European stocks: EuroStoxx recovers after strong Micron figures - SMI at record
06/25/26 12:13 PM
PARIS/LONDON/ZURICH (dpa-AFX) - The EuroStoxx 50 recovered somewhat on Thursday from the losses of the past two days. Excellent business figures and a very good outlook from US memory chip manufacturer Micron (Micron Technology) boosted sentiment. Around midday, the eurozone benchmark index gained 0.73 percent to 6,260 points.
For the already strong Swiss SMI, there was a gain of 0.30 percent to 14,160 points. After the record high on Wednesday, it set another record. The British FTSE 100 rose 0.29 percent to 10,492 points.
Micron clearly exceeded expectations for the past quarter thanks to the ongoing boom in artificial intelligence (AI). The targets for the current quarter also came as a positive surprise. Accordingly, the stock is set for double-digit percentage gains and a new record high.
Micron reminded investors "that the memory cycle and the general AI trend will persist over time," commented Hugh Lam, investment strategist at Betashares. Despite likely future strong price and sentiment fluctuations, structural supply bottlenecks will at least secure stock prices in this area until 2027, he said.
Even more impressive than the figures and outlook was the significant expansion of long-term contracts with key customers from one in the previous quarter to now 16, added analyst Harlan Sur from US bank JPMorgan. He raised the price target for the stock massively.
The Micron euphoria also gave a strong boost to the European technology sector: its sub-index led with a gain of 2.3 percent among the winners in the broad Stoxx Europe 600. Once again, Micron's industry peers Infineon and STMicro, as well as chip equipment maker ASML, were among investors' favorites.
Utilities and the energy technology group Siemens Energy also benefited from the high energy demand of data centers due to the ongoing AI and semiconductor hype.
Defensive stocks, on the other hand, attracted little interest in the friendly market environment. The sector indices for recently strong food and beverage manufacturers saw moderate losses. It was a similar picture for oil and gas companies in light of further falling oil prices. North Sea crude oil is now back at pre-war levels thanks to hopes of a final end to the Iran war.
From the strong travel and leisure sector, easyJet stood out with a further price recovery of more than 7 percent to 579 pence. The low-cost airline also rejected a fourth non-binding purchase offer from Castlelake as too low. The US investor has now increased the price to 650 pence and could submit a binding takeover offer by July 5 or withdraw its offer.
At ITV, investors enjoyed a price gain of 2.5 percent. A media report said, citing informed sources, that Sky, the media conglomerate owned by US cable operator Comcast, had agreed with the British to take over their television and streaming business. The transaction could be announced in the coming weeks, according to the report.
Meanwhile, shares of H&M (HennesMauritz AB (HM, H&M)) fell 3 percent after quarterly figures. Analysts described the textile retailer's second quarter as mixed. The Swedes, as already at the start of the year, felt the weak consumer climate./gl/jha/
