Live Markets: Before the bell: Europe's brief AI party
LIVE MARKETS-Before the bell: Europe's brief AI party Adds blog post
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BEFORE THE BELL: EUROPE'S BRIEF AI PARTY
European stocks will have their own short period of AI excitement at the open after ASML ASML.AS, the world's biggest supplier of equipment used to manufacture computer chips, reported better-than-expected Q2 earnings and raised its 2026 forecasts.
Its shares are up around 5% on the Tradegate platform, and as Europe's largest company by market cap, that's enough to keep Euro STOXX 50 futures narrowly in positive territory. STXEc1
Futures on the ASML-less German and British indexes are down around 0.4%. FFIc1, FDXc1
The other big earnings beat is from Cartier jewellery owner Richemont CFR.S, which was helped by booming growth in Asia and the Americas. Its shares are up 8% in Julius Baer's pre-market trade, and look out for gains across the luxury complex.
There's no big macro news to come for the rest of the day, though any oil-moving headlines out of the Gulf will have an impact. Brent LCOc1 was last at $85.3 a barrel, elevated, but not at panic levels.
It'll also be interesting to see how European markets react to cooler Chinese Q2 GDP growth. Goldman Sachs, last year, argued that greater Chinese economic growth translated into lower growth in Europe.
At 4.3%, gross domestic product growth in April-June eased from the first quarter's 5.0%, landing below the lower end of China's 4.5%-5.0% full-year target and missing forecasts as weak household consumption clouded strong manufacturing and exports.
(Alun John)
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