Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 5th March 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks rebounded from yesterday's sell-off as the region took impetus from the positive handover from Wall Street, where the Nasdaq led the advances on tech strength, while geopolitics remained in focus. ASX 200 was led higher by tech strength, but with gains capped by losses in the commodity-related sectors and after mixed trade data, which showed a contraction in monthly exports. Nikkei 225 surged at the open but is off today's best levels after giving back the 56,000 status and with some headwinds from a stronger currency and firmer yields. KOSPI firmly rebounded from the prior day's drastic sell-off and surged by over 11% in the first few minutes of trade. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp followed suit to the gains in regional peers, but with gains initially contained in the mainland as the attention was on the Government Work Report, in which China set the 2026 GDP target at between 4.5%-5.0%, its slowest growth target on record since 1991.

China - China set its 2026 GDP growth target at between 4.5-5%, the lowest since 1991, as Beijing seeks flexibility to manage economic challenges including weak consumption, a property-sector crisis, slowing population growth and global trade tensions. China pledged also its strongest effort yet to end deflation, with Premier Li saying the government will steer overall price levels back into positive territory after three years of falling prices that have weighed on profits and wages. China will keep its budget deficit target at around 4% of GDP in 2026, maintaining the record-high level set in 2025 as Beijing continues fiscal stimulus to support growth amid domestic economic challenges and rising geopolitical risks. China will target overcapacity in the steel and oil refining sectors with plans for orderly capacity reductions. Elsewhere, China plans to increase defense spending by 7% in 2026 to about CNY 1.91tln, the slowest pace of growth since 2022, but continuing a steady multi-year expansion as global military budgets rise.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +1.75% at 5,873, Dax 40 +1.79% at 24,216, FTSE 100 +0.80% at 10,568, CAC 40 +0.79% at 8,168, FTSE MIB +1.95% at 45,337, IBEX 35 +2.51% at 17,491, PSI +0.59% at 8,931, SMI +0.90% at 13,525, AEX +0.99% at 1,000

SECTORS: IT 2.87%, Financials 1.97%, Industrials 1.80%, Consumer Disc 1.56%, Healthcare 1.19%, Materials 0.91%, Utilities 0.82%, Telecoms 0.80%, Consumer Stpl 0.07%, Energy -1.74%

FTSE 100

BoE - The BoE is planning scenario analyses to assess the potential economic and financial impact of a major AI shock, including risks of widespread job losses, business disruption and a surge in loan defaults, and may incorporate such scenarios into future banking stress tests, Bloomberg said. (Bloomberg)

Smith & Nephew (SN/ LN) - Co’s CEO said the Co. remains confident that it can withstand decline in revenues from slowdown in China business, tariff uncertainty and the Middle East conflict. (Smith & Nephew)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Wizz Air (WIZZ LN) - Co. cuts outlook amid Middle East crisis. (Wizz Air)

BROKER MOVES

Segro (SGRO LN) downgraded to Hold from Add at Peel Hunt

Softcat (SCT LN) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS

Vistry Group (VTY LN) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

DAX

Deutsche Telekom (DTE GY) - CEO says the co. is open to deals with rivals to SpaceX’s Starlink, via The Information. (The Information)

DHL (DHL GY) - FY 2025 (EUR): Revenue 82.9bln (exp. 83.4bln), EBIT 6.1bln (prev. 5.88bln Y/Y), dividend/share 1.90 (prev. 1.85 Y/Y). Q4: Revenue 22.1bln (exp. 22.3bln), EBIT 1.83bln (exp. 1.84bln). Guides initial FY26 EBIT of “more than” 6.2bln. “Major geopolitical uncertainty persists. Changes in tariff and trade policy are affecting international freight markets”. (DHL)

Merck (MRK GY) - FY 2025 (EUR): EPS 8.34 (exp. 8.34), Net revenue 21.1bln (prev. 21.2bln Y/Y), guides 2026 revenue between 20.0-21.18 (exp. 21.2bln), proposes dividend of EUR 2.20/shr (unchanged from prior). (Merck)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Kering (KER FP) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein

PAN EUROPE

Andritz (ANDR AV) - Q4 2025 (EUR): Revenue 2.34bln (exp. 2.36bln), Order Intake 2bln (prev. 2.52bln Y/Y). Increase in dividends to EUR 2.70/shr (prev. EUR 2.60/shr Y/Y). 2026 Outlook: Sees revenues in a range of 8.0-8.3bln. (Andritz)

