Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 25th June 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mixed, albeit with a mostly positive bias and with the KOSPI leading the gains as tech and Nasdaq futures rebounded from the prior day's lows following strong earnings from Micron. ASX 200 was dragged lower by weakness in mining, materials, resources and energy stocks, while better-than-expected headline Australian jobs data failed to inspire and was mostly driven by part-time jobs. Nikkei 225 rallied back above the 72,000 level amid a resurgence in tech and lower oil prices, while markets were unfazed by comments from BoJ hawk Tamura, who called for hiking rates every few months. KOSPI outperformed amid a rally in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, with the latter sitting on double-digit percentage gains amid its US IPO plans. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mixed in the absence of any major fresh drivers and with the Hong Kong benchmark dragged lower by losses in miners and further weakness in hyperscalers, including Alibaba, after Anthropic accused the Co. of illicitly accessing AI models in a letter to US officials.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -0.18% at 6,219, Dax 40 -0.71% at 24,716, FTSE 100 +0.31% at 10,462, CAC 40 +0.54% at 8,385, FTSE MIB -0.74% at 51,639, IBEX 35 -0.45% at 19,390, PSI -0.88% at 9,056, SMI +1.52% at 14,122, AEX -0.03% at 1,065.

SECTORS: Consumer Stpl 2.57%, Consumer Disc 1.79%, Healthcare 1.33%, Telecoms 0.33%, Materials -0.03%, Industrials -0.03%, Utilities -0.27%, IT -0.39%, Financials -0.78%, Energy -2.39%

FTSE 100

Tesco (TSCO LN) - Tesco Mobile is reportedly relaunching broadband services, having held initial talks about offering broadband services over Virgin Media O2 and Nexfibre's fibre networks, the FT reports. (FT)

UK Autos - UK New Car Registrations (May) 160,662, +7.1% Y/Y. A rise in shipments to the US drove output rising 2.7% Y/Y. (SMMT)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Ocado (OCDO LN) - The Co.'s search for a new CEO to replace Steiner has intensified following pressure by shareholders to removal the co-founder, the FT reports. (FT)

ITV (ITV LN) - Comcast (CMCSA)-owned Sky has agreed on terms to buy ITV's M&E unit, while ITV to acquire Love Productions as part of the deal. The deal has been valued at GBP 1.6bln, Reuters reports. (Reuters)

BROKER MOVES

Man Group (EMG LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

DAX

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Co. has agreed to sell a majority stake in its marine engine unit Everllence to Bain Capital, with Volkswagen expecting to receive sale proceeds of EUR 7.4bln. (Volkswagen)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

RWE (RWE GY) upgraded to Add from Reduce at AlphaValue

CAC

Air Liquide (AI FP) - Co. has signed a new long-term agreement with Silleno LLP for the supply of nitrogen and compressed dry air to its future polyethylene plant, with the investment amounting to EUR 70mln. (Air Liquide)

Credit Agricole (ACA FP) - Co. to take a 9.9% stake in Groupo Cajamar, after announcing a long-term partnership. (Credit Agricole)

Eiffage (FGR FP) - Co. has been awarded a renovation contract in Roubaix; no terms disclosed. (Eiffage)

Renault (RNO FP) - Co.'s CTO says they are planning to cut 800 engineering jobs in France by the end of 2027. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

BP (BP/ LN), TotalEnergies (TTE FP) - Cos have signed its entry into the Bab Gas Cap Concession in Abu Dhabi, and are to hold a 10% interest each in the concession operated by ADNOC Onshore. (Business Wire)

Chip names, ASML (ASML NA) - Micron shares rose almost 18% in extended US trading after the memory maker beat expectations and issued stronger guidance. It reported Q3 adj. EPS of 25.11 (exp. 20.57) and revenue of USD 41.456bln (exp. 35.56bln), while guiding Q4 adj. EPS 31.00 (exp. 25.50), and Q4 revenue USD 50.0bln (exp. 42.915bln). See more in the US section

Prediction Markets - US prediction market Kalshi is reportedly in talks to raise funds at a valuation of c. USD 40bln, with the new funding round to close as soon as Q3'26, the FT reports. (FT)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

UBS (UBSG SW) - Co. to sell JPY-denominated debt in 3 tranches. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Lindt & Sprungli (LISN SW) initiated with Underperform at Jefferies

