Mar 04 ,2026
Synopsis:
European equity markets finished in positive territory. Investors in Europe buying-the-dip after biggest two-day selloff since April. Travel/leisure, tech, banks, retail and industrial stocks outperform; food/beverage, chemicals and energy lag.
Middle Eastern tensions still in the headlines. Sentiment improving on report that Iran operatives made offer to discuss terms for ending war. Energy prices pulling back from high. Focus remains on energy disruptions and consequences for macro-outlook.
In politics, takeaways from UK Chancellor Reeves' fiscal update highlighted that Middle East tensions have left lot of unanswered questions over spending outlook amid big jump in energy prices. German Chancellor Merz said he wants EU trade agreement with US to be implemented quickly but bloc can't accept a deal on worse terms.
On the macro calendar, focus is on February Services PMIs: Germany and the Eurozone slightly ahead of prelim. readings, UK and France came in line with flash estimates, with France being the only one still in contraction. Also, EZ PPI rises +0.7% m/m above forecast for a +0.2% increase in January, unemployment slightly better at 6.1% vs consensus 6.2%. Elsewhere, Italy final Q4 GDP confirmed at +0.8% y/y.
In earnings, DACH names kicked off the session with Redcare Pharmacy (RDC.GR), Evonik Industries AG (EVK.GR), Continental (CON.GR), TRATON (8TRA.GR), Bayer AG (BAYN.GR),Symrise (SY1.GR), and Adidas (ADS.GR) reporting final year figures. In France, SCOR SE (SCR.FP) reported Q4 earnings this morning with a dividend in line with consensus , whilst Dassault Aviation (AM.FP) issued FY earnings with a strong EBIT beat. In Italy, Italgas (IG.IM) released FY earnings numbers and hiked dividend by 13% y/y, and FinecoBank (FBK.IM) issued a presentation ahead of its CMD today detailing the approved 2026-29 industrial plan. In the UK, Weir Group (WEIR.LN), Vistry Group (VTY.LN), Beazley (BEZ.LN), and Metro Bank Holdings (MTRO.LN) are amongst others in the region to update investors with their latest numbers. Elsewhere, yesterday after markets closed, ASM International (ASM.NA) confirmed preliminary Q4 earnings and announced a new €150M buyback.
Looking ahead to tomorrow's EU econ-calendar, notable releases will include, amongst others, Germany Feb construction PMI, France Jan industrial production, Italy Jan retail sales, Spain Jan industrial production, Eurozone Jan retail sales, and UK Feb construction PMI.
Digest:
Sectors - STOXX Europe 600:
Outperformers:
Travel & Leisure +2.75%, Technology +2.49%, Banks +2.33%, Retail +2.23%, Ind Goods & Svcs +1.94%, Basic Resources +1.88%, Financial Svcs +1.86%, Media +1.52%, Autos & Parts +1.50%
Underperformers:
Food & Beverage (0.70%), Chemicals (0.40%), Oil & Gas (0.26%), Construct & Mtls +0.53%, Real Estate +0.66%, Utilities +0.81%, Persnl & HHold Goods +0.86%, Health Care +1.18%, Telecom +1.21%, Insurance +1.28%
Macro:
Company news:
Notable Gainers
+24.6% GFG.GR (Global Fashion Group €0.31, +0.06) -- Q4 earnings
+10.0% IMPN.SW (Implenia CHF77.10, +7.00) -- FY earnings
+7.3% GFRD.LN (Galliford Try Holdings £5.72, +0.39) -- H1 earnings
+6.8% NEX.FP (Nexans €124.60, +7.90) -- Barclays upgrade
+6.7% CLAS.B.SS (Clas Ohlson SEK368.60, +23.20) -- SEB upgrade
+6.5% DIE.BB (D'Ieteren Group €186.10, +11.30) -- D'Ieteren Group appoints Rothschild as it explores strategic options for controlling stake in Belron - Bloomberg
+6.2% SIX2.GR (Sixt €64.45, +3.75) -- FY earnings
+5.3% VIS.SM (Viscofan €59.60, +3.00) -- transferred buy at UBS
+5.0% ASM.NA (ASM International €717.00, +34.40) -- Q4 earnings
+4.9% NKT.DC (NKT A/S DKK807.00, +38.00) -- order
+4.8% AM.FP (Dassault Aviation €347.00, +16.00) -- FY earnings
+4.4% KGX.GR (Kion Group €54.40, +2.30) -- Jefferies upgrade
+4.3% AC.FP (Accor €45.45, +1.88) -- Kepler Cheuvreux upgrade
+4.2% LIME.SS (Lime Technologies SEK200.00, +8.00) -- updated financial targets
