Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 21st September 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks were ultimately mixed, but with cautious gains seen for most of the region ahead of this week's key meetings in the US, including the UN General Assembly and the Trump-Xi summit, while there are also thinned conditions with the closure of Japanese markets through to Wednesday. ASX 200 was uneventful amid mixed M&A related headlines and further RBA rate hike calls, with CBA bringing forward its rate hike call to September from November, while ANZ expects hikes in both September and November. KOSPI outperformed as tech stocks took impetus from the advances in the Nasdaq last Friday. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mildly higher ahead of the Trump-Xi summit this week and after US and Chinese officials held talks in New York ahead of the leaders' meeting, with China's top trade negotiator describing the discussions as 'not bad', while state media noted the sides had frank, in-depth and constructive exchanges on important economic and trade issues of mutual concern, as well as holding dialogue on AI-related issues.

CXMT (688825 CH) - Co. announces the mass production of 5th-generation DRAM technology platform. (CXMT)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -1.49% at 6,229, DAX -1.63% at 25,296, CAC 40 -1.49% at 8,065, FTSE 100 -1.45% at 10,659, SMI -1.15% at 13,787, FTSE MIB -1.60% at 51,545, IBEX 35 -1.60% at 19,514, PSI -1.33% at 9,542, AEX -0.52% at 1,095.

SECTORS: IT 0.86%, Healthcare -0.31%, Energy -0.45%, Industrials -1.01%, Utilities -1.15%, Consumer Stpl -1.22%, Materials -1.51%, Financials -1.75%, Consumer Disc -2.22%, Telecoms -3.38%

FTSE 100

DCC Energy (DCC LN) - Co. shareholders have approved a takeover deal by KKR (KKR) and Energy Capital Partners for over GBP 5.7bln. The transaction is expected to be completed in Q1'27. (DCC)

UK Housing - Rightmove House Prices MM (Sep) 0.7% (Prev. -2.0%); Rightmove House Prices YY (Sep) -0.8% (Prev. -1.0%).

UK Property Tax - The UK Government is reportedly looking at plans to expand a new property tax to include homes worth over GBP 1.5mln, The Times reports. The report added that extending the tax to include lower value properties would more than double the number of homes caught to 271k. (The Times)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Barratt Redrow (BTRW LN) downgraded to Hold from Add at Peel Hunt

IMI (IMI LN) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at BNP Paribas

DAX

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY), Porsche AG (P911 GY) - Porsche could face around 4,100 additional job cuts under Volkswagen’s restructuring plan, Handelsblatt reports. The proposed reductions would address an overhead shortfall of about EUR 700mln and come on top of previously agreed cuts. (Handelsblatt)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

French Credit Rating - Scope downgrades France’s long-term ratings to 'A+' from 'AA-' and revises the outlooks to stable; DBRS affirms France at 'AA', lowers French outlook to negative.

Societe Generale (GLE FP) - Co. announces 2029 targets: Guides avg. CAGR in Group revenues of around 3%, ROTE between 13-14% in 2029 and over 15% beyond 2030, CET1 ratio above 13%. (Societe Generale)

TotalEnergies (TTE FP) - Co. signs a MoU with Venezuela; no details available. (Reuters)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Arkema (AKE FP) - Co. announces that it has secured a new tank storage capacity of 3,000 m³ for Glacial Acrylic Acid at the Ulsan HDOT terminal in Korea. (PR Newswire)

Technip Energies (TE FP) - Co. announces an exclusive LCA with SABIC, under which Technip will act as the worldwide licensor of SABIC’s well-established Low-Density Polyethylene Clean Tubular Reactor technology. (Technip Energies)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

InPost (INPST NA) - An Advent- and FedEx (FDX)-led consortium cleared the 80% acceptance threshold required to acquire InPost for EUR 7.8bln. (Bloomberg)

Telefonica (TEF SM) - Co. is integrating Telefonica Tech functionally into Telefonica Espana, Expansion reports. (Expansion)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Galderma (GALD SW) - Co. joins the SMI. Raises its FY26 guidance, now sees net sales growth between 19-21% (prev. guided 17-20%). (Galderma)

Kuehne+Nagel (KNIN SW), Amazon (AMZN) - Kuehne+Nagel announces a long-term strategic collaboration with Amazon. The collaboration includes AWS, encompassing the infrastructure lifecycle from construction and equipment deployment to ongoing maintenance, upgrades and expansion projects. (Kuehne+Nagel)

Partners Group (PGHN SW) - Co. is reportedly exploring a deal to move around EUR 800mln of its private credit loans into a continuation vehicle, in which it would buy up loans in funds and allow it to hold assets for longer, Bloomberg reports. (Bloomberg)

UBS (UBSG SW) - Co. CEO says they are not happy about the capital requirements being proposed by Swiss lawmakers but says it is bearable, NZZ reports. (NZZ)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Novo Nordisk (NOVOB DC), Eli Lilly (LLY) - Patients are suing Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, alleging GLP-1 drugs caused NAION, a condition involving sudden, often permanent vision loss, WSJ reports. Evidence on causation is mixed. The FDA is investigating, while European regulators classify NAION as a very rare semaglutide side effect. Novo and Lilly dispute that their drugs cause the condition. (WSJ)

UPM-Kymmene (UPM FH) - EU antitrust regulators are to veto against UPM's EUR 1.42bln paper JV with South Africa's Sappi after the Cos declined to offer concessions to address competition concerns, Reuters reports citing sources. (Reuters)

Volvo Car (VOLCARB SS) - Co. appoints Klaus Zellmer as President and CEO, who will assume the position no later than 1 October 2027. (Volvo Car)

BROKER MOVES

Danske Bank (DANSKE DC) reinitiated with Underperform at BNP Parbias

Handelsbanken (SHBA SS) reinitiated with Underperform at BNP Paribas

Lundbeck (LUN DC) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS

Swedbank (SWEDA SS) reinitiated with Outperform at BNP Paribas

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.16% at 7,650, NDX +0.67% at 29,644, DJI -0.19% at 51,687, RUT -0.50% at 2,860.

SECTORS: Technology +0.81%, Industrials +0.47%, Financials +0.06%, Consumer Discretionary +0.02%, Health -0.22%, Energy -0.24%, Consumer Staples -0.64%, Communication Services -0.74%, Real Estate -0.94%, Materials -1.10%, Utilities -1.35%.

Pfizer (PFE) - Pfizer agreed to share part of increased overseas drug revenue with the US Department of Health under a “most favoured nation” contract, according to Bloomberg. The provision covers existing medicines from 1st January 2026 to 20th January 2029. Revenue-sharing rates and covered medicines were redacted, and proceeds are intended to lower costs for US patients and taxpayers. (Bloomberg)