Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 18th June 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mixed as the region reflected on recent key events, including the hawkish FOMC and Fed chair Warsh's first presser, in which the Fed kept rates unchanged, removed forward guidance, emphasised price stability, and provided hawkish dot plots. This triggered selling in stocks, treasuries and gold, while it boosted the dollar and yields, with money markets now fully pricing in an October hike. Nonetheless, some of the moves have since been pared, to varying degrees, as oil prices gradually declined following the announcement that the US and Iran have signed the MoU for ending the war, which is now in effect, but with the planned talks on Friday in Switzerland, said to not yet be certain. ASX 200 was subdued with most sectors in the red and the declines were led by tech and miners. Nikkei 225 extended on record highs to surpass the 71,000 level as manufacturers benefited from lower oil prices and optimism of the reopening of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. KOSPI rallied and breached the 9,000 level for the first time amid strength in Samsung and SK Hynix. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were lower with underperformance in Hong Kong as the hawkish FOMC and increased prospects of a rate hike this year, pressured the local benchmark, given that any rate hike in the US would force the HKMA to move in lockstep with the Fed to defend the USD/HKD peg.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.80% at 6,307, Dax 40 +0.08% at 24,932, FTSE 100 +0.14% at 10,509, CAC 40 -0.20% at 8,431, FTSE MIB +0.31% at 52,595, IBEX 35 +1.31% at 19,415, PSI +0.76% at 9,091, SMI +0.39% at 13,815, AEX +1.18% at 1,083

SECTORS: IT 2.05%, Financials 1.14%, Healthcare 1.08%, Industrials 0.79%, Materials 0.29%, Utilities 0.00%, Consumer Stpl -0.89%, Energy -1.05%, Consumer Disc -1.07%, Telecoms -1.31%

FTSE 100

Diageo (DGE LN) - Co.'s CEO has reportedly directed top executives to implement cost-reduction targets and headcount cuts as part of a major restructuring at the spirits group, the FT reports. (FT)

GSK (GSK LN) - Co. announces that the US FDA has approved Utebzi for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections, caused by certain susceptible pathogens in adult patients who have limited or no alternative oral treatment options. This is the first and only oral carbapenem antibiotic approved for these patients. (GSK)

HSBC (HSBA LN) - Co.'s Australian unit has agreed to pay an AUD 35mln penalty after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission found the Co. guilty of failure to protect Australian customers from scammers. (FT)

IAG (IAG LN), easyJet (EZJ LN) - Co.'s CEO told the FT that a potential offer for easyJet is something that can be explored but warned that European competition rules make bidding very difficult. (FT)

LSEG (LSEG LN) - Policy Chairman of the City of London says the London Stock Exchange needs to make regulations as flexible as possible for Chinese companies to list in the city and boost dual listings. (Newswires)

Vodafone (VOD LN) - Co.'s Australian unit says most of its network services have been restored after some customers experienced mobile network issues. (Vodafone)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Anglo American (AAL LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Berenberg

Man Group (EMG LN) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at BNP Paribas

DAX

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Co. plans for a deal with Israeli arms maker Rafael is being complicated by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, Reuters reports. Qatar, Volkswagen's third-largest investor, has raised issues, pointing to the Gulf state's relationship with Israel. (Reuters)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Air France-KLM (AF FP) - Co. signs a new EUR 1bln credit line with 12 banks to refinance existing debt and fund the Co.’s M&As expected in H2'26. (Air France-KLM)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Vinci (DG FP) - Reports May airports passenger traffic +0.1% Y/Y. (Vinci)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

BE Semiconductor (BESI NA) - Co. raises its long-term targets: Guides revenue between EUR 1.7-2.2bln (prev. guided 1.5-1.9bln) and operating margin between 45-55% (prev. guided 40-55%), citing stronger for AI-related data centre photonics applications. Market conditions and order momentum have also improved significantly since Q2'25. (BE Semiconductor)

EU Autos - Battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations in Europe rose 34.4% Y/Y, according to data from E-Mobility Europe. To add, European BEV registrations hit a 2.6% market share in May. (E-Mobility Europe)

UniCredit (UCG IM), Generali (G IM) - Co. has reportedly asked Delfin to more than double its stake in Generali to just under 20%, Il Sole 24 Ore reports. Under the plan, UniCredit would buy Delfin's 10% stake in Generali in exchange for 5% of its own shares. (Il Sole 24 Ore)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Nestle (NESN SW) - Co. appoints Antonia Wanner as Chief Communications and Sustainability Officer, effective September 1st 2026. (Nestle)

Roche (ROP SW) - Co. announces that the US FDA has accepted the supplemental Biologics License Application for mosunetuzumab, in combination with polatuzumab vedotin, for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory LBCL, after at least one prior line of systemic therapy. The FDA is expected to make a decision on approval by 9 February 2027. Elsewhere, the Co.'s Genentech gets US FDA approval for Xofluza as a single-dose generic treatment for influenza. (Roche/US FDA)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Adecco (ADEN SW) - Co. announces that a major milestone in its AI transformation: more than 1mln AI-powered candidate interactions delivered across ten countries. (Adecco)

Schindler (SCHN SW) - Co. increases its ongoing share buyback programme to up to CHF 700mln from CHF 200mln. (Schindler)

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Elisa (ELISA FH) upgraded to Buy from Hold at SEB

US

CLOSES: SPX -1.21% at 7,420, NDX -0.99% at 29,671, DJI -0.97% at 51, 498, RUT -0.72% at 2,918

SECTORS: Communication Services -2.98%, Consumer Discretionary -2.69%, Real Estate -2.47%, Consumer Staples -2.08%, Health -1.41%, Materials -1.35%, Utilities -1.29%, Energy -1.15%, Technology -0.61%, Financials -0.52%, Industrials -0.12%.

Apple (AAPL) - Co.'s CEO Cook says to raise prices due to surging memory chip and storage costs, adds rising costs for memory are a '100-year flood', but declined to give timing of price increase, according to WSJ. (WSJ)

JPMorgan (JPM) - Co. has reportedly stopped its Hong Kong employees from accessing Anthropic's AI models from a "drop-down" list of approved LLMs available internally, the FT reports. (FT)