Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 22nd July 2026

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mostly in the green following on from the tech-led rebound on Wall Street, which was facilitated by several positive sector-specific headlines, and heading into some of the Mag-7 earnings. ASX 200 mildly gained amid strength in the commodity-related sectors, but with the upside capped by weakness in defensives, as well as domestic consumer and tech stocks. Nikkei 225 initially rallied at the open amid AI-related optimism and after PM Takaichi's Cabinet approved its first comprehensive economic and fiscal policy guidelines on Tuesday, targeting JPY 370tln in combined public and private investment by 2040, while sentiment was also helped by the stronger-than-expected exports and imports data from Japan. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were ultimately mixed, with underperformance in the Hong Kong benchmark in a resumption of the rotation out of hyperscalers.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.90% at 6,283, Dax 40 +0.59% at 24,992, FTSE 100 +0.58% at 10,586, CAC 40 +0.28% at 8,363, FTSE MIB +0.81% at 52,285, IBEX 35 +0.89% at 19,379, PSI +1.11% at 9,172, SMI +0.31% at 14,298, AEX +0.57% at 1,097

FTSE 100

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Aberdeen (ABDN LN) initiated with Buy at Peel Hunt

British American Tobacco (BATS LN) initiated with Buy at BTIG

Reckitt Benckiser (RKT LN) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

DAX

GEA Group (G1A GY) - Q2 2026 (EUR): Order intake 1.49bln (exp. 1.41bln), Revenue 1.44bln (exp. 1.38bln). Co. raises its FY26 guidance: Sees organic revenue growth between +6-8% (prev. guided +5-7%), EBITDA margin before restructuring expenses between 17-17.4% (prev. guided 16.6-17.2%) and ROCE between 36-40% (prev. guided 34-38%). (GEA Group)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP) - Co. targets Adj. EBIT of EUR 12-13bln in 2029 and approves a EUR 5bln buyback over three years. Reiterates its cash conversion target of around 1 over a 5-year horizon and leaves 2026 guidance unchanged. In comments elsewhere, the Co. CEO says there is a level of visibility not ever seen before and that a lot of the challenges are put behind. The supply chain is in a much better place now and space operations are running ahead of schedule, and by 2029, they expect the A320 programme will be operating at full rates. (Airbus)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

GTT (GTT FP) - Co. announces that it has received an order from Samsung Heavy Industries (010140 KS) shipyard for the tank design of one new LNG carrier. Delivery expected in Q1'29. (GTT).

BROKER MOVES

Danone (BN FP) downgraded to Underperform from Buy at Jefferies

PAN EUROPE

Akzo Nobel (AKZA NA) - Q2 2026 (EUR): Revenue 2.59bln (exp. 2.57bln), Net Income 139mln (exp. 180mln), Adj. EBITDA 398mln (exp. 392mln), affirms FY26 guidance. Says merger Axalta is progressing as planned and that robust pricing and focus on cost efficiency continues to support results. (Akzo Nobel)

Iberdrola (IBE SM) - Co. agrees to pay EUR 2.014bln for an 80% stake in Caruna Group to strengthen its position in electricity distribution networks. (Iberdrola)

Koninklijke KPN (KPN NA) - Q2 2026 (EUR): Revenue 1.46bln (prev. 1.47bln Y/Y), Net income 207mln (prev. 210mln Y/Y), Adj. EBITDAaL 668mln (exp. 675mln), affirms FY26 guidance). (Koninklijke KPN)

Pharmaceuticals - US President Trump announces that a 100% tariff will be placed on all generic drugs imported to the US from August 2028. Trump says this is in order to reshore generic pharmaceutical production into the US. (Truth Social)

Randstad (RAND NA) - Q2 2026 (EUR): Revenue 5.9bln (exp. 5.8bln), Adj. Net Income 84mln (prev. 84mln Y/Y). (Randstad)

Santander (SAN SM) - Q2 2026 (EUR): EPS 0.23 (exp. 0.30), Net Income 3.52bln (exp. 3.53bln), Total income 15.68bln (exp. 15.70bln), Pretax Profit 5.32bln (exp. 5.37bln), NII 11.39bln (exp. 11.4bln), Net Loan-Loss Provision 3.35bln (exp. 3.28bln), affirms FY26 guidance. H1 (EUR): Adj. Net Income 7.3bln, +15% Y/Y; Pretax profit 10.3bln, +11% Y/Y. Says net profit fell due to non-recurring gains and charges from the acquisition of TSB and stake in its Polish unit. (Santander)

Saipem (SPM IM) - Co. has been awarded a new offshore drilling contract by Eni Côte d’Ivoire Limited, valued at c. USD 260mln. (Saipem)

Telecom Italia (TIT IM) - FiberCop says a Milan court has rejected a request for precautionary measures filed by Telecom Italia against it over new tariffs for access to Italy's main fixed-line telecoms network. (FiberCop)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Lonza (LONN SW) - H1 2026 (CHF): Sales 3.4bln (exp. 3.4bln), core EBITDA 1.2bln, +27.4% Y/Y; raises its FY26 core EBITDA margin to between 33-34% (prev. guided "above" 32%). (Lonza)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Huber & Suhner (HUBN SW) - Co. agrees to acquire Ingun Prüfmittelbau GmbH; no terms disclosed. (Huber & Suhner)

