Market Daily

Equity Market Updates

American Express (AXP US)

Shares of US credit card company American Express surged on Friday as it reported 3Q25 results that beat Wall Street expectations, buoyed by strong initial demand for the company’s revamped Platinum card. The card's account acquisitions doubled from pre-refresh levels.

In terms of overall results, American Express’ 3Q25 revenue stood at USD18.4bln vs. USD18.0bln expected, while adjusted EPS was at USD4.14 vs. USD3.99 expected. The company also raised the lower end of its full-year guidance, with revenue now expected to grow between 9% and 10% YoY, while EPS is likely to reach between USD15.2 and USD15.5 this year.

American Express’ strong 3Q25 performance is likely to be supportive for its share price going forward.

MARKET CONSENSUS: 13 BUYS, 17 HOLDS, 4 SELLS, AVERAGE TP USD343.89

Schlumberger (SLB US)

US oilfield services company Schlumberger reported 3Q25 earnings that beat analyst estimates on Friday, helped by higher-than-expected demand for its oilfield equipment and services in North America. The company’s adjusted EPS for the quarter stood at USD0.69 vs. USD0.66 expected, while revenue was at USD8.93bln vs. USD8.90bln expected.

Schlumberger’s digital-business segment, which includes AI software to improve reservoir performance, also saw data centre solutions revenues more than double YoY.

Looking ahead, the company expects production increases by OPEC and its allies to drive investment in many countries where it operates.

MARKET CONSENSUS: 26 BUYS, 4 HOLDS, AVERAGE TP USD45.54

Kering (KER FP)

French luxury group and Gucci owner Kering said on Sunday that it had agreed to sell its beauty business to L’Oreal for EUR4bln, as new CEO Luca de Meo moves to tackle the luxury group's high debt and refocus on its core fashion business. The company has struggled to reverse declining growth at its largest brand Gucci, which was hit hard by slowing demand in the key Chinese market.

Under the deal, French beauty giant L'Oreal will acquire Kering's fragrance line Creed, as well as rights to develop fragrance and beauty products under Kering's fashion labels Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga under a 50-year exclusive license.

The market will closely watch how this deal will impact Kering’s top- and bottom-line going forward.

MARKET CONSENSUS: 7 BUYS, 13 HOLDS, 9 SELLS, AVERAGE TP EUR254.28

Volvo (VOLVB SS)

Swedish truckmaker Volvo said on Friday it expects trucking demand in North America to remain under pressure into next year, as weak freight activity and US tariffs weigh on the market.

The group cut its forecast for the North American truck market while keeping its European view unchanged. It expects heavy truck deliveries of around 265,000 in North America this year, 10,000 fewer than previously envisioned, signalling softer demand expectations for the US market. It expects to deliver some 290,000 vehicles in Europe.

Volvo said the North American long-haul freight market remains in recession, with lower freight volumes and prices, while customers are holding back orders amid uncertainty over new emissions rules and tariffs. Meanwhile, Europe is expected to hold up better, as truck demand is largely replacement-driven, supported by stable fleet utilisation.

Volvo’s 3Q25 adjusted operating profit fell around 17% to SEK11.7bln, in line with analysts’ estimates.

MARKET CONSENSUS: 12 BUYS, 10 HOLDS, 2 SELLS, AVERAGE TP SEK297.2

Stellantis (STLAP FP)

Dutch EV manufacturer Stellantis is collaborating with Chinese autonomous driving technology company Pony AI to deploy robotaxis in Europe, the two companies said Friday, as global competition among Chinese robotaxi companies heats up.

Stellantis and Pony AI plan to launch test robotaxis in Luxembourg in coming months and will gradually roll out robotaxi services across European cities from 2026.

The partnership will initially focus on light commercial vehicles, by integrating Stellantis' medium-sized van with Pony AI's advanced autonomous driving software.

The move comes as Chinese robotaxi companies expand their robotaxis overseas and scale up their fleet sizes both in their domestic and overseas markets. Its peers, WeRide and Baidu's Apollo, have also expanded into the European market.

MARKET CONSENSUS: 7 BUYS, 22 HOLDS, 5 SELLS, AVERAGE TP EUR9.09

Earnings Announcements

Global Indices Changes (%)

Fixed Income Market Updates

European Bank Coco (AT1)

The 10-year yield fell below 4.00%, its lowest since spring, driven by renewed bank-sector concerns and softer macro data, but AT1s were only marginally lower. Also, with the headlines around the UBS AT1 settlement, which took spreads knee-jerk wider and AT1s materially lower before it all came back in to perform in line with the broader yankee complex. We would be buyers of any dips in our favoriate AT1 names. 