Sika (SIKA SW) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA

Swatch (UHR SW) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at SocGen

SCANDINAVIA

Castellum (CAST SS) - Co. has signed an agreement with Wihlborgs to divest properties in Malmö, Lund, Helsingborg, Ängelholm and Burlöv, for a total underlying property value of SEK 13.3bln. (Castellum)

Telenor (TEL NO) - Co.'s KNL has been appointed as the approved supplier on the UK's tactical communication systems framework. (GlobeNewswire)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.10% at 7,358, NDX -0.43% at 29,220, DJI +0.35% at 51,854, RUT +0.37% at 2,987

SECTORS: Energy -1.72%, Technology -0.64%, Communication Services -0.60%, Real Estate -0.37%, Financials -0.30%, Materials +0.33%, Consumer Staples +0.56%, Consumer Discretionary +0.79%, Health +0.80%, Utilities +1.05%, Industrials +1.18%.

Fed Stress Tests - The Fed said that all 32 banks tested remained above minimum capital requirements after absorbing over USD 708bln in hypothetical losses, with aggregate capital falling 1.6ppts from from 12.8% to 11.2%. The scenario included a 39% drop in commercial real estate prices, a 30% drop in house prices, and unemployment reaching 10%. The Fed said that current capital requirements remain unchanged until 2027, and the Fed will next update capital buffers after the 2027 test. After the announcement, JPMorgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), State Street (STT) and Wells Fargo (WFC) all raised dividends.

Jefferies (JEF) - Jefferies shares slipped in extended US trading after earnings missed expectations, outweighing record investment banking and equities revenues. It reported Q2 EPS of 1.02 (exp. 1.24), Q2 revenue USD 2.21bln (exp. 2.30bln). Investment Banking net revenue +57% Y/Y to USD 1.21bln, driven by market share gains and a larger addressable market in Advisory and Equity Underwriting, while Capital Markets net revenue +14% to USD 799mln, including record Equities revenue of USD 601mln (+14%) and Fixed Income revenue of USD 199mln (+12%). Asset management fees and investment return revenue -35% Y/Y to USD 46mln, reflecting weaker fund strategy performance and reduced capital allocated to certain funds ahead of the planned Hildene investment, which Jefferies targets to close in Q3 and expects to be immediately accretive. CEO said the firm delivered record first-half net revenues across Advisory, total Investment Banking, Equities, total Capital Markets and combined Investment Banking and Capital Markets, with optimism for H2 2026 supported by backlog strength and new business bookings.

Micron Technology (MU) - Micron shares rose almost 18% in extended US trading after the memory maker beat expectations and issued stronger guidance, benefiting from surging AI-driven demand, rising memory prices and long-term customer agreements. It reported Q3 adj. EPS of 25.11 (exp. 20.57), Q3 revenue of USD 41.456bln (exp. 35.56bln), adj. gross margin 84.9% (exp. 81.9%) and vs prev. 39.0% Y/Y as revenue more than quadrupled from USD 9.3bln amid surging AI-driven memory demand and tight supply. Micron ended the quarter with USD 30.2bln of cash, marketable investments and restricted cash. CEO said customers recognise memory and storage shortages will take considerable time to improve, with Micron expecting industry supply to improve gradually in 2028; added that tight conditions are expected to persist beyond FY27 and it has no line of sight on when supply can catch up with demand. Micron said it has signed 16 long-term customer agreements with data centre operators and automakers, representing expected financial commitments of USD 22bln, and declared a 0.15 dividend payable in July. Sees Q4 adj. EPS 31.00 (exp. 25.50), and sees Q4 revenue USD 50.0bln (exp. 42.915bln), sees Q4 capex of USD 10bln. Micron expects operating expenses to increase by approximately USD 1bln in FY27, and sees FY27 capex of USD 27bln.

Qualcomm (QCOM) - Qualcomm shares gained almost 12% in extended US trading after it announced that it has expanded its strategic relationship with Hugging Face to advance open, developer-driven AI from devices to cloud infrastructure, and it raised its FY29 non-handset revenue target to USD 40bln; automotive seen at USD 10bln, IoT seen above USD 14bln, and data centre revenues are seen above USD 15bln by FY29.