[MARKET ANALYSIS] European equities trades softer while Tech and Software names gain following upbeat Nvidia and Salesforce earnings

European bourses begin Thursday's trade with a negative tilt, with the majority of indices in the red, outside of the DAX 40. The primary reason for the upside in the German benchmark is the read-across following upbeat Nvidia and Salesforce earnings (see more below). The broad positiveness in chipmakers was also seen overnight, with the KOSPI closing with gains of 1.5%. Sectors highlight the negative bias, with Tech the only sector printing decent gains. To the downside lies Food, Beverages & Tobacco, with Chemicals and Optimised Personal Care rounding out the sector laggards. Key movers include: Pernod Ricard (-6.0%), Q2 revenue missed estimates and guided FY sales growth at the lower end of its range due to soft US market; Delivery Hero (+0.4%), raises its FY26 guidance; Kuehne+Nagel (-2.9%), US probes Apex Logistics over Nvidia AI chip smuggling; Novo Nordisk (-2.6%), downgraded to sell at Deutsche Bank; Computacenter (+4.7%), upgraded to buy at Peel Hunt. US equity futures are entirely in the green, with clear outperformance in the NQ following Nvidia (+7.5% pre-market) earnings after-hours. The tech behemouth reported Q2 metrics that beat estimates and forecasted stronger-than-expected FY28 growth, overshadowing the forecasted drop in Q3 margins. Elsewhere, Salesforce (+11.2% pre-market) also reported upbeat earnings that beat market consensus and guided metrics above forecasts.