[MARKET ANALYSIS] European bourses under pressure as renewed US-Iran strikes drive energy higher; ITX SM hit despite mixed earnings while FORTUM FH surges on GOOGL deal

European bourses (STOXX 600 -0.7%) are entirely in the red, given the renewed US-Iran tensions overnight. US CENTCOM announced that it destroyed 5 Iranian oil tankers in response to the IRGC targeting a US Navy warship. In retaliation, the IRGC struck back, firing ballistic missiles at a base in Jordan and attacking 10 ships. Energy prices have climbed in turn, with Brent Nov'26 briefly extending above the USD 100/bbl mark. Sectors highlight the negative bias. Utilities, Telecoms and Energy are the only sectors in the green. The clear underperformer is Retail, given losses in Inditex (see more below), while Consumer Products & Services and Banks round out the sector laggards. Zara-owner Inditex reported H1'26 earnings this morning. Its revenue beat estimates and reported +9% on-year sales between Aug 1st-Sep 7th, beating RBC's estimate of 7%. However, EBIT and net profit missed consensus, resulting in shares falling 3.9% this morning. In terms of broker commentary, Bernstein says there is room for consensus expectations to come up, while RBC noted that the results seen were reassuring given the warm-weather delays. Other movers include: LVMH (-1.7%) and Burberry (-2.7%), downgraded to hold at HSBC; Beiersdorf (-1.4%), downgraded to sell at Deutsche Bank; Fortum (+10.4%), signs a 22-year PPA agreement with Google (GOOGL). US equity futures trade mixed but in fairly narrow ranges. In addition to the Fortum announcement, Google is to invest at least EUR 13bln in Finland's AI infrastructure in 2027-28. In other news, Uber and Amazon kicked off their corporate debt offering, with Uber selling a 5-part EUR offering while Amazon is offering a 4-part GBP bond.