Elia (ELI BB) - FY 2025 (EUR): Net Income 556.6mln (exp. 522mln), EBITDA 1.79bln (exp. 1.91bln). For 2026, Elia projects a net profit between EUR 690-740mln. A dividend of EUR 2.05/shr will be proposed. (Elia)

Santander (SAN SM) - Co.’s exposure to failed lender MFS is more than GBP 200mln, Bloomberg reports. (Bloomberg)

Tech - EU shortlists Swedish and UK firms to manage EUR 5bln tech fund, including Sweden's EQT (EQT SS), France's Eurazeo (RF FP), and Virtruvian Partners in the UK. (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

Inditex (ITX SM) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Galderma (GALD SW) - FY 2025 (USD): Sales 5.21bln (exp. 5.2bln), Adj. EBITDA 1.21bln (exp. 1.21bln). 2026 full-year guidance with attractive top- and bottom-line growth, expecting net sales growth of 17-20% at constant currency and a Core EBITDA margin of approximately 26% at constant currency. (Galderma)

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Elekta (EKTAB SS) - Q3 2025 (SEK): EPS 0.03 (exp. 0.12), Sales 4.24bln (exp. 4.36bln), Gross Margin 35.1% (prev. 36.9% Y/Y). Tariff costs and changes in FX had a negative impact of 100 and 130 basis points respectively on the gross margin. Reiterated guidance. (Elekta)

Maersk (MAERSKB DC) - Maersk Operational Update Four: We are temporarily suspending cargo booking acceptance in and out of UAE, Oman (all ports apart from Salalah), Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia (Dammam and Jubail only) until further notice. (Maersk)

Skanska (SKAB SS) - Co. invests in Land for Residential Development in Poland. (Skanska)

BROKER MOVES

Lundbeck (HLUNB DC) resumed with Buy by Nordea

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.78% at 6,870, NDX +1.51% at 25,094, DJI +0.49% at 48,739, RUT +1.06% at 2,636

SECTORS: Energy -0.73%, Consumer Staples -0.53%, Materials -0.07%, Real Estate +0.13%, Health +0.19%, Industrials +0.32%, Utilities +0.41%, Financials +0.58%, Communication Services +0.58%, Technology +1.27%, Consumer Discretionary +2.24%.

Broadcom (AVGO) - Broadcom shares rose 4.8% in extended trading after the company reported quarterly earnings and revenue above expectations, and issued stronger-than-expected revenue guidance, driven by robust demand for AI chips. Q1 adj. EPS 2.05 (exp. 2.02), Q1 revenue USD 19.31bln (exp. 19.14bln). AI semiconductor revenue reached USD 8.4bln (+106% Y/Y), driven by strong demand for custom AI accelerators and AI networking solutions. Board authorised a USD 10bln share repurchase programme through December 2026. CEO said the company delivered record quarterly revenue on continued strength in AI semiconductors, adding that growth in AI revenue is accelerating as customers expand deployments of custom accelerators and networking infrastructure. Management noted Broadcom now has six AI customers and announced a new partnership with OpenAI, expected to deliver more than one gigawatt of compute capacity in 2027, while demand from large customers such as Anthropic could reach around three gigawatts in FY27. Sees Q2 revenue approximately USD 22bln (exp. 20.4bln), and sees Q2 semiconductor revenue of USD 14.8bln, with adj. EBITDA around 68% of revenue, gross margin roughly 77% and a tax rate of about 16.5%. Sees Q2 AI chip revenue USD 10.7bln, and indicated AI chip revenue could exceed USD 100bln in FY27. (Broadcom)

Data Centres - President Trump and executives from companies including Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG), OpenAI, Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL) and xAI backed a “ratepayer protection pledge” under which AI data centre developers commit to build or supply their own electricity, and pay for related grid infrastructure. Energy experts said the voluntary pledge is unlikely to fully prevent electricity price increases driven by rising power demand from AI, Politico reports. (Politico)

GLP-1 Drugs - A large study of over 600,000 US veterans found that patients with Type 2 Diabetes who started GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs, including Ozempic (NVO) and Mounjaro (LLY), had significantly lower rates of addiction and overdose over three years compared with those using SGLT-2 inhibitors such as Jardiance (LLY), suggesting the drugs may help reduce substance-use disorders. (Newswires)

Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia has halted production of China-bound H200 AI chips and reallocated manufacturing capacity at TSMC (TSM) to its next-generation Vera Rubin hardware, the FT reports. (FT)