Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 7th October 2026

APAC stocks were mostly negative, with the region failing to take inspiration from the gains on Wall St, where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq printed fresh all-time highs, while the sentiment soured overnight amid a rebound in oil and yields. ASX 200 struggled for direction and was flat for the session in the absence of any major catalysts and tier-1 data. Nikkei 225 retreated with investors booking profits following the recent rally in the index, which just about held on to the 70,000 status, with participants also reflecting on Labour Cash Earnings data, which decelerated but still topped forecasts. Elsewhere, there was pressure seen in brewers including Asahi on reports that Japan's FTC is probing Japan's four major breweries over suspected price fixing. KOSPI underperformed in choppy trade with the index weighed on by weakness in SK Hynix, while Samsung Electronics was indecisive ahead of its preliminary earnings results tomorrow. Hang Seng conformed to the downbeat mood amid tech-related weakness and continued absence of mainland participants, who will be returning from the week-long holiday closure tomorrow.

Asahi (2502 JT), Kirin Brewery (2503 JT), Sapporo (2501 JT), Suntory (2587 JT) - The Japan FTC reportedly began inspecting beer makers following suspicions that the brewers have been coordinating the timing and level of price increases of their products, Bloomberg reports. (Bloomberg)

LG Electronics (066570 KS) - Announced prelim Q3 figures that missed expectations: sees Q3 operating profit +13.5% Y/Y (but down by -50.5% Q/Q) of KRW 781.8bln (exp. 1.028tln), Q3 revenue +8.9% Y/Y and was broadly flat sequentially at KRW 23.827tln. LG said geopolitical instability and macroeconomic volatility weighed on results, although home appliances, vehicle components and TV operations remained profitable and companywide cost reductions helped offset higher logistics, material and fixed costs. The company continues to expand in AI businesses, including data centre cooling and robotics; it has secured a multiyear US agreement with AIR Control Concepts to supply chillers for AI data centres representing more than 5GW of capacity and plans to begin production at a new Virginia factory in H1 2027. LG expects annual new contract wins for data centre cooling solutions to reach several billion USD by end-2026, and expects to reach its 2027 chiller revenue target of USD 680mln ahead of schedule.

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.49% at 6,273, Dax 40 +0.82% at 25,462, FTSE 100 +0.42% at 10,542, CAC 40 +0.40% at 7,865, FTSE MIB +0.87% at 51,261, IBEX 35 +0.75% at 19,444, PSI +0.71% at 9,420, SMI +0.62% at 13,789, AEX +0.40% at 1,128

Antofagasta (ANTO LN) - Two unions at Chile's Centinela copper mine rejected further contract talks and are set to strike. (Newswires)

HSBC (HSBA LN) - Co. is reportedly planning to cut jobs across its UK wealth business, with sources stating that about half of the business’s management and specialist roles are expected to go, while the reduction in the ranks of financial advisers will be closer to 70%, the FT reports. (FT)

Shell (SHEL LN) - Co. began evacuating non-essential workers from its Stones, Mars, Olympus, Ursa, Vito and Appomattox offshore assets in the US Gulf of Mexico, as a developing storm off Mexico is forecast to become a hurricane by Thursday, and cross offshore production areas before making landfall in Louisiana or Mississippi. (Shell)

UK Energy - UK Chancellor Healey is reportedly considering spending over GBP 1bln to cut energy bills for poorer households in this month’s budget, The Guardian reports. (The Guardian)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Melrose (MRO LN) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BNP Paribas

Reckitt Benckiser (RKT LN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

Qiagen (QIA GY) - Co. announces new AI capabilities to help researchers analyse complex biological and genomic data faster. (Qiagen)

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Co. reportedly plans to drop Mobileye (MBLY) for Wayve in an autonomous driving push, according to Der Spiegel. (Der Spiegel)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Co. secures several new orders in Turkey, totalling 389 MW. (EQS)

BROKER MOVES

Capgemini (CAP FP) - Co. announces share buyback authorisation of up to 3mln shares. (Capgemini)

Credit Agricole (ACA FP) - Co. announced a strategic Asset Servicing partnership with Edmond de Rothschild. CACEIS will acquire the entirety of Edmond de Rothschild's third-party Asset Servicing business in Luxembourg and Asset Servicing activities for Edmond de Rothschild's Private Equity and Infrastructure funds. (Credit Agricole)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Forvia (FRVIA FP) - Co. signs a JV agreement with ANAND to strengthen their presence in India's rapidly growing automotive market, targeting a 10% market share in the Indian market within five years. (Forvia)

