Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 3rd March 2026

APAC stocks were pressured with risk appetite weighed down by geopolitics as the Iranian conflict entered a fourth day, and with US President Trump warning of larger strikes to come. ASX 200 was led lower by weakness in mining and materials, with broad weakness seen in nearly all sectors aside from energy and financials.Nikkei 225 slumped beneath the 57,000 level amid the Iranian conflict and global disruption, with sentiment also not helped by a rise in the unemployment rate and as higher energy prices stoked inflationary concerns, which could narrow policy space for the BoJ. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp traded indecisively with price action initially rangebound, before eventually succumbing to the risk-off mood, while there was a fairly substantial liquidity drain by the PBoC, and participants continue to await China's annual Two Sessions conclave.

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -2.44% at 5,988, Dax 40 -2.42% at 24,672, FTSE 100 -1.20% at 10,780, CAC 40 -2.17% at 8,394, FTSE MIB -1.97% at 46,280, IBEX 35 -2.62% at 17,879, PSI -0.04% at 9,272, SMI -1.42% at 13,816, AEX -1.06% at 1,016.

SECTORS: Energy 3.28%, Utilities -0.45%, Healthcare -1.17%, Industrials -1.28%, Materials -1.40%, IT -1.58%, Telecoms -1.64%, Consumer Stpl -1.67%, Financials -2.51%, Consumer Disc -4.02%

BAE Systems (BA/ LN) - Co. awarded a 5yr contract in December 2025 by Italian MoD. (BAE Systems)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Centrica (CNA LN) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Drax (DRX LN) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

St James’ Place (STJ LN) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

Beiersdorf (BEI GY) - Co. expects 2026 EBIT margin (ex. special factors) to be slightly below previous years level; 2025 group sales EUR 9.9bln, +2.4%, EBIT margin ex. special factors rises to 14%. Q1 is expected to come in below FY range, affected by disruptions in US retail and China travel retail landscape. Announces a EUR 750mln share buyback. (Beiersdorf)

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Cautious mention in Bloomberg, which wrote that its Audi unit dropped its four-ring logo in China last year, rebranding as “AUDI” and launching a tech-focused EV in a bid to revive sales, but the strategy, aimed at driving consumer interest in the market, has so far failed to deliver a meaningful turnaround in sales. (Bloomberg)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Thales (HO FP) - Q4 2025 (EUR): Revenue 6.88bln (exp. 6.61bln). Co. sees 2026 sales between 23.3-23.6bln (exp. 23.64bln) and 2026 EBIT Margin 12.6-12.8% (exp. 12.8%). Dividend of EUR 3.90/shr, representing 40% of Adjusted net income, Group share. (Thales)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Spie (SPIE FP) - Co. signs an agreement for the acquisition of ROFA Industrial Automation AG in Germany. The transaction EBITA multiple is high single digit. The transaction should result in a mid-single digit adjusted EPS accretion for the Group as soon as the first year of consolidation. (Spie)

BROKER MOVES

Teleperformance (TEP FP) downgraded to Reduce from Buy at AlphaValue

BROKER MOVES

Stellantis (STLAM IM/ STLAP FP) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Freedom Capital Markets

Sika (SIKA SW) - Co. expands its digital product portfolio through global commercial partnership with Giatec. (Sika)

UBS (UBSG SW) - Co. has been reportedly warned to tone down its lobbying campaign by the Swiss Government, according to the FT. (FT)

Zurich Insurance (ZURN SW) / Beazley (BEZ LN) - Zurich Insurance raises CHF 3.9bln to partly finance Beazley acquisition. (Zurich)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Bucher (BUCN SW) - FY 2025 (CHF): EPS 23.22 (exp. 21.81), Sales 2.91bln (exp. 2.89bln). Outlook for 2026 Bucher Specials anticipates slight sales growth on a comparable basis. The operating profit margin is expected to rise due to higher capacity utilisation and efficiency measures. (Bucher)

Kuehne und Nagel (KNIN SW) - FY 2025 (CHF): EBIT 1.4bln (exp. 1.32bln), Turnover 24.5bln (exp. 24.7bln). Dividend proposal of CHF 6.00 per share. For 2026, Kuehne+Nagel expects a group recurring EBIT result in the range of CHF 1.2-1.4bln. (Kuehne und Nagel)

Sig Group (SIGN SW) - FY 2025 (CHF): Revenue 3.25bln (exp. 3.22bln, prev. 3.33bln Y/Y), adj. EBITDA 787.6mln (exp. 733.5mln, prev. 819.5mln Y/Y), adjusted net income 285.3mln (prev. 308.1mln Y/Y); Co. guides initial FY26 revenue to flat to 2%. (Sig Group)

Vat Group (VACN SW) - FY 2025 (CHF): Net income 214.3mln (prev. 211.8mln Y/Y), basic EPS 7.15 (prev. 7.06 Y/Y), EBITDA 321.6mln (prev. 293.7mln). (Vat Group)

BROKER MOVES

Barry Callebaut (BARN SW) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Lindt (LISN SW) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Orsted (ORSTED DC) - Four of Denmark’s right wing parties reportedly want the government to draft an exit plan for its stake in Orsted after the 24th of March elections. (Finans.dk)

BROKER MOVES

CLOSES: SPX +0.04% at 6,882, NDX +0.13% at 24,993, DJI -0.15% at 48,905, RUT +0.90% at 2,656.

SECTORS: Energy +1.95%, Industrials +0.98%, Technology +0.91%, Real Estate +0.23%, Financials -0.29%, Materials -0.42%, Communication Services -0.68%, Utilities -0.77%, Health -1.01%, Consumer Discretionary -1.09%, Consumer Staples -1.35%

AT&T (T) - AT&T reiterated its FY 2026 and multi-year financial guidance and capital return plans issued with its Q4 2025 results. It plans to return over USD 45bln to shareholders in 2026-2028.

Amazon (AMZN) - Amazon’s cloud unit warned of prolonged service disruptions after drone strikes damaged three data centres in the Middle East. AWS said drones directly struck two facilities in the UAE, while a nearby strike in Bahrain damaged infrastructure at another site.

Eli Lilly (LLY) - CFO says the orforglipron pill could potentially come to the US market as early as Q2 following expected April approval, via Conference

Nvidia (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) - US officials are considering capping the number of AI accelerators Nvidia can export to any single Chinese customer, potentially limiting sales to 75k H200 chips per company, according to Bloomberg citing sources. Shipments of AMD's MI325 chips would also count toward the cap. (Bloomberg)