Europe opens lower with PMIs, geopolitics and Nvidia

The main European stock markets fell again on Thursday after the sharp increase the day before linked to the hope of an imminent agreement between the United States and Iran.

Investors are now cautious with the publication of the first PMI indices in Europe, while Nvidia’s exceptional results were not enough to impress the market.

In Paris, the CAC 40 .FCHI lost 0.09% to 8,110.02 points around 07:10 GMT, after an increase of 1.70% on Wednesday. In London, the FTSE 100 .FTSE fell 0.51% and in Frankfurt, the Dax .GDAXI lost 0.12%.

The EuroStoxx 50 .STOXX50E index fell by 0.35%, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 by 0.21% and the Stoxx 600 .STOXX by 0.25%, mainly weighed down by basic resources.

Futures contracts on Wall Street predict a decline of 0.23% for the Dow Jones .DJI, 0.18% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 .SPX and 0.26% for the Nasdaq .IXIC the day after a session in the green.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States was prepared to carry out new attacks on Iran if Tehran did not agree to a peace deal, but suggested that Washington could wait a few days to “get the right answers.”

The head of the Pakistani army, Asim Munir, will travel to Tehran today as part of Islamabad’s mediation efforts in this conflict, reports the Iranian news agency Isna.

In the meantime, investors are choosing to stay away from risky assets, while oil prices are starting to rise slightly again, with a barrel of Brent at more than 106 dollars.

The market should know a little more about the impact of the war on businesses with the publication of preliminary PMI indices in the Eurozone and the United Kingdom. Japanese data showed that manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace, while cost pressures rose sharply.

Sources told Reuters that a rate hike in June by the European Central Bank (ECB) was all but a given, amid fears of a resurgence in inflation.

In corporate news, the European technology sector .SX8P fell on Thursday, following the expected decline of Nvidia NVDA.O at the opening of Wall Street while the better-than-expected results and forecasts of the American semiconductor and AI giant were not enough for investors.

EasyJet EZJ.L, which reported an uncertain outlook with rising fuel costs and slowing bookings, fell 0.25%.

Generali GASI.MI advances 2.6%, the leading Italian insurer having published quarterly results above expectations and confirmed its objectives until 2027.

In Paris, Ubisoft UBIP.PA plunged 13.09% after announcing on Wednesday a record operational loss for its 2025-2026 fiscal year.

Elior ELIOR.PA tumbles 25% after lowering its annual outlook.

Airbus AIR.PA lost 2.58% and Air France-KLM AIRF.PA 0.34% while the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal in the trial for involuntary manslaughter of the two groups, acquitted at first instance in 2023, is expected seventeen years after the crash of the Rio-Paris flight in 2009 in the Atlantic.

(Rédigé par Claude Chendjou, édité par Augustin Turpin)