Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 16th June 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mixed as the prior day's rally and US-Iran peace deal euphoria petered out amid a continued lack of concrete details regarding the interim agreement and as market participants turn their attention to this week's busy slate of central bank policy decisions. ASX 200 was led lower by weakness in tech, consumer discretionary and industrials, while participants also digested the RBA rate decision in which the central bank paused after three consecutive rate hikes, but warned of potential future hikes if necessary and remained hawkish regarding inflation. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were choppy as participants digested mixed activity data in which Industrial Production topped forecasts, but Retail Sales missed and printed in contraction territory, while the PBoC continued its increased liquidity efforts.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.82% at 6,238, Dax 40 +1.09% at 24,903, FTSE 100 -0.39% at 10,431, CAC 40 +0.40% at 8,384, FTSE MIB +0.66% at 51,836, IBEX 35 +1.43% at 19,032, PSI -0.52% at 9,046, SMI +0.11% at 13,723, AEX -0.52% at 1,076.

SECTORS: Financials 1.45%, Industrials 1.09%, Consumer Disc 0.81%, Materials 0.61%, IT -0.01%, Utilities -0.47%, Consumer Stpl -0.89%, Healthcare -1.06%, Telecoms -1.28%, Energy -4.36%

FTSE 100

Intertek (ITRK LN), EQT AB (EQT SS) - Bankers are reportedly preparing debt packages of c. GBP 5bln to back a potential takeover of the Co. by EQT, Bloomberg reports. (Bloomberg)

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) - Co.'s CCO says iron ore supports portfolio reweighting towards copper and lithium growth, adds strong demand from India and ASEAN is to offset stagnant China demand over the next decade. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Currys (CURY LN) upgraded to Outperform to Sector Perform at RBC

Frasers Group (FRAS LN) downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC

DAX

Lufthansa (LHA GY) - Co. is continuing to cut its short-haul flight offerings, with the CCO stating that the consolidation of continental traffic is expected to be largely complete by 2028, Handelsblatt reports. (Handelsblatt)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

GEA Group (G1A GY) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank

Porsche (P911 GY) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays

CAC

STMicroelectronics (STMPA FP) - Co. is to sell 2 tranches of USD-denominated bonds. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Aeroports de Paris (ADP FP) - Reports May passenger traffic 32.8mln, +1.2% Y/Y. (ADP)

Eutelsat (ETL FP) - Co. announced a call-off contract under the NEXUS framework agreement for the immediate deployment of sovereign Low Earth Orbit capabilities. Valued at up to EUR 350mln over 8 years. (Eutelsat)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Flughafen Wien (FLU AV) - Reports May flight movements -1.3% Y/Y; passengers 3.91mln, +0.7% Y/Y. (Flughafen Wien)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Lonza (LONN SW) - Co. grants exclusive, target-specific licence to Antharis Therapeutics to advance next-generation dual payload ADCs for gastrointestinal cancers. (Lonza)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Huber+Suhner (HUBN SW) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Berenberg

SCANDINAVIA

Kemira (KEMIRA FH) - Co. acquires the business of Clear Water Technologies, LLC, strengthening its position in North America and supports its growth in industrial water treatment services; no terms disclosed. (Kemira)

BROKER MOVES

Assa Abloy (ASSAB SS) initiated with Outperform at RBC

US

CLOSES: SPX +1.65% at 7,554, NDX +3.06% at 30,544, DJI +0.92% at 51,676, RUT +0.72% at 2,965

SECTORS: Technology +3.39%, Communication Services +2.42%, Consumer Discretionary +1.91%, Industrials +1.36%, Materials +0.84%, Utilities +0.47%, Financials +0.35%, Consumer Staples -0.53%, Health -0.70%, Real Estate -0.90%, Energy -3.58%

ConocoPhillips (COP) - Co. is set to become the first US major to sign a contract with Syria's new government, the FT reports. The Co., alongside Novaterra Energy, will develop existing gas fields and search for new fields. A deal is expected to be signed this week. (FT)

Delta Air Lines (DAL) - The US administration has closed its investigation, without seeking any penalties into a July 2024 incident, which sparked a global outage. The probe into the Co. was initiated under the Biden administration, which followed the CrowdStrike (CRWD) computer software outage.

OpenAI - OpenAI reportedly spent USD 34bln in 2025 ahead of its planned IPO. Audited financial figures showed that around USD 19bln was spent on research and development while nearly USD 6bln was spent on sales and marketing, the FT reports. (FT)

Qualcomm (QCOM) - Co. is in talks to acquire Tenstorrent for between USD 8-10bln, according to The Information. Talks are still ongoing. (The Information)