European stocks advanced for a fourth straight week on growing optimism that the Middle East conflict may be nearing an end after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz had reopened. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.6% at the close. Most sectors gained, led by travel and leisure shares as airline stocks rallied. Energy shares dropped the most in a year, dragged down by industry heavyweights Shell Plc a...
European stocks advanced for a fourth straight week on growing optimism that the Middle East conflict may be nearing an end after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz had reopened. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.6% at the close. Most sectors gained, led by travel and leisure shares as airline stocks rallied. Energy shares dropped the most in a year, dragged down by industry heavyweights Shell Plc and BP Plc. Telecoms also fell as Sweden’s Ericsson AB slid 4.1% on weak first-quarter results. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s declaration the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open” for all commercial vessels during the ceasefire. President Donald Trump later echoed Araghchi’s comments in a Truth Social post but said the US naval blockade will remain in full force. Brent crude traded at $93 per barrel. The European benchmark is close to recouping losses since the conflict began, while investors are watching how companies communicate the impact of higher energy prices in results. “Now that the dust appears to be settling on events in the Middle East, market attention will once again focus back on the fundamentals, in particular earnings given that the season has just started,” said Daniel Murray , deputy chief investment officer at EFG Asset Management. Still, strategists surveyed by Bloomberg see little upside left for Europe this year, expecting earnings downgrades and geopolitics to cap gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index will finish 2026 about 1% above Wednesday’s close, at 623 points, according to the average of 17 forecasts. European equity funds also suffered their largest weekly outflows since Nov. 2024, according to Bank of America Corp. report that cited EPFR Global data. In other individual stocks, Alstom SA plunged 27% , the most since 2023, after the French train manufacturer scrapped its full-year guidance, citing slow progress on key projects for railway rolling stock. Delivery Hero SE rose 5.2% after Uber Technologies Inc. increased its stake in its E...
Two figures who worked on President Donald Trump ’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election are pursuing a major infrastructure project in Bosnia. Jesse Binnall, a former Trump attorney, and Joseph Flynn, brother of Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn — both of whom supported Trump’s failed election reversal effort — run a company called AAFS Infrastructure and Ener...
Two figures who worked on President Donald Trump ’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election are pursuing a major infrastructure project in Bosnia. Jesse Binnall, a former Trump attorney, and Joseph Flynn, brother of Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn — both of whom supported Trump’s failed election reversal effort — run a company called AAFS Infrastructure and Energy that plans to invest €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) in airports, gas power plants and a gas pipeline in the Balkan country. AAFS wants to develop and run the main international airport in the capital of Sarajevo and another in the city of Mostar, Amer Bekan, an executive at AAFS, said in a phone interview on Thursday. The government of the Muslim-Croat Federation, one of two entities that comprise Bosnia, is evaluating their offer on the airports. An answer is expected “within weeks,” Bekan said. Government officials accepted AAFS’s gas power plant proposal, and a separate contract will soon be signed, he added. The company is expanding its business interests in the region, already a focal point for other dealmakers in Trump’s inner circle. This month, Wyoming-based AAFS secured a contract to build a key natural gas pipeline in Bosnia worth €300 million. Diplomats from the US embassy in Sarajevo supported their bid for the pipeline job. On Wednesday, the embassy praised the parliament decision as a big step for the country’s energy security. “The fact that the pipeline project passed in parliament almost by acclamation shows the power of US diplomacy,” Bekan said from Vienna. “Earlier local political divisions over how to build the gas pipeline were overcome. For Bosnia this investment also brings additional stability, opening a path to other investors.” The pipeline, which will connect Bosnia to the European gas network via Croatia, is key in breaking the country’s total dependence on Russian natural gas. It is expected to begin operating as early as 2028, just as the EU’s...
Looming downgrades to over-optimistic earnings expectations mean European stocks will struggle to rise further this year, according to strategists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index will finish 2026 about 1% above Wednesday’s close, at 623 points, according to the average of 17 forecasts. The index has largely clawed back its Iran-war driven losses, but strategists said the bounce l...
