and Japan, have received a higher 12.5% levy. Analysts see the potential for further underperformance in Europe as the US would want to target industries that compete with firms, which puts Europe's autos, pharmaceuticals and industrial machinery firms at risk. EZ final PMIs were released, in which the prelim. figures have mostly been revised higher but still remain within contractionary.
Sectors highlight a negative bias. Financial Services (-1.6%) and Autos (-1.3%) are the laggards, with Chemicals (-1.3%) rounding out the bottom three. At the top end lies Retail (+2.9%), the sole sector printing decent gains, helped by gains in Inditex (+5.9%) after the Co. reported Q1 earnings that came in line with expectations, while sales in May rose 11.5%.
Other key movers: AkzoNobel (-18.1%), as Nippon Paint and Sherwin-Williams end efforts for a joint acquisition; B&M (+14.8%), sees a return to a double-digit EBITDA margin in a turnaround attempt; Partners Group (-17%), caps withdrawal from a private equity fund due to rising redemption pressure.
US equity futures (ES -0.1%), again, print modest pre-cash losses. This pattern has been printed for 3 days in a row, with the losses being completely reversed when cash trade gets underway. Positive news for Meta, after an EU judge ruled that the European Commission's designation of Meta's Marketplace was wrong. However, the judge also said the Messenger service should be targeted by the Digital Markets Act.