Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 29th September 2026

ASIA APAC stocks were mostly subdued following the weak handover from Wall Street, where the major indices were pressured as oil prices and yields continued to climb, amid a slew of conflicting geopolitical headlines. ASX 200 traded rangebound with the index kept afloat for most of the session amid outperformance in the local tech, mining and materials industries, but with the upside limited after disappointing Household Spending and with mild pressure seen after the RBA hiked rates as expected and stuck to the hawkish script. Nikkei 225 underperformed and tested the 65,000 level to the downside, with the declines led by weakness in refiner and power-related stocks. KOSPI was choppy with the index ultimately dragged lower by the tech giants amid recent upside in yields, while South Korea's Finance Minister noted they are closely monitoring the bond market and will conduct a treasury bond buyback if bond yields rise excessively. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp traded mixed with Hong Kong pressured amid weakness in some autonames and as fast fashion retailer Shein slumped after it reported its H1 oper. profit fell by over 50% Y/Y, while the mainland was resilient after the PBoC and government agencies issued guidance to expand capacity and improve the quality of China’s service sector through financial support, and China also asked local governments to pilot high-quality policies to boost consumption. Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Executive expects HBM to comprise approximately 30% of DRAM chipmakers' total wafer capacity in 2027 vs around 20% currently. (Newswires) TSMC (2330 TT) - Co. is said to plan a 2nd US site in Dallas, according to industry sources. (SBS) EUROPEAN CLOSES CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.10% at 6,309, Dax 40 -0.01% at 25,407, FTSE 100 -0.10% at 10,685, CAC 40 +0.01% at 8,078, FTSE MIB -0.21% at 51,760, IBEX 35 -0.51% at 19,600, PSI +0.08% at 9,712, SMI +0.02% at 13,948, AEX +0.36% at 1,116 FTSE 100 AstraZeneca (AZN LN) - Co. is to invest USD 2bln in Summit Therapeutics (SMMT) and collaborate on cancer drugs, according to WSJ. (WSJ) UK BRC - UK BRC Shop Price Inflation (Sep) 1.4% vs. Exp. 1.5% (Prev. 1.5%). (BRC) UK Pension - UK PM Burnham will signal the end of the pensions triple lock in his conference speech on Tuesday. Though, has been warned by one of Britain’s largest unions that scrapping the triple lock on state pensions to help fund free social care for the elderly would be “electoral suicide” amid growing cabinet splits, reports The Times. (The Times) UK-EU Relations - UK PM Burnham is expected to edge Labour closer to rejoining the EU as he prepares to address the Labour Party conference for the first time as prime minister, reports The Independent. Ministers have told The Independent that it is now a question of how much he emphasises the UK’s return to Europe, rather than if. (The Telegraph) OTHER UK COMPANIES BROKER MOVES Rentokil (RTO LN) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley DAX OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES Evotec (EVT GY) - CSO is to step down on September 30th; Co. is looking for a successor. (Evotec) Hapag Lloyd (HLA GY) - Co. raises outlook for FY26, citing strong market demand and the ongoing positive development of spot freight rates. Co. raises FY26 EBITDA guidance to USD 3.9-4.4bln (prev. 2.7-3.7bn) and EBIT to USD 1.25-1.75bln (prev. 0.1-1.1bln). Against the backdrop of volatile freight rates and persistent geopolitical challenges, the forecast is subject to a high degree of uncertainty. (Hapag Lloyd) Mutares (MUX GY) - Co. has signed an agreement to acquire long-established Steinmüller Engineering GmbH from IHI Group. (Mutares) Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Co. receives 42 MW order from Navaris in Germany. (Nordex) BROKER MOVES Fresenius Medical Care (FME GY) assumed with Hold at Berenberg CAC Airbus (AIR FP) - Co. faces slower than expected deliveries in September after recently discovered A321neo fuselage glitch, Reuters reports citing sources. (Reuters) Total Energies (TTE FP) - CEO says there was a big debate whether we should declare force majeure on LNG. EU tankers can be used to ship LNG from Russia's Yamal outside of the EU, but it will be limited business. (TotalEnergies) OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES Alstom (ALO FP) - Co. awarded EUR 460mln contract by RCRC to supply driverless metro trains for Riyadh Lines. (Newswires) Rexel (RXL FP) - Co. launches a c. EUR 500mln capital increase, without shareholders’ preferential subscription right, to partially fund the acquisition of GCG. (Rexel) Sodexo (SW FP) - Sodexo’s Board of Directors is proposing the appointment of Nathalie Bellon-Szabo as Chairwoman, subject to the renewal of her mandate at the Annual Shareholders Meeting on December 16, 2026. She would then succeed Sophie Bellon, who has served as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors since 2016. (Sodexo) Technip Energies (TE FP) - Co. awarded engineering and technology contracts by Petkim for the development of a proposed integrated petrochemical complex in Turkey. (Technip Energies) BROKER MOVES Eurofins Scientific (ERF FP) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein Bureau Veritas (BVI FP) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan PAN EUROPE Arcadis (ARCAD NA) - Co. affirms