Sandoz (SDZ SW) - Co. says it is too early to assess the implications of US President Trump's announcement on tariffs of generic drugs. (Sandoz)

VAT Group (VACN SW) - Q2 2026 (CHF): Sales 291mln (exp. 289.4mln), Order intake 500mln (prev. 356.3mln Y/Y), Order backlog 647.9mln (prev. 431.3mln Y/Y), guides Q3 sales between 355-385mln (exp. 368.8mln). In other news, the Co. acquires 100% of Atonarp for CHF 110mln in cash. (VAT Group)

BROKER MOVES

Nestle (NESN SW) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

SCANDINAVIA

DSV (DSV DC) - Q2 2026 (DKK): Revenue 76.7bln (exp. 74.3bln), Net Income 2.63bln (prev. 2.36bln Y/Y), guides FY Adj. EBIT between 23.5-25.5bln (prev. guided 23-25.5bln). (DSV)

Equinor (EQNR NO) - Q2 2026 (USD): Adj. EPS 1.33 (exp. 1.38), Revenue 35.18bln (exp. 35.1bln), Adj. Operating Income after Tax 3.44bln (exp. 3.36bln), Adj. Operating income 11.48bln (exp. 11.66bln), Avg. production 2.11mln boepd (exp. 2.11mln boepd), launches third tranche of share buybacks of USD 1.125bln, expects USD 3bln of share buybacks for 2026. Affirms its 2026 view, sees 2026 organic Capex of around USD 13bln and sees oil & gas production growth c. 3% compared to 2026. (Equinor)

Hiab (HIAB FH) - Q2 2026 (EUR): Revenue 403mln (exp. 396.3mln), Net Income 34.7mln (prev. 43.5mln Y/Y), EBIT 49.6mln (prev. 60.20mln Y/Y), raises FY26 Operating margin to above 14.5% (prev. guided 13.5%). (Hiab)

Kesko (KESKOB FH) - Q2 2026 (EUR): Sales 3.38bln (exp. 3.38bln), EPS 0.32 (prev. 0.29 Y/Y), Adj. EBIT 194mln (prev. 176.7mln Y/Y), guides FY Adj. EBIT between 670-730mln (prev. guided 650-750mln). (Kesko)

Kone (KNEBV FH) - Q2 2026 (EUR): Sales 2.94bln (exp. 2.96bln), Orders 2.56bln (exp. 2.42bln), Adj. EBIT 369.9mln (prev. 347.2mln Y/Y), affirms FY26 guidance. (Kone)

Norsk Hydro (NHY NO) - Q2 2026 (NOK): Adj. EPS 2.20 (prev. 1.70 Y/Y), Revenue 2.59bln (exp. 2.65bln), Adj. EBITDA 8.92bln (prev. 7.79bln Y/Y). (Norsk Hydro)

SSAB (SSABA SS) - Q2 2026 (SEK): Revenue 27.49bln (exp. 26.8bln), Operating Profit 2.7bln (exp. 2.83bln), Net Profit 2.08bln (exp. 2.01bln). CEO: "During the third quarter, we expect to see a seasonal slowdown in demand and we will carry out planned maintenance at all steel divisions. The implemented price increases will generate somewhat higher prices in the third quarter." (SSAB)

BROKER MOVES

Atlas Copco (ATCOB SS) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.89% at 7,509, NDX +1.93% at 29,155, DJI +0.74% at 52,230, RUT +1.53% at 2,987

SECTORS:Consumer Staples -1.01%, Communication Services -0.85%, Utilities +0.01%, Real Estate +0.03%, Consumer Discretionary +0.04%, Financials +0.13%, Materials +0.30%, Industrials +0.33%, Health +0.64%, Energy +1.15%, Technology +2.35%.

Nvidia (NVDA), Wistron (3231 TT) - Nvidia supplier Wistron opened a USD 700mln manufacturing site in Fort Worth, Texas, to produce AI servers for US customers. The facility will initially build systems using Nvidia Grace Blackwell chips and later Vera Rubin products. Wistron displayed its first locally made GB300 superchip module at the opening.

OpenAI - OpenAI said GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased model escaped a controlled test environment and exploited vulnerabilities in Hugging Face to obtain ExploitGym answers, Fortune reports. OpenAI called it an unprecedented cyber incident, disclosed a zero-day, tightened controls and added Hugging Face to its trusted-access programme while both companies continue investigating.

SK Hynix (SKHY), Intel (INTC) - SK Hynix is considering acquiring Intel’s Ohio semiconductor campus to establish US front-end memory production within five years, Korea JoongAng Daily reports reported on Tuesday. Price and timing reportedly remained under discussion, with internal review and government approvals under way. The deal could expand SK Hynix’ US manufacturing footprint, and help Intel monetise the site. However, later overnight, SK Hynix denied it was acquiring the fab, and Intel also denied it was selling it.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI) - Reported Q4 prelim figures, sees revenue near the low end of USD 11.0-12.5bln (exp. 11.73bln), Q4 prelim gross margin between 15-17% (exp. 8.2-8.4%); gross margin is expected to be significantly above prior guidance, due to favourable customer and product mix, while revenue is expected near the low end of the prior range. It booked more than USD 60bln of new orders in Q4, expected to be delivered over future quarters, lifting backlog to a record level at the end of FY26. The board is conducting an independent review regarding export-control issues. It is scheduled to report final Q4 FY26 results on 11th August.