Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 22nd September 2026

APAC stocks mostly gained following the advances on Wall Street, where the Nasdaq outperformed and notched a record close as Meta shares surged over 11% on strong adoption of its Muse AI agent and with AMD joining the USD 1tln market cap club, while markets in Japan were closed again for the holidays. ASX 200 traded marginally higher but with gains capped as the strength in tech, consumer discretionary and health care was partly offset by losses in utilities, energy and financials. KOSPI took its cue from the tech and communications outperformance stateside, while South Korea's Industry Ministry noted that the final announcement on the US investment plan will be made by President Trump, with the funds to be remitted within 45 days if requested by the US. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were positive as tech stocks led the advances in Hong Kong, although some property, energy and biopharmaceutical stocks lagged while participants also continue to await the Trump-Xi summit this week.

Alibaba (9988 HK) - Co. outlines a new Zhenwu V900 accelerator that is triple the performance of its prior chip. The CEO says it can be combined in clusters of up to 500,000 units while also announcing a 20 GW target of data centre capacity by 2032. Shares +2.1% in Asia-Pac trade

Tencent (0700 HK) - Co. launches its Hy Image 3.5 Preview model, with the Co. saying it achieved results on par with ByteDance's Seedream 5.0 Pro and is slightly better than models from Google (GOOGL) and Alibaba (9988 HK). (Tencent) Shares +5.0% in Asia-Pac trade

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +1.31% at 6,318, Dax 40 +1.07% at 25,574, FTSE 100 +0.75% at 10,739, CAC 40 +0.92% at 8,139, FTSE MIB +1.60% at 52,372, IBEX 35 +1.08% at 19,724, PSI +0.79% at 9,617, SMI +1.23% at 13,957, AEX +0.66% at 1,102

BP (BP/ LN) - Co. says its Whiting refinery (440k BPD) has returned to normal operations following planned maintenance last week. (BP)

UK Defence - UK PM Burnham is to announce a new AI defence partnership between the UK and US as part of a push to use the technology to better protect critical infrastructure and detect threats. (Reuters)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Burberry (BRBY LN) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC

BASF (BAS GY), Evonik Industries (EVK GY) - BASF reportedly explored a potential deal with Evonik earlier in 2026, Dealreporter reports citing sources. The report added that one source downplayed the possibility of a deal due to BASG being "cash-contrained". (Dealreporter)

Deutsche Bank (DBK GY) - Co.'s DWS is reportedly considering emergency measures to prevent a liquidity crunch at its German property funds, with measures including limiting redemptions or imposing penalty fees on departing investors, the FT reports. (FT)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Bureau Veritas (BVI FP) - Co. raises its 2027-28 total revenue CAGR to double-digit growth (prev. guided high-single-digit) and narrows its leverage range to 1.5-2x (prev. guided 1-2x). In addition, the Co. is targeting EUR 1bln in AI-driven markets and services revenue by 2030. (Bureau Veritas) Shares are indicated higher by 2.8% on Tradegate

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Abivax (ABVX FP) - H1 2026 (EUR): Operating Loss 140.3mln (prev. 93.7mln Y/Y), Net Loss 165.9mln (prev. 100.8mln Y/Y). In a business update, Co. says its royalty certificates buy-back completed in Q2 2026 materially reduces royalty overhang. (Abivax)

BROKER MOVES

Engie (ENGI FP) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Societe Generale

LVMH (MC FP) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC, PT cut to EUR 475 from EUR 575

LVMH (MC FP) PT cut to EUR 440 from EUR 510 at Jefferies

Andritz (ANDR AV) - Dietmar Heinisser has resigned from his position as a member of the Executive Board for personal reasons, effective September 21st 2026. (EQS)

EU-UK Trade - UK PM Burnham is expected to meet EU Commission President von der Leyen at the UN General Assembly to discuss EU car rules, The Times reports. (The Times)

BROKER MOVES

Nestle (NESN SW) - Co.'s Russia unit says it is continuing its commercial activities in Russia with the intention to unconditionally fulfil all obligations, TASS reports. (TASS)

Roche (ROP SW) - Co. announces positive Phase II results for dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist enicepatide in people living with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity, meeting both primary endpoints. Additionally, the Co. says the European Commission has approved Susvimo for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). (Roche) Shares are indicated higher by 1.2% on Tradegate

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

BROKER MOVES

Fortum (FORTUM FH) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Carnegie Securities

CLOSES: SPX +1.49% at 7,765, NDX +2.83% at 30,482, DJI +0.71% at 52,054, RUT +0.52% at 2,875

SECTORS: Energy -2.57%, Utilities -0.43%, Consumer staples -0.37%, Materials -0.19%, Financials +0.3%, Industrials +0.36%, Health +0.67%, Real estate +1.05%, Consumer discretionary +1.49%, Technology +2.46%, Communication services +3.86%