Asia Investment Grade (IG)

Asia IG was firm despite spreads slightly wider due to the US Treasury. China IG was 2-3 bps wider and mainly had selling flow from private clients. In TMT space, it was active in BABA curve recently in two ways (Benchmark BABA 35s +50/48 +4bp). TENCNT long-end and JD long-end saw up prints from the street on potential short covering interest. Bond levels are holding up firmly there. In Finanicials, similarly we saw better selling in higher beta names like AMC, Leasing and recent issue like PINGIN. 

Asia High Yield (HY)

In China HY, property names are unchanged to 0.125pt lower, seeing some selling from Fund Manager accounts in the survivors. Macau Gaming also traded 0.25pt lower with long end part of the curve underperforming. In HK, NWDEVL was another +1-2pt higher, seeing two way flows with some follow through buying in FFL and bullets. In India HY, benchmark names like the Adani complex and VEDLN was another 0.5-1pt lower with more selling seen as London opened.  

Forex Market Updates

USD

The US Dollar rebounded against a basket of other major currencies on Friday, halting a run of three straight days of losses after US President Trump poured cold water on higher tariffs on Chinese goods. In comments that were markedly less hawkish than those he made in the immediate aftermath of Beijing’s announcement of tighter curbs on its rare earth exports, Trump said that 100% tariffs on China are “not sustainable”, adding that “we’ll be fine with China”. In a further boost to market sentiment, US Treasury Secretary Bessent said that he expects to meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the upcoming ASEAN Summit to try to forestall an escalation of US tariffs on Chinese goods. On the central bank front, Fed policymaker Musalem suggested that he will support a rate cut at the next FOMC meeting at the end of this month “if there are further risks to the labour market that emerge”. Looking past October, Musalem indicated that it too soon to say what will happen and noted that officials should “tread with caution” because of what he perceives as “limited space for easing before monetary policy could become overly accommodative, and we haven't finished the job on inflation”.                                                 

The Dollar Index should remain in consolidation for the time being, albeit with a slight bias to the downside towards technical support around 97.50.

GBP

The British Pound was little changed on Friday as markets digested the previous day’s UK GDP figures which came in-line with forecasts. Ahead of the keenly-awaited Budget due in early November, UK Chancellor Reeves reiterated her commitment to the Labour Government’s self-imposed fiscal rules, but said that it must be honest with the public about the challenges the country faces. With 30-year gilts trading at well above 5%, the UK currently has the highest long-term borrowing costs of any G7 nation, but Reeves said that markets could see that the government was continuing to meets its fiscal rules and that she would continue on the path to fiscal consolidation. Elsewhere, BoE policymaker Greene said that she remains unconvinced about the effects of US tariffs on the British economy, suggesting that the pass-throughs on growth and inflation are still unknown. Touching on recent labour market data, Greene said that the small rise in British unemployment was in line with her expectations and helped to reduce the chance of high inflation translating into a wage-price spiral. Nevertheless, Greene added that “it’s probably appropriate to cut more slowly" relative to previous market expectations that the BoE would cut rates at a quarterly pace.

Near term Sterling price action should remain capped by resistance around 1.3485.

EUR

The Euro weakened at the end of the week, unable to hold on to earlier gains above 1.1700 amid broad USD strength as conciliatory comments by Trump dampened fears of further escalation in the US-China trade spat. The common currency also came under pressure from S&P Global’s surprise downgrade of France’s credit rating and a warning that ongoing political instability in the Eurozone’s second-largest economy would be a major obstacle to the country’s efforts to repair its rising debt burden. Justifying the move, the credit ratings agency added that “policy uncertainty will affect the French economy by dragging on investment activity and private consumption, and therefore on economic growth”. Separately, ECB official Wunsch said that the chances of further rate cuts by the central bank are declining given the economy's resilience and inflation holding around the 2% target. However, Wunsch added that he remains open to further easing if necessary, especially since “the impact of tariffs is yet to fully play out, the Dollar is weak and there is the risk of China dumping surplus goods”.

The common currency is likely to see some consolidation between 1.1545 and 1.1760 moving forward.

XAU

Gold prices touched a new all-time high for the fifth straight session on Friday before retreating sharply into the week’s close on Trump's comments that "full-scale" tariffs on China would be unsustainable. Nevertheless, the precious metal still ended the week 5.8% higher than at last Monday’s open, recording its strongest weekly performance since the early days of the Covid pandemic in March 2020. In addition to sustained market expectations for two more Fed rate cuts before the end of 2025 and the continuation of the US government shutdown into its third week, growing concerns about the health of US regional banks also sparked safe haven demand and fuelled bullion’s gains. With the year-to-date rally already standing at 62%, many analysts have had to continually revise their gold forecasts in recent months, and a major British bank last week added to calls that the precious metal would hit $5,000/oz in 2026 against the backdrop of ongoing geopolitical tensions, robust central bank demand and strong inflows into gold ETFs.

The precious metal’s outlook should remain bullish as long as price action continues to remain above the $4,000/oz handle.

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Europe Disclaimer: 
https://wealthmanagement.bnpparibas/ch/en/disclaimer.html