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European shares extended their rally to fresh record highs on Wednesday, buoyed by optimism over a potential resolution to the prolonged US government shutdown and a steady stream of upbeat corporate news.

The region-wide STOXX 600 index rose 0.5% in early trading to an all-time high of 583.4, with major bourses in positive territory.

Investor sentiment was lifted after the US Senate approved a temporary funding bill to end the record 43-day shutdown, with markets betting that the measure will secure full passage in the coming days. There were broad-based gains led by healthcare and luxury stocks, after a positive brokerage note on Novo Nordisk and speculation of a Chinese expansion by Louis Vuitton boosted sentiment across the region.

The euro remains under slight pressure, trading around $1.157 per € at 11.30 CET after a modest retreat. This comes as the US dollar steadies amid improving risk sentiment and hopes that the US government shutdown will soon be resolved. On the commodity front, energy prices are drifting slightly lower as crude oil futures slipped, reflecting calmer concerns about supply disruptions.

On this side of the ocean, yields on UK government bonds, or gilts, rose sharply as investors grew uneasy over the prospect that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves could face pressure to step down following the Budget. Downing Street said Starmer would resist any leadership challenge.

London’s FTSE 100 edged higher on Wednesday, hovering near the 10,000 mark to trade at fresh record highs, as investors shrugged off volatility in global tech shares.

“UK stocks made progress despite some volatility in the AI space in the US and Asia overnight,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Meanwhile, multinational energy company SSE saw its share price skyrocket by more than 12% after it unveiled an ambitious investment plan. It will nearly double its investment to £33bn (€37.5bn) by 2027 and will be partly financed by a £2bn equity raise with the remainder coming from debt, asset sales and existing cash flow.

Phil Ross, equity research analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said the market had begun to wonder whether SSE might raise capital to fund its strong future growth prospects, and this uncertainty had weighed on the shares in recent months.

“This morning’s announced equity raise puts those doubts to bed as part of the new CEO’s strategy, and leaves a clear pathway to profitable and reliable growth, focusing on the big opportunity in UK power networks,” Ross said, adding: “With the future runway for growth now in place, the company is in a great position to cement itself as one of the UK’s leading energy groups in the UK.”

UK-based BAE Systems reported strong performance for its financial year. The company said robust demand supported BAE’s expectations for further profit growth.

The defence giant has secured more than £27bn (€30.6bn) in orders so far this year, with additional deals expected before year-end.

The company reaffirmed its recently upgraded full-year guidance, forecasting sales growth of 8–10% and underlying operating profit growth of 9–11%. BAE plans to return about £1.5bn (€1.7bn) to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in 2025. Shares were little changed in early trading.

One of the key developments shaping international market sentiment on Tuesday was SoftBank’s decision to sell its entire stake in Nvidia, worth $5.83 bn (€5bn). This move resulted in a 10% dive of the Japanese technology company’s share prices on Wednesday in the Asian trade, as equity markets reacted unfavourably to the surprise announcement.

“Corrections are a healthy and necessary fact of life in financial markets, but investors will be wary of any signs this is turning into a pronounced sell-off,” according to Mould, who added that attention is now turning to Nvidia’s third-quarter earnings update on 19 November.

Mould also highlighted that once the US government shutdown is resolved, investors will focus on a wave of upcoming US economic data, including third-quarter GDP.

In more corporate news, the world’s largest electronics maker, Foxconn, posted anticipation-exceeding results showing a jump in its third-quarter profit of 17% from a year earlier, fuelled by growth in its artificial intelligence server business.

The company said it was “optimistic” about the performance of AI and smart consumer electronics in the fourth quarter, which are expected to show significant growth momentum.

Speaking on the sidelines of Sibos 2025, Citi’s Bis Chatterjee and Stephen Randall tell Gilly Wright, Global Finance’s Technology & Transactions Banking Editor, how the bank is helping corporates manage liquidity needs using blockchain technology to modernise existing systems.

