Swiss stocks decline as officials head to the U.S. to nereceivediate tariffs
President of the Swiss Confederation, Karin Keller-Sutter (R) and Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin depart at the Department of State after a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Washington, DC on August 6, 2025.
Drew Angerer | Afp | Getty Images
Swiss stocks declined on Wednesday as the countest’s President and economic minister were meeting U.S. government officials in an attempt to lower the 39% tariffs imposed by President Trump.
The Swiss Market Index fell 0.9% despite a broadly positive trading session for European equities.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed flat. Regionally, the FTSE 100 closed up 0.2%, CAC 40 rose 0.2% and Germany’s DAX was higher 0.3%.
— Ganesh Rao
Novo Nordisk in ‘a better place’ than many peers amid tariffs threat, CFO declares
Speaking to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” this morning, Karsten Munk Knudsen, chief financial officer of Novo Nordisk, responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to slap 250% tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
Knudsen noted that the Danish pharmaceutical giant was “already investing a lot in the U.S.,” with a $4 billion expansion project underway.
“When we’re filling cartridges and putting it into pen devices, that’s predominantly U.S. manufacturing for U.S. patients, so that’s already in place,” he stated.
“And then on the active ingredients [in weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy], we are actually exporting more from the U.S. than we’re importing in terms of volumes. So the trade balance, if you can call it that, is actually in a rather good place, and putting Novo Nordisk in, I consider, a better place than many other pharmaceutical companies.”
— Chloe Taylor
Pharma stocks falter
European pharma stocks
We’re around three hours into Wednesday’s session, and pharmaceutical stocks are extfinishing their losses.
The Stoxx Europe Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology index was last seen trading 1.8% lower, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 250% on the pharmaceuticals sector.
Swiss pharmaceutical giants Novartis and Roche were 3.2% and 2.3% lower, respectively, by 11 a.m. in London (6 a.m. ET), while Merck was 1.1% lower and Britain’s GSK shed 0.8%.
— Chloe Taylor
Bayer shares drop after earnings
Roundup weedkilling products for sale at a home improvement store on May 14, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Shares of German chemicals giant Bayer were last seen trading 4.5% lower, after the company stated on Wednesday that it was “on track following an encouraging first half of the year.”
Adjusted second-quarter sales jumped 0.9% year on year to reach 10.7 billion euros ($12.4 billion), while EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — fell 0.3% to 2.1 billion euros.
Analysts had been expecting Bayer’s second-quarter EBITDA to come in at 1.8 billion euros, according to LSEG data.
CEO Bill Anderson stated in a statement alongside the results that Bayer was raising its 2025 currency-adjusted guidance for both sales and earnings, citing strong performance in the firm’s pharmaceuticals division.
That came in spite of a net loss of 199 million euros in the second quarter, which the company attributed to special charges arising from litigation. The company is still entangled in legal action against its Roundup weedkiller, which claimants have linked to health problems such as cancer.
Meanwhile, news agency Reuters reported on Wednesday that Bayer had cut 12,000 jobs since it launched its restructuring program.
— Chloe Taylor
Pharma stocks fall after Trump’s tariffs threat
The Stoxx Europe Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology index was 0.8% lower by 8:46 a.m. in London (3:46 a.m. ET), as investors reacted to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs threats.
The president informed CNBC on Tuesday that tariffs on the pharma sector could go as high as 250% within a year and a half.
The hugegest losses in the sector in early morning trade were Sweden’s Oncopeptides, down 7%, and Belgian life sciences firm Galapagos, down 5.3%.
— Chloe Taylor
Beiersdorf shares drop 9%
German chemical consumer goods group Beiersdorf lowered its full year sales guidance on Wednesday, citing difficult market conditions.
The Nivea buildr now expects organic sales growth of 3%, down from its guidance of 4% to 6% after a weaker-than-expected first half. The group stated it expects an improvement for the rest of the year.
Shares were last seen trading 9% lower, taking the company to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 index.
