[MARKET ANALYSIS] European bourses trade modestly firmer; Energy leads amidst the ongoing US-Iran conflict

Newsquawk Staff · 20 Jul 2026, 09:07 UTC

European equity futures are mixed, following on from a similar theme seen across APAC indices. Early morning action saw indices broadly subdued, reacting to the latest round of US-Iran strikes, where Iran officially suspended its cooperation in the Islamabad MoU. However, the Iranian Foreign Minister lifted sentiment after he stated that negotiations with the US could be pursued, based on national interests; he added that intermediaries shared messages with Tehran in recent days. This spurred some mild upticks across European indices.
European sectors hold a very slight negative bias. Energy unsurprisingly takes the top spot, given the aforementioned geopolitical developments. Tech and Media complete the top three. The tech strength comes in contrast to the underperformance seen in APAC trade, whereby the likes of Samsung (-4.3%) and SK Hynix (-4.2%) both extended lower. No particular driver for the strength seen across European tech names, but potentially some positioning into a busy tech-earnings slate this week. To the downside, Travel & Leisure has been dragged down by a) elevated energy prices, b) Ryanair earnings. On the latter point, Ryanair extends lower by c. 5.9%, after reporting a miss on its headline metrics and sees lower summer fares citing waning demand. It also suggested that it has no visibility for H2, amidst the ongoing Iran uncertainty.
Key Movers: UK Homebuilders (Barratt Redrow -1.4%) are in the red, given elevated yields and cooling Rightmove House Price data. Prysmian (+1.8%) gains after it signed a 10-year optical cables deal for EUR 5.5bln. The co. expects annual revenue of up to EUR 1.1bln from 2031. Segro (-1.4%) rejected another offer from Prologis, valuing the Co. at GBP 9.93/shr (vs current 884p/shr).
US equity futures are firmer this morning, with very mild outperformance in the NQ. On the tech front, AMD (+0.9% pre-market) is reportedly to unveil EPYC Venice processors and Instinct MI450, MI455 and MI550 accelerators.

What our latest note said

EU Market Open, 23 Oct, 06:20 UTC · what it led with

APAC equities were under pressure, mostly following the negative tech-led Wall St. handover; European futures now point to a contained open.
USD modestly firmer vs major peers, EUR awaits Moody's and weekend French activity while the NZD made a marginal recovery.

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