[MARKET ANALYSIS] European equities gain, Banks benefiting from lower yields and a delay in capital requirements; US equity futures follow peers ahead of FOMC

Newsquawk Staff · 18 Mar 2026, 09:35 UTC

European bourses (STOXX 600 +0.5%) are broadly in the green, ex. SMI (-0.4%), as the resumption of exports through Ceyhan port weigh on oil prices. Bank-heavy IBEX 35 (+1.1%) leads its peers, closely followed by the CAC 40 (+0.8%). As already mentioned, the SMI is weighed down by losses in Logitech (-5.7%), after the Co. was downgraded to neutral from buy at UBS.
Sectors show a positive bias. Banks (+1.9%) outperform amid a FT report that the EU is to delay the increase to bank capital requirements, Santander +1.9%, SocGen +3.3%, Intesa Sanpaolo +1.9%. At the bottom of the pile lies Food, Beverages and Tobacco (-1.1%), following earnings by Hellofresh (-12.2%) that guided adj. EBITDA below analyst expectations.
Other key movers include Heidelberg Materials (+4.0%), Unilever (-0.9%) and Diploma (+17.4%). For Unilever, Bloomberg reported that the Co. is in the early stages of considering a separation of its food assets, with talks being in the preliminary stages. For Heidelberg Materials, the Co. got a double upgrade at Morgan Stanley, giving it an outperform rating from underperform after analysts think investors have become unjustifiably concerned about concrete prices in an environment of lower emission costs. Diploma is the biggest gainer following a trading update that upgraded its organic revenue growth guidance for 2026 to 9% (prev. guided 6%).
US equity futures (ES +0.5%, NQ +0.6%, RTY +1.6%) are gaining for a third consecutive day ahead of the FOMC announcement, in which the Board is expected to remain on hold.

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US Market Open, 28 Oct, 10:34 UTC · what it led with

NQ futures outperform following SK Hynix's upbeat earnings.
DXY flat; NZD hit after the RBNZ unexpectedly held rates steady.

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Riksbank maintains its rate at 1.75% as expected; assesses that the probability of a rate increase later this year remains; there is considerable uncertainty and developments call for vigilance
EUR/SEK+0.3%
Norges Bank maintains its rate at 4.25% as expected; may still become necessary to raise the policy rate
EUR/NOK+0.6%
US President Trump expected to remove some tariffs on Canada in a bid to help Senator Susan Collins, WSJ reports.
USD/CAD−0.2%

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