European equities had a tug-of-war week between resilient earnings and macro worries.
Corporate updates ran strongly positive: upside surprises and raised guidance came through from DHL, Fuchs, Adidas, Friedrich Vorwerk, Qiagen (on an EQT bid) and SAP, which beat on profit, revenue and cloud bookings. Analysts previewing bank results argued Q3 could deliver the strongest net interest income quarter of the year, led by Spanish names, with fee growth revised higher and credit costs still contained. A separate thread highlighted select Irish and consolidation-exposed banks as structural winners if rates stay firm.
Index-level commentary was more cautious. The DAX repeatedly opened under pressure from rising oil, higher yields and renewed AI-capex worries after Meta's spending signal. One published 12-month view set Euro Stoxx 50 around 6,620 and FTSE 100 near 10,750, keeping UK equities underweight on fiscal uncertainty.
Research flagged a cold-winter gas risk and French political-fiscal stress as near-term headwinds, while framing Europe as a credible diversification trade on a multi-year view, supported by an estimated €1.8tn strategic-autonomy investment pipeline into 2035.