FY26 outlook. Sets 2027-29 targets for organic net rev. growth, EBITDA margin and leverage. Plans to divest the majority of its architecture business and Chinese operations. (Arcadis) Geopolitics - Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said Tehran discussed proposals with Qatari mediators to present to the US, and that a response is to be relayed to Tehran through Qatari mediators. Iranian Foreign Minister said they expect a US response today. UCB (UCB BB) - UCB data presented at 2026 AANEM Annual Meeting and MGFA Scientific Session underscore leadership in advancing targeted treatments for gMG. (UCB) BROKER MOVES SMI OTHER SWISS COMPANIES Julius Baer (BAER SW) - Julius Baer acknowledges the conclusions which, as noted in FINMA’s announcement, have been addressed proactively by the Group through comprehensive remedial measures, in alignment with FINMA. These have been implemented by the completely revamped Executive Board and as part of the Group’s new strategy. In addition to the wind-down of its private debt business and related measures that significantly impacted compensation of the employees involved, the Group also introduced a revised risk and compliance framework in line with its new wealth management strategy. Confirms strategy and buy-back programme. (Julius Baer) Lindt & Spruengli (LISN SW) - H1 2026 (CHF): Sales 2.33bln (exp. 2.36bln). Cuts FY26 Organic Sales Growth to 0-2% (prev. guided 4-6%). CEO says "Necessary price increases due to historically high cocoa prices in recent years, and subdued consumer sentiment led to weaker-than-expected order volumes in certain European markets, particularly in seasonal businesses. An unprecedented heatwave this summer additionally weighed on sales in Europe". (Lindt) Sandoz (SZD SW) - Sandoz opens advanced high-volume drug substance manufacturing centre in Lendava, significantly strengthening in-house capacity and flexibility across leading European biosimilar network. (Sandoz) BROKER MOVES SCANDINAVIA Novo (NOVOB DC) - Co. and Hengrui Pharma enter exclusive license agreement for once-weekly oral GLP-1/GIP dual receptor agonist HRS-1596. HRS-1596 is a phase 1-ready GLP-1/GIP dual receptor agonist for once-weekly oral dosing. Total potential deal value is up to USD 2.6bln, including 300mln upfront, as well as potential sales royalties. (Novo) BROKER MOVES US CLOSES: SPX -0.76% at 7,685, NDX -1.08% at 30,277, DJI -0.67% at 51,482, RUT -0.63% at 2,820. SECTORS: Consumer Staples +0.40%, Health +0.29%, Energy +0.22%, Real Estate -0.38%, Utilities -0.65%, Technology -0.70%, Materials -0.74%, Industrials -1.00%, Financials -1.14%, Consumer Discretionary -1.58%, Communication Services -1.67%. AMD (AMD) - AMD agreed to acquire World Labs in an all stock deal valued at USD 8.2bln. The acquisition adds spatial intelligence and physical AI research capabilities across robotics, simulation and design. World Labs founder Fei-Fei Li will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist. The transaction is expected to close by end-2026. (Newswires) Anthropic - In its IPO prospectus, Anthropic said 2025 revenue was USD 4.6bln, up roughly 12-fold Y/Y, while its operating loss widened to USD 8.06bln (from USD 2.98bln in 2024), and its net loss reached nearly USD 42bln, including roughly USD 34bln of accounting charges tied largely to financing liabilities. Compute and infrastructure spending tripled to USD 7.33bln, representing more than half of USD 12.65bln in total operating expenses, while cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments stood at USD 20.28bln at year-end. Nearly 25% of revenue came from two customers, with the prospectus warning that many large clients are not committed under long-term contracts. Anthropic also disclosed approximately USD 518bln of future cloud, compute and infrastructure obligations. The company’s IPO could value it at more than USD 2tln, Reuters reports, vs an internal valuation estimate of USD 965bln in May; the listing is expected to come after the November 2026 US midterm elections. (Anthropic/Reuters) Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) - Shares fell 0.8% in extended US trading after a sharp decline in asset management revenue and weaker fixed income trading outweighed record equity trading and investment banking revenue, as well as an earnings beat. Q3 EPS 1.08 (exp. 1.00), Q3 revenue USD 2.22bln (exp. 2.20bln). Investment banking revenue +17% Y/Y to USD 1.33bln, driven by advisory +25% and equity underwriting +69%, while equity-trading revenue +29% Y/Y to a record USD 626mln. Fixed-income trading revenue declined by -26% Y/Y. Asset management net revenue fell to USD 85.6mln from nearly USD 177mln Y/Y, while asset management fees and investment return revenue was USD 34mln (exp. 84mln), reflecting weaker performance across several fund strategies. JEF raised its share repurchase programme to USD 250mln. Execs said Jefferies remains confident in the long-term asset management outlook as it reduces capital allocated to certain existing funds, while highlighting strong backlog and new business activity heading into 2027. Elsewhere, SMBC has increased its Jefferies ownership to approximately 20%, becoming its largest shareholder, with the planned Japan JV expected to begin serving clients in January 2027. (Jefferies) US-CA Trade - US import bans on a range of Canadian products, including alcoholic beverages, dairy ingredients and some motorcycles, took effect as scheduled. (Newswires)