BROKER MOVES

ABN AMRO (ABN NA) - The Dutch Government plans to cut its stake in the Co. to 10.5% from 20.7%, with the CEO saying that this was not expected. (NFLI/Bloomberg) ABN AMRO shares are indicated lower by 2.3% on Tradegate

Argenx (ARGX BB) - Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO) announced the expansion of its global collaboration and license agreement with Argenx to develop and commercialise ENHANZE with two additional exclusive targets. (Halozyme)

EU Chemicals - The EU is reportedly moving to dilute pesticide rules following a successful lobby by Chemical Cos about the regulatory burden being too onerous, the FT reports. (FT) Of note for BASF (BAS GY)

EU-US - The EU is reportedly considering taxing US tech groups to capture more income without singling them out after the US administration threatened retaliation against countries that implement a digital services tax, the FT reports. (FT)

Repsol (REP SM) - Co. estimates Q3 total upstream production of 574k BOEPD and refining margin indicator in Spain at EUR 36.2/bbl. (Repsol)

Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) - Unifor is proceeding with strike authorisation votes as negotiations with the Co. remain at an impasse, but a strike may not automatically take place. Strike authorisation votes will take place October 17th-18th with results to be announced on October 19th. (Unifor)

BROKER MOVES

Roche (ROP SW) - Co. has provided two molecular testing instruments to Institut National de Santé Publique (INSP) to support Ebola testing capacity in the DRC. (Roche)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Avolta (AVOL SW) - Co. has been awarded a 20-year duty-free contract at Seattle-Tacoma International. (Avolta)

BROKER MOVES

BROKER MOVES

Kone (KNEBV FH) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citi

Skanska (SKAB SS) upgraded to Buy from Hold at SEB

CLOSES: SPX +0.72% at 7,830, NDX +0.48% at 31,224, DJI +0.49% at 51,526, RUT -0.59% at 2,830

SECTORS: Health -0.15%, Communication services +0.16%, Financials +0.19%, Energy +0.44%, Technology +0.55%, Materials +0.65%, Industrials +0.9%, Consumer staples +0.96%, Real estate +1.13%, Consumer discretionary +1.39%, Utilities +3.01%.

Chevron (CVX), Hess Midstream (HESM) - Chevron agreed to sell its Hess Midstream stake and DJ Basin crude midstream assets as part of a Bakken restructuring, Reuters reports. The deal will remove about USD 3.7bln of Hess Midstream debt from Chevron’s balance sheet, cut Bakken midstream costs by about 50%, and result in a one-time after-tax loss of USD 3-4bln.

Constellation Brands (STZ) - Constellation Brands shares fell over 4% in extended US trading as softer underlying beer demand and a reduced operating margin outlook outweighed stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and sales. Q2 comp EPS 3.74 (exp. 3.55), Q2 revenue USD 2.63bln (exp. 2.54bln). Beer net sales +5% Y/Y, Wine & Spirits net sales +17% Y/Y; beer depletion growth was -0.6%, indicating softer underlying demand. CEO said the company saw accelerating dollar and volume share gains across Beer and Wine & Spirits and was the top dollar share gainer in beverage alcohol during the quarter. It also announced the acquisition of SpikedAde for USD 75mln upfront, with up to USD 278mln of additional contingent consideration over five years. Sees FY27 comparable EPS between 11.20-11.90 (exp. 11.71), organic net sales growth between -1 and +1%, Beer net sales growth between -1% and +1%, Wine & Spirits organic net sales growth between -1% and +1%, operating cash flow between USD 2.4-2.5bln, capex around USD 800mln and FCF between USD 1.6-1.7bln. The company lowered its FY27 operating margin outlook to between 31-32% (from 32-33%).

SpaceX (SPCX), Nvidia (NVDA), Apollo Global Management (APO) - SpaceX is seeking USD 40bln of financing led by Apollo to fund Nvidia chip purchases, the FT reports citing sources. The package comprises about USD 10bln of bank loans and USD 30bln of investment grade debt. Pimco (ALIZY) is reportedly among lenders in talks. The transaction is expected to close in 2027.

ZIM Integrated Shipping (ZIM) - ZIM raised its FY26 adj. EBITDA view to between USD 2.7-3.0bln (prev. saw 2.0-2.4bln) and adj. EBIT view to between USD 1.4-1.7bln (prev. saw 700mln-1.1bln), reflecting continued strong market demand and favourable freight-rate momentum. The midpoint of the updated outlook represents a 30% increase in adj. EBITDA and a 72% increase in adj. EBIT vs guidance issued in August.