[MARKET ANALYSIS] European bourses mixed in light volume, AZN LN discontinues a Phase 3 trial, rising copper prices lift miners

European bourses start the week mixed but in light volumes, given the Summer lull. Not much in terms of drivers to give a clear direction, with weekend geopolitical newsflow light. The 60-day US-Iran MoU deadline expires today, although the expiry does not automatically trigger a resumption of hostilities. Iran's Foreign Minstry held its weekly press conference, in which they said no talks have begun due to Washington's violation of the MoU, while stating that talks with Oman continue. Sectors highlight the mixed picture. Basic Resources outperform, given the lift in 3M LME copper prices to new ATHs, while Tech is supported following reports from Bloomberg that Anthropic reported Q2 revenue of over USD 11.5bln (prev. 0.79bln Y/Y). To the downside is Optimised Personal Care, Food Beverages & Tobacco and Retail. Plenty of pharma updates this morning. Starting with AstraZeneca (+1.2%), the main story is the discontinuation of its Phase 3 lung cancer trial, with the trial not likely to meet its dual primary endpoints. On the positive front, the Co. announced positive results from its Phase 3 SAFFRON and DESTINY-Lung04 trial. Elsewhere, Argenx (+8.3%) said its ALKIVIA myositis Phase 3 study met its primary endpoint. An update on the Commerzbank-UniCredit merger saga. Bloomberg reported that senior German government officials are open to discussing a sale of its 12.7% stake in Commerzbank if a joint strategy is agreed upon. US equity futures are mixed in early Monday trade, with the NQ printing modest gains. In terms of key stories: Alibaba's Qwen open-weight AI models surpassed 3bln global downloads over six months, outpacing Meta and Google; Alphabet is looking to sell AUD 5bln in its debut AUD bond offering; PayPal is in talks to sell itself to Stripe and Advent.