+4.0% UCB.BB (UCB €263.10, +10.20) -- global license agreement for ATG-201 with Antengene
+2.9% A5G.ID (AIB Group €8.75, +0.25) -- FY earnings
+2.6% SCR.FP (SCOR SE €29.76, +0.76) -- Q4 earnings
Notable Decliners
-25.6% VTY.LN (Vistry Group £4.70, -1.62) -- FY earnings; Executive Chair and CEO to retire; Deutsche Numis downgrade
-21.0% RDC.GR (Redcare Pharmacy €47.00, -12.50) -- Q4 earnings; FY26 guidance
-10.6% WEIR.LN (Weir Group £30.40, -3.62) -- FY earnings
-8.1% GMS.LN (Gulf Marine Services £0.21, -0.02) -- evacuates personnel from four vessels operating in the ME
-6.2% AT1.GR (Aroundtown €2.61, -0.17) -- FY earnings; offer to acquire up to 47.5M-shares of Grand City Properties
-6.0% AGY.LN (Allergy Therapeutics £0.11, -0.01) -- Phase I/IIa PROTECT trial results
-3.6% ADS.GR (Adidas €141.80, -5.30) -- Q4 earnings; new Chairman
-2.9% REP.SM (Repsol €20.11, -0.59) -- Venture Global trading higher after New York State Supreme Court rejected Shell's attempts to throw out VG's arbitration award - Reuters
-2.8% QLT.LN (Quilter £1.82, -0.05) -- FY earnings
-2.5% PHO.NO (PhotoCure NOK70.90, -1.80) -- ABG Sundal Collier downgrade
-2.4% BAYN.GR (Bayer AG €37.40, -0.91) -- Q4 earnings
-2.0% MAERSK.B.DC (Maersk DKK17,020.00, -340.00) -- Middle East operations update
-2.0% GBF.GR (Bilfinger €108.20, -2.20) -- Q4 eanrings
-1.9% MTRO.LN (Metro Bank Holdings £1.12, -0.02) -- FY earnings
EU companies reporting tomorrow:
Earnings:
Austria: Andritz (ANAV), Zumtobel Group (ZAG.AV),
Belgium: Elia Group (ELI.BB), Viohalco (VIO.BB), Jensen-Group (JEN.BB), Van de Velde (VAN.BB)
France: Savencia (SAVE.FP)
Germany: DHL Group (DHL.GR), Merck (MRK.GR), Renk Group (R3NK.GR), LEG Immobilien (LEG.GR), Dürr (DUE.GR), Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (PBB.GR), GFT Technologies (GFT.GR), Ströer (SAX.GR)
Netherlands: Universal Music Group (UMG.NA), Banijay Group (BNJ.NA), TKH Group (TWEKA.NA), ACOMO (ACOMO.NA), MotorK (MTRK.NA)
Nordics: Schouw & Co (SCHO.DC), Elekta (EKTA.B.SS), Systemair (SYSR.SS), Orthex (ORTHEX.FH), Nightingale Health (HEALTH.FH)
Southern Europe: Snam (SRG.IM), Azimut Holding (AZM.IM), Nexi (NEXI.IM), Italmobiliare (ITM.IM), Ascopiave (ASC.IM), Tinexta (TNXT.IM), Piaggio & C (PIA.IM), Redes Energeticas Nacionais (RENE.PL), CrediaBank (CREDIA.GA)
Other: Turkcell (TCELL.E.TI), Permanent TSB Group Holdings (PTSB.ID), Moscow Exchange MICEX (MOEX.RU)
Switzerland: Galderma Group (GALD.SW), Cherry (C3RY.GR)
UK: Reckitt Benckiser (RKT.LN), Aviva (AV.LN), Rentokil Initial (RTO.LN), Admiral Group (ADM.LN), Entain (ENT.LN), Harbour Energy (HBR.LN), ITV (ITV.LN), Serco Group (SRP.LN), OSB Group (OSB.LN), Grafton Group (GFTU.LN), Coats Group (COA.LN), Lancashire Holdings (LRE.LN), Elementis (ELM.LN), Spire Healthcare Group (SPI.LN), Hunting (HTG.LN), PageGroup (PAGE.LN), Funding Circle Holdings (FCH.LN), CAB Payments Holdings (CABP.LN), Foxtons Group (FOXT.LN), RM (RM.LN), Hansard Global (HSD.LN), Greencoat Renewables (GRP.LN)
Data:
Economics:
Eurozone Jan
PPI (2.1%) y/y vs consensus (2.7%) and prior revised (2.0%) from (2.1%)
Unemployment Rate 6.1% vs consensus 6.2% and prior 6.2%
Italy
Q4 GDP +0.8% y/y vs preliminary +0.8%
Jan Unemployment Rate 5.1% vs consensus 5.6% and prior revised to 5.5% from 5.6%
February Services PMI
Eurozone 51.9 vs consensus 51.8 and prior 51.6
UK 53.9 vs consensus 53.9 and prior 54.0
Germany 53.5 vs consensus 53.4 and prior 52.4
France 49.6 vs consensus 49.6 and prior 48.4
Italy 52.3 vs consensus 52.6 and prior 52.9
Spain 51.9 vs consensus 52.8 and prior 53.5
Switzerland Feb CPI y/y +0.1% vs consensus (0.1%) and prior +0.1%
Markets:
WTI Crude (26-Apr): ($0.61) or (0.82%) to $73.95
€-$ +0.0027 or +0.23% to 1.1640
£-$ +0.0014 or +0.10% to 1.3370
€-£ +0.0012 to 0.8707
S&P 500 +0.73%
Performance year-to-date:
FTSE 100: +6.41%
DAX: (1.16%)
CAC: +0.22%
MIB: +0.87%
Stoxx 600: +3.47%
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