[MARKET ANALYSIS] European bourses softer with SMI underperforming despite positive ABB and Partners Group earnings; US equity futures unreactive following TSMC metrics

European bourses (STOXX 600 -0.5%) begin Thursday’s trade entirely in the red, with underperformance in the SMI (-0.8%) after earnings from Partners Group and ABB (see more below). On the data front, UK GDP M/M printed 0.1% M/M, in line with expectations, while the 3M ticked down to 0.7%, from 0.8%, but beat the 0.5% consensus; no reaction seen in the FTSE 100.
Sectors highlight the negative bias, with Media (+0.6%) the only sector printing modest gains after earnings from Publicis (+2.1%), raising its FY revenue guidance. Underperformance is seen in Utilities (-1.1%), followed by Industrial Goods & Services (-1.0%) and Financial Services (-1.1%).
As stated above, underperformance in the SMI comes amid earnings reports by ABB (-3.4%) and Partners Group (-4.4%). Starting with ABB, Q2 revenue and order beat estimates while announcing the acquisition of Rotork (+66.9%) for an enterprise value of c. USD 5.5bln. In the earnings call, the executives highlighted that the Co. has a solid pipeline for future business with data centres and could spend up to USD 14bln on acquisitions following the Rotork purchase. For Partners Group, H1 inflows beat estimates and reconfirmed its gross new client demand guidance for FY26. However, the Co. said they are considering paring back the overall sizes of its evergreen funds.
Other key movers include: Telenor (-12.3%), Q2 revenue missed estimates and cuts its guidance; Delivery Hero (-0.4%), agrees to Uber’s USD 14.8bln acquisition offer; Diploma (+4.2%), raises its FY26 guidance.
US equity futures follow their European peers, trading entirely in the red, despite strong TSMC earnings and an Nvidia announcement. For TSMC, the Co. reported Q2 metrics that beat estimates and raised its Q3 revenue guidance. Additionally, the co. is to add another USD 100bln of US investment. For Nvidia, the Co. announced that Japan, through Noetra, will buy 27,500 Rubin chips to build AI models for robots.