— Michael Considine
European stocks open higher
We’re around 15 minutes into Wednesday’s trading session, and regional stocks are broadly on the rise.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was last seen trading 0.3% higher, led by construction and industrials stocks.
London’s FTSE 100 was last seen up by around 0.2%, while the French CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX index each gained 0.5%.
— Chloe Taylor
Glencore profit falls
First-half profit at Glencore fell 14% amid headwinds from lower coal prices, along with “temporary, but largely expected” operational factors at its copper business.
The mining giant stated its shares will stay listed in London, and that is does not believe becoming a U.S. domestic issuer would currently be “value accretive” for its shareholders.
— Emilia Hardie
Siemens Energy tarreceives upper finish of guidance after ‘another strong quarter’
Siemens Energy posted a record quarterly order intake on Wednesday, as orders for its fiscal third quarter jumped 64.6% to 16.6 billion euros ($19.2 billion).
On a comparable basis, revenue jumped 13.5% to 9.7 billion euros, while net income reached 697 million euros — up from a net loss of 102 million euros in the same quarter last year.
“Siemens Energy reaffirms the raised outsee issued in the second quarter with a tfinishency towards the upper finish of the guided ranges,” the company stated.
— Chloe Taylor
EU-U.S. tariff situation ‘will not receive clearer,’ Commerzbank CEO declares
Trade relations between the U.S. and European Union “will not receive clearer” for businesses than they are now that the two partners have struck their tariff agreement, Commerzbank’s CEO informed CNBC Wednesday.
When questioned during an interview on “Europe Early Edition” whether companies have received enough certainty from the long-anticipated and recently brokered trade deal to proceed with investment plans, Commerzbank’s Bettina Orlopp stated, “I consider they have to. We all know that things can modify, and you required to stay flexible, to declare it like that. But I consider it’s important to relocate forward, becaapply Europe requireds to transform.”
She nevertheless acknowledged “there will be a lot of uncertainty and volatility” in the coming quarters, while urging businesses to “stick to what we have in the moment and relocate forward.”
The Commerzbank chief noted that private clients have been pressing ahead with ventures, particularly in securities — while another segment of the lfinisher’s client base representing medium-sized companies is “still hesitant” and “sits on a lot of investment plans” and had previously been waiting for the advent of the EU-U.S. tariff deal and for the first measures of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Deutsche Bank flags better-than-expected corporate earnings out of Europe
In a note to clients on Wednesday morning, strategists and analysts at Deutsche Bank stated European corporate earnings were coming in above their expectations.
“We expected earnings to beat consensus … but earnings came in even better than we expected,” they stated. “So far 74% of companies in the STOXX 600 reported earnings. Aggregate earnings came in 8% higher than expected and grew by 7% yoy ex-Energy.”
They also noted that more European firms had raised their guidance this quarter than downgraded, adding that the recently announced EU-U.S. trade deal “should support that trfinish as reduced uncertainty allows for more upward revisions.”
“However, earnings did weaken sequentially, as the first tariff impacts were felt,” they conceded. “We expect tariffs to cost European equities around 4% earnings growth this year, which leaves us with a full-year earnings forecast for 2025 at 3%.”
— Chloe Taylor
Zalando raises outsee
Zalando has raised its full year guidance after the online fashion marketplace completed its acquisition of rival About You.
The German firm now expects gross merchandise volumes to grow up to 15% in 2025, from an original forecast of up to 9%.
— Michael Considine
Ahold Delhaize reiterates outsee
Ahold Delhaize reiterated its 2025 outsee after posting 23.1 billion euros ($26.8 billion) in net sales for the second quarter, with adjusted earnings per share coming in slightly above expectations at 65 cents.
— Jordan Butt
Banco BPM posts record first-half profit
A Banco BPM SpA bank branch in Milan, Italy, on Nov. 15, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Banco BPM topped net profit forecasts for the second quarter, with the Italian lfinisher boosted by fees from the recently acquired fund manager Anima Holding.
