The UK and US markets reopen today after public holidays. When Wall Street is closed, trading volumes tend to shrink across European exchanges. When London is also away, financial commentary itself tends to dry up, since many investment banks and analysts are based in the City.

Little news, then, but a big rally yesterday in Europe on the markets that were open. Germany’s DAX gained 2%, driven by its "AI stocks", such as Siemens Energy, for data-centre equipment, and Infineon, for chips. Paris also had a strong session, rising 1.8% on sizeable gains for cyclical and banking stocks. There were a few laggards among the more defensive names, such as Orange, Danone and Euronext, and among oil-exposed stocks, such as TotalEnergies, but only four stocks fell among the forty index constituents. A special mention goes to Italy’s FTSE MIB, which crossed the 50,000-point mark to set a record. Not a recent record, but one that had stood for so long that almost everyone had more or less forgotten it: it dated back to the dotcom bubble. Put differently, the Milan stock market took 26 years to return to that level, after its previous record of 50,108 points on 6 March 2000.

Europe rode both the technology wave and hopes of a resolution to the crisis in Iran, reflected in the fall in crude prices, with Brent shedding roughly $10 between Friday and yesterday. For anyone who missed the weekend’s twists and turns, here is why oil pulled back: the US says an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is close, and Iran offers a half-hearted nod. The US says it is not a done deal, and Iran offers a half-hearted nod. Iran says disagreements remain, and the US offers a half-hearted nod. Meanwhile, third-party negotiators are on the move in parallel, which seems to suggest something is happening. The problem is that the United States carried out air strikes on Iran overnight, notably against missile launch sites and vessels attempting to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Evidently, a few points of tension remain. The market is maintaining a relatively optimistic bias, since oil has only rebounded modestly after the latest developments. Brent is trading at around $98 this morning, up 2%.

In Asia-Pacific, technology stocks continue to set the tone this morning. Taiwan’s market, which is packed with them, has just overtaken India’s in market capitalisation, India having far fewer such companies. A few weeks ago, South Korea moved ahead of the United Kingdom. Behind the United States, which remains untouchable for now, the world’s economic map is being redrawn. There is now only one European company among the twenty largest companies on the planet by market value: ASML, in 20th place. And only two among the top forty, with Roche added in 38th place. The leading non-US stocks are TSMC, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Tencent.

While Wall Street prepares to return after its extended weekend, Tokyo is taking a breather, down 0.3%. Hong Kong is up 0.2%, as local semiconductor companies are lifted by comments from Huawei, which is said to have reached important milestones in closing the gap with Taiwan’s foundry champion TSMC, mentioned above. South Korea is up 3% and should soon be challenging India in terms of overall market capitalisation. Australia is losing a little ground, down 0.4%. Europe is expected to open cautiously as it digests the previous day’s gains, although the mood ahead of Wall Street’s return appears positive.

Today's economic highlights:

On today's agenda: the CBI Distributive Trades in the United Kingdom; In the United States, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price YoY, the CB Consumer Confidence, and the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index. See the full calendar here.

  • GBP / USD: US$1.35
  • Gold: US$4,529.38
  • Crude Oil (BRENT): US$98.44
  • United States 10 years: 4.51%
  • BITCOIN: US$76,809.3

In corporate news:

  • Prosus is calling on the EU to halt the forced sale of its stake in Delivery Hero, Bloomberg reports.
  • Eni has approved investment for phase three of the project in Côte d'Ivoire.
  • Banca CF+ has no plans to delist Banca Sistema from the Euronext Star Milan.
  • Cox ABG has secured a €60 million bridge loan to finance the deal with Iberdrola.
  • 26 US semiconductor companies, including Qualcomm and Nvidia, saw their revenue in China rise by an average of 20% year-on-year in 2025, according to Hurun Research.
  • The EU is preparing a record fine against Google for breaching the Digital Rights Act.
  • Starbucks suffers a sharp drop in sales in Korea following the marketing backlash over ‘Tank Day’.
  • The Korean consumer electronics union is taking legal action to block the vote on the Samsung Electronics pay deal.
  • Today’s key earnings reports: AutoZone, Zscaler, Orsted, Kingfisher…

See more news from UK listed companies here

Analyst Recommendations:

  • Bellway P.l.c.: Goldman Sachs maintains its neutral recommendation and reduces the target price from GBX 2425 to GBX 2220.
  • Barratt Redrow Plc: Goldman Sachs maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from GBX 400 to GBX 355.
  • Persimmon Plc: Goldman Sachs maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from GBX 1490 to GBX 1540.
  • Berkeley Group Holdings Plc: Goldman Sachs maintains its sell recommendation and raises the target price from GBX 2965 to GBX 3170.
  • Vistry Group Plc: Goldman Sachs maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from GBX 625 to GBX 365.
  • Lancashire Holdings Limited: Barclays maintains its equalweight recommendation and raises the target price from GBP 5.70 to GBP 6.10.
  • Hiscox Ltd: Barclays maintains its overweight recommendation and raises the target price from GBP 17.30 to GBP 18.20.
  • British American Tobacco P.l.c.: UBS maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from GBX 5200 to GBX 5750.
  • The British Land Company Plc: Barclays upgrades to overweight from market weight and raises the target price from GBP 4.50 to GBP 4.65.
  • Land Securities Group Plc: Barclays maintains its overweight recommendation and raises the target price from GBP 7.70 to GBP 7.80.
  • Tate & Lyle Plc: Barclays maintains its equalweight recommendation and raises the target price from GBP 3.95 to GBP 5.25.
  • Antofagasta Plc: JP Morgan maintains its neutral recommendation and raises the target price from GBP 32 to GBP 34.
  • Rio Tinto Plc: JP Morgan maintains its neutral recommendation and raises the target price from GBP 72 to GBP 82.80.
  • Genuit Group Plc: Jefferies maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from GBX 388 to GBX 332.