Jun 24 ,2025
Synopsis:
European equity markets closed higher amidst dampened Middle East tensions with a Israel-Iran ceasefire. Energy the top laggard; travel/leisure, banks and construction higher. Follows weaker levels on Monday.
Dampened Middle East tensions driving the global risk-on sentiment. President Trump on Monday afternoon announced a tentative ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which the two sides later confirmed. Even before the ceasefire, markets put a dovish spin on US military involvement, lack of impact on Middle East oil production and exports and Iran's widely telegraphed and underwhelming counterstrikes on Monday.
Attention on central bank policy after some Fed officials broke ranks with Chair Powell and sounded open to rate cut in July. BoE Governor Bailey defended QE in a letter published Monday after criticism by Reform UK. ECB's Nagel said it cannot commit on rates given high uncertainty after President Lagarde warned of growth risks in comments to lawmakers on Monday. However, ECB's Villeroy said it could still cut rates despite oil market volatility.
Elsewhere, European countries mostly agree to commit to 5% NATO target but over 10 years. Germany will boost spending by more than two-thirds by 2029, outpacing France and UK. Nothing incremental on trade.
On the macro calendar, earlier focus on the German Ifo business climate index which continued its run of improvement in June. Headline index registered 88.4 versus consensus 88.2 and prior 87.5. Current conditions indicator at 86.2 versus 86.5 forecast and prior 86.1. Expectations index at 90.7 versus consensus 90.0 and May's 89.0 reading, revised from 88.9. Note, after the headline index fell sharply in December, it has increased for six consecutive months and is at the highest level since June 2024. Expectations index also reached the highest level since April 2023. However, average for index until 2025 was 96.86. Sentiment in Germany has been emboldened by the prospect of increased government spending, with big announcements in infrastructure and defense. Also out, UK CBI Industrial Trends Orders contracted sharply in June to (33) vs consensus (28) and prior (30).
In corporate news flow, quiet on the earnings front with Saga (SAGA.LN) posting AGM trading update and Bunzl (BNZL.LN) also publishing a trading update with group H1 revenue expected to be +4% y/y at constant exchange rates and FY25 guidance also confirmed. Telecom Plus (TEP.LN), Gear4Music (Holdings) (G4M.LN) posted FY earnings while Mears Group (MER.LN) published FY revenue and adjusted PBT expectations of no less than £1.06B and £54M, modestly ahead of current market expectations. Out of France, FDJ UNITED (FDJU.FP) reaffirmed 2025 guidance and announced its financial and non-financial strategy and goals for 2028 during CMD. OVHCloud (OVH.FP) shares were halted after Q3 sales udpate. Elsewhere, Hornbach Holding (HBH.GR) reported Q1 EBIT and sales ahead of expectations and reaffirmed FY guidance.
In M&A headlines, Volvo Construction Equipment (VOLV.B.SS) acquired Swecon business operations in Sweden, Germany and the Baltics for SEK7B and divests its shares in China-based SDLG to Lingong Group for SEK 8B (CNY6B).
Digest:
Sectors - STOXX Europe 600:
Outperformers:
Travel & Leisure +4.27%, Banks +3.04%, Construct & Mtls +2.95%, Technology +1.89%, Financial Svcs +1.63%, Retail +1.55%, Media +1.41%, Autos & Parts +1.36%, Chemicals +1.33%, Telecom +1.30%
Underperformers:
Oil & Gas (2.47%), Utilities +0.11%, Real Estate +0.18%, Food & Beverage +0.22%, Basic Resources +0.40%, Persnl & HHold Goods +0.66%, Health Care +0.69%, Insurance +0.69%, Ind Goods & Svcs +1.00%
Macro:
ECB:
Geopolitics:
NATO summit a stage-managed diplomacy show amid Trump's return and Middle East tensions - Politico, FT
Italy backs NATO's 5% defense target but seeks EU budget flexibility - Reuters
Hungary and Slovakia stall EU sanctions - Politico
Von der Leyen's decision to side with far right on climate legislation leads to coalition turmoil - Politico
France:
French government under pressure as pension talks stumble - Bloomberg
Germany:
UK
Company news:
Notable Gainers
+39.6% DIA.LN (Dialight £1.92, +0.55) -- FY earnings; Investec upgrade
+21.0% MZX.GR (Masterflex €13.55, +2.35) -- signs comprehensive engineering and framework agreement with an international industrial customer
Israel, Iran ceasefire