The bank posted a record net profit of 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in the first half of the year.
It also confirmed its full-year outsee, just weeks after a takeover bid from UniCredit failed amid government opposition.
CEO Giapplyppe Castagna hinted at further M&A activity for his bank in the earnings call, after confirming Banco BPM holds a 9% stake in domestic peer Monte dei Paschi.
— Michael Considine, Chloe Taylor
Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy weight loss drug sales soar 67% in second quarter
Wegovy injection pens arranged in Waterbury, Vermont, US, on Monday, April 28, 2025.
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Sales of Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster Wegovy weight loss drug surged in the second quarter, the company stated in its latest report, days after cutting its full-year guidance and announcing a new CEO.
Overall revenues rose 13% year-on-year at constant exmodify rates to 76.86 billion Danish kroner ($11.92 billion) in the three months to the finish of June, just ahead of the 76.6 billion Danish kroner forecast.
Sales of its blockbuster Wegovy obesity drug rose 67% over the period to 19.53 billion Danish kroner, slightly below the 20 billion Danish kroner analysts had forecast.
— Karen Gilchrist
Fresenius raises outsee
The headquarters of German health care company Fresenius is seen at the company’s headquarter in Bad Homburg near Frankfurt am Main, western Germany.
Daniel Roland | AFP | Getty Images
Fresenius has raised its revenue outsee for the full year, with the German healthcare group now expecting up to 7% organic growth.
CEO Michael Sen hailed a “resilient and consistent performance” in the first half, adding that the group will “focus on organic growth through disciplined capital allocation.”
— Michael Considine
Commerzbank raises outsee after profit drops
A Commerzbank AG bank branch in the financial district of Frankfurt, Germany, on Sept. 12, 2024.
Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Commerzbank‘s second-quarter net profit fell 14% year on year, the German lfinisher stated on Wednesday morning, citing restructuring costs.
Net profit for the quarter came in at 462 million euros ($535 million).
Meanwhile, the bank’s quarterly operating result jumped 34% from the previous year to 1.17 billion euros, assisting it notch a record 2.4 billion operating result for the first half of the year.
Commerzbank raised its full-year outsee, declareing it now expects a net result of around 2.5 billion euros, up from an earlier forecast of 2.4 billion euros.
— Chloe Taylor
UK’s Reeves facing ‘impossible trilemma,’ considertank warns
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves leaves 10 Downing Street ahead of PMQs in the Hoapply of Commons in London, United Kingdom on June 11, 2025.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves could be facing a £51 billion ($67.9 billion) hole in the autumn budreceive.
That’s according to Britain’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research, which warns she faces an “impossible trilemma.”
The considertank argues that the U.K. chancellor cannot comply with her fiscal rules, honour spfinishing pledges and avoid tax increases for working people, arguing she requireds to find an additional £41 billion for the government to meet its fiscal tarreceives by 2029-30.
— Andreea Gheorghe
Here are the opening calls
People take in the view of London from the top of a skyscraper on July 15, 2025.
Carlos Jasso | Afp | Getty Images
Good morning from London, and welcome to CNBC’s live blog covering all the action and business news in European financial markets on Wednesday.
Futures data from IG suggests a broadly positive open for European indexes, with London’s FTSE 100 seen opening 0.35% higher, France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX up 0.25%, and Italy’s FTSE MIB 0.34% higher.
Global markets will be keeping an eye on the tariff landscape the rest of this week after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled he will announce new tariffs on semiconductors and chips as soon as next week.
“We’re going to be announcing [tariffs] on semiconductors and chips, which is a separate category, becaapply we want them created in the United States,” Trump informed CNBC on Tuesday, adding that he’ll announce the new plan “within the next week or so.”
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed overnight on the comments, while S&P 500 futures were near flat Tuesday night as investors analyzed the latest batch of corporate earnings.
— Holly Ellyatt
What to keep an eye on Wednesday
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