[MARKET ANALYSIS] European bourses rebound following 5 days of selling; BMPS IM offers to buy BAMI IM and BGN IM

European bourses begins the final trading session of the week with broad gains, with the blue chip EuroStoxx 50 set to break its 5-day losing streak. Volumes remain light as the Summer season continues. On the data front, despite mixed French and German PMIs, the EZ figure printed stronger-than-expected across the board, with clear strength in the manufacturing sector. Commentary by S&P highlighted the effect of the heatwave on the services sector. For the ECB, S&P stated that the hawkish bias should remain giving the solid Q3 GDP growth, renewed hiring and elevated inflation. Sectors highlight the positive bias, with all but 2 (Health Care, Media) in the green. Basic Resources is the clear outperformer, given the resurgence of precious metals (spot gold +1.4%). Banks and Autos round out the outperformers. Focus this morning has been on the Italian banking M&A front. BMPS announced a combined EUR 34bln all-cash offer to buy Banco BPM and Banca Generali, in an attempt to fight off a takeover by Intesa Sanpaolo. If successful, this would make BMPS Italy's third biggest bank by market cap, overtaking Credit Agricole. Commenting on the offers, BMPS CEO said the two deals are not conditional on each other and can succeed independently, though believes they will both be successful. In terms of market reaction, despite pre-market indicating large moves in either direction, BMPS now trades with gains of 0.9%, while Banco BPM and Banca Generali trades lower by 0.4% and 1.8% respectively. In other news: Bavarian Nordic (+8.9%), Q2 revenue beat and raised its FY26 guidance; Nibe (+7.6%), Q2 metrics grew Y/Y and highlighted optimision about its 2026 performance; Adidas (+1.3%), initiated with buy at JPMorgan; Renault (-1.0%), downgraded to equal weight at Barclays. US equity futures are firmer across the board. Overnight, Nvidia denied a report by The Information that it plans to ship a China-specific language processing unit by year-end, stating it has no LPU sales in China and no China-specific LPU product on its roadmap while Bloomberg reported earlier that the Co. is in prelim. talks with a South Korean chip designer over a partnership. For Broadcom, the Co. is in talks with lenders to raise over USD 60bln in senior secured debt for an AI chip financing deal.