+10.5% TUI1.GR (TUI Group €7.00, +0.67)
+8.7% AF.FP (Air France-KLM €8.45, +0.68)
+6.5% LHA.GR (Deutsche Lufthansa €7.22, +0.44)
+6.4% EZJ.LN (EasyJet £5.39, +0.32)
+6.1% IAG.LN (International Consolidated Airlines Group £3.28, +0.19)
+5.4% FIA1S.FH (Finnair €2.68, +0.14)
+2.5% WIZZ.LN (Wizz Air Holdings £10.86, +0.26)
+10.3% G4M.LN (Gear4music (Holdings) £2.04, +0.19) -- confirms FY earnings
+9.3% AXS.LN (Accsys Technologies £0.63, +0.05) -- FY earnings
+8.6% SMCP.FP (SMCP €4.05, +0.32) -- issues update on the forced proceeding of the related shares June 2025
+8.1% NDA.GR (Aurubis €86.35, +6.45) -- Oddo upgrade
+7.7% ALO.FP (Alstom €19.81, +1.41) -- order
+7.6% MELE.BB (Melexis €72.20, +5.10) -- Morgan Stanley upgrade
+7.5% HBH.GR (Hornbach Holding €97.80, +6.80) -- Q1 earnings
+7.4% STEM.LN (Sthree £2.40, +0.17) -- H1 trading update
+7.0% BMPS.IM (Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena €7.40, +0.49) --
Monte dei Paschi di Siena receives ECB approval for proposed takeover of Mediobanca - Reuters
EC looking at Italy's 2024 sale of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena shares - FT; BofA upgrade
+6.8% LHN.SW (Holcim CHF57.96, +3.70) -- Morgan Stanley and BofA upgrades; reinstated overweight at JPMorgan
+5.9% OTB.LN (On The Beach Group £2.79, +0.16) -- initiated outperform at RBC Capital Markets
+5.0% VU.FP (VusionGroup €273.80, +13.00) -- company and Eroski partner to drive digital transformation in spanish grocery retail
+4.7% ALPHA.GA (Alpha Services & Holdings €2.99, +0.13) -- completes business transfer agreement for acquisition of substantially all of AstroBank's assets and liabilities
+4.0% PRY.IM (Prysmian €57.76, +2.20) -- initiated buy at Deutsche Bank
+3.7% ELTEL.SS (Eltel SEK9.52, +0.34) -- awarded Data Center contract by Hyperco valued at €16M
+3.4% SINCH.SS (Sinch SEK25.90, +0.86) -- Index change
+3.4% BAMI.IM (Banco BPM €9.96, +0.32) -- Banca Akros issues response to FT today article
+2.6% MER.LN (Mears Group £3.98, +0.10) -- FY trading update
+2.4% RM.LN (RM Plc £0.84, +0.02) -- H1 trading update
+2.3% NWL.IM (NewPrinces €17.02, +0.38) -- signs binding agreement to acquire Diageo Operations Italy
+2.1% ADMIE.GA (Admie Holdings (IPTO) €3.11, +0.06) -- Q1 earnnigs
+2.1% TIT.IM (Telecom Italia €0.40, +0.01) -- shareholders approve proposed change to TIM's corporate purpose
+1.9% TPG.GR (The Platform Group €9.76, +0.18) -- acquisitions
+1.7% EVD.GR (CTS Eventim €104.50, +1.70) -- new CPO
+1.4% SAND.SS (Sandvik SEK211.60, +2.90) -- implements the first phase of restructuring initiatives in Machining
Notable Decliners
-7.7% EQNR.NO (Equinor NOK257.50, -21.40) -- sector move
-5.0% HBR.LN (Harbour Energy £1.98, -0.10) -- sector move
-4.8% TEP.LN (Telecom Plus £19.76, -0.99) -- FY earnings
-4.8% BP.LN (BP £3.68, -0.18) -- sector move
-4.8% AKRBP.NO (Aker BP NOK265.90, -13.50) -- sector move
-4.3% BNOR.NO (BlueNord NOK527.00, -23.95) -- prelim Q2 earnings
-3.3% TTE.FP (TotalEnergies €52.50, -1.78) -- sector move
-2.9% CON.GR (Continental €71.90, -2.18) -- CMD update; lowers FY adj EBIT margin guidance
-2.7% GALP.PL (Galp Energia SGPS €15.22, -0.42) -- sector move
-2.6% LISN.SW (Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli CHF128,800.00, -3,400.00) -- BofA downgrade
-2.5% REP.SM (Repsol €12.52, -0.32) -- sector move
-2.5% ENI.IM (Eni €13.86, -0.36) -- sector move; Acea approves Eni Plenitude offer for the acquisition of Acea Energia
-2.3% NESTE.FH (Neste €11.45, -0.27) -- sector move
-2.0% RECSI.NO (REC Silicon NOK2.09, -0.04) -- acceptance period extension
EU companies reporting tomorrow:
Earnings:
DACHs: Kapsch TrafficCom (KTCG.AV)
Nordics: Diamyd Medical (DMYD.B.SS), MAG Interactive (MAGI.SS)
UK: Babcock International Group (BAB.LN), Liontrust Asset Management (LIO.LN)
Trading Update:
France: Trigano (TRI.FP)
CMD/events: Aperam (APAM.NA) day 1 of 2, Prosus (PRX.NA) 9:00BST, NatWest Group (NWG.LN) Private Banking Business 15:30BST webcast
Data:
Economics:
Netherlands Q1 GDP +2.2% y/y vs preliminary +2.0%
Germany Jun IFO Business Climate 88.4 vs consensus 88.2 and prior 87.5
Markets:
WTI Crude (Aug 25): ($3.24) or (4.73%) to $65.27
€-$ +0.0044 or +0.38% to 1.1623
£-$ +0.0099 or +0.74% to 1.3623
€-£ (0.0030) to 0.8532
S&P 500 +0.99%
Performance year-to-date
FTSE 100: +7.17%
DAX: +18.75%
CAC: +3.19%
MIB: +15.47%
Stoxx 600: +6.57%
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