Looming downgrades to over-optimistic earnings expectations mean European stocks will struggle to rise further this year, according to strategists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index will finish 2026 about 1% above Wednesday’s close, at 623 points, according to the average of 17 forecasts. The index has largely clawed back its Iran-war driven losses, but strategists said the bounce looks hard to sustain as the full effects of higher energy costs are yet to be felt. Deutsche Bank AG, Deka Bank, UBS Group AG and Unicredit SA revised their index targets moderately lower in the latest poll, while CIC Market Solutions slightly raised theirs. That leaves HSBC Holdings Plc as the biggest bull, with a 670 points prediction that implies a rally of 8%. TFS Derivatives and Bank of America Corp. remain the two most bearish strategists, seeing a potential drop of about 9%. “With input prices rising sharply, downgrades and disappointment loom across goods-producing and consumer discretionary sectors,” said UBS strategist Gerry Fowler . “Short-term flows have driven a market rebound that is too sharp given this fundamental backdrop as well as the absence of longer-term global investors who have stopped buying Europe recently.” Fowler cut his target to 630 from 650, saying the risk of declines dominates so long as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut. “We believe equities are slightly ahead of where fundamentals justify,” he said. For tables on the Euro Stoxx 50 and Stoxx 600 polls click here , for a table on the DAX survey here , and for a table on the FTSE 100 here . European stocks have rebounded after the Middle East conflict drove them to the brink of a technical correction by falling nearly 10%. Oil prices haven’t matched that retracement, with Brent crude still about 35% above pre-war levels as traders track efforts to extend a ceasefire and unblock the Strait of Hormuz. The effects of that energy-price shock are starting to show up in inflation and other economic...
dem10/iStock via Getty Images By Benjamin Schroeder , Senior Rates Strategist Some risk assets have more than fully retraced, but rates are right to remain concerned about inflation Markets continue to take the glass-half-full approach to the situation in the Middle East. One could easily argue that valuations start to look vulnerable here. After all, some market segments have already fully retrac...
dem10/iStock via Getty Images By Benjamin Schroeder , Senior Rates Strategist Some risk assets have more than fully retraced, but rates are right to remain concerned about inflation Markets continue to take the glass-half-full approach to the situation in the Middle East. One could easily argue that valuations start to look vulnerable here. After all, some market segments have already fully retraced the drawdowns caused by the turmoil. At the same time, the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed for now. As time passes and expectations are not met, real knock-on effects could start to be felt clearly – after all, economies are living off reserves. In the background are stories such as the IEA warning that European airlines have maybe six weeks before they run out of jet fuel, or the IMF again warning that the economic damage is being underestimated. The ECB minutes , meanwhile, confirmed the central bank’s hawkish shift. Still, it was signalled again that there is unlikely to be enough data available at the upcoming meeting in two weeks' time to change the policy stance. Market pricing for the April meeting has continued to slide, with only 3bp of tightening now in the forward rate. With an implied probability of just over 10%, an April hike scenario has effectively been reduced to a tail risk. Further out, though, the market pricing did bounce off from a low of seeing just 50bp of tightening by year-end. For one, oil prices have moved a little higher towards US$100/bbl again. But we also think the significance of the 50bp might rest on the 'one is none' narrative. While this is a fair assumption in the sense that you want a policy shift to be effective, our own revised base case scenario actually sees only one rate hike. Of course, this remains highly path-dependent on the energy situation, but we think it is a plausible scenario if one views the ECB’s strategy through the lens of expectations management and the ECB’s concerns around the credibility of its rea...
Insight with Haslinda Amin, a daily news program featuring in-depth, high-profile interviews and analysis to give viewers the complete picture on the stories that matter. The show features prominent leaders spanning the worlds of business, finance, politics and culture. (Source: Bloomberg)
Insight with Haslinda Amin, a daily news program featuring in-depth, high-profile interviews and analysis to give viewers the complete picture on the stories that matter. The show features prominent leaders spanning the worlds of business, finance, politics and culture. (Source: Bloomberg)