Liquidity is back in the spotlight for organisations globally. Findings from the 2025 Association for Financial Professionals Liquidity Survey reflect this trend. Behind ‘safety’ as the top short-term investment objective, ‘liquidity’ was second, according to 35% of respondents, up 5% from 2024.

New liquidity needs

According to Stephen Randall, Citi’s Global Head, Liquidity Management Services, Treasury and Trade Solutions, the goal of corporate treasurers is to be more efficient. “We continue to invest in solutions which allow clients to rationalise their bank accounts to move liquidity around their organisations efficiently.”

Citi Token Services (CTS) is a case in point. It leverages blockchain technology to enable near-instant, 24/7, cross-border payments and liquidity management for corporate and institutional clients.

The focus is on delivering an improved service. Rather than placing a burden on organisations to implement the new technology, Citi enables them to connect directly to through its online banking platform, or an application programming interface (API).

“Without having to open new accounts, go through KYC onboarding, or integrate new technology, our clients are now able to seamlessly benefit from these tokenisation and blockchain network capabilities”

Bis Chatterjee, Head of Partnerships & Innovation, Services, at Citi

Innovation in motion

Tackling the liquidity challenge via blockchain also reflects a broader trend for banking partners to enhance and upgrade existing systems to support the shift by companies to manage liquidity and make payments seamlessly as they transact 24/7 via e-commerce platforms.

As a result, Chatterjee expects solutions such as Citi Token Services to grow quickly. “Blockchain technology and digital assets serve the crypto needs of our asset manager clients and our bond and securities clients.”

Citi Token Services further offers corporate treasury teams accounting simplicity, added Randall, by treating tokenised deposits in the same way as any normal deposit.

Next on Citi’s agenda is expanding Citi Token Services to add more branches and create a larger geographical network, followed by offering a wider range of currencies.

After that, Chatterjee said Citi will look to add a 24/7 dimension to other services across its ecosystem, such as settlement and custody. “The technology we’ve used behind Citi Token Services allows us to explore these other areas without making many changes.”

Making real-time a reality

Meanwhile, Citi is focused on delivering cash management solutions to meet real-time demands, as clients strive to future-proof how they manage their liquidity.

This also relies on a more traditional approach to improve clients’ liquidity, freely and instantly between accounts, whenever they want or need. “As they make payments in one jurisdiction, they are able to fund that account on a real-time basis from another account,” explained Randall.

European stocks rallied at the start of the new trading week as a late test vote in the Senate on Sunday raised expectations for a bipartisan deal to fund the government, lifting investor sentiment across regions.

US stock futures climbed, and European indices followed suit.

Germany’s DAX rose 1.5%, France’s CAC 40 gained 1.4% and London’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.8% at around 11:00 CET. The uptick reflected renewed optimism that the shutdown, which has hindered access to key economic data, could soon end, alleviating uncertainty for markets.

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said the Senate vote was an important first step, but that there were still hurdles to be cleared.

“A key impact on the markets of the impasse, beyond the hit to the wider economy, has been the lack of data as key releases on areas like the jobs market have been delayed,” Mould said.

He added that this “created a considerable dose of the uncertainty which markets famously hate, and it is also hampering the ability of the Federal Reserve to make informed decisions on interest rates.”

“In this context, it’s not a surprise to see investors react positively to signs of progress, with Asian shares higher, indices on the front foot in Europe and US futures pointing towards gains when Wall Street opens later.”

A respite for whiskey and spirits

Meanwhile, shares in beleaguered drinks giant Diageo soared 6.4% in early trade on news that former Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis was appointed to lead the company.

Diageo is one of the world’s biggest drinks groups and a heavyweight in the FTSE 100, with a stable of blue-chip brands such as Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff, Tanqueray, Don Julio and Baileys sold in more than 180 countries

The company has struggled with falling drink consumption after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and an end to the government shutdown is positive for Diageo as the United States is its single largest market

Lewis, who is set to take over in January 2026, was known as “Drastic Dave” for his role in turning around the supermarket chain.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said the appointment was a “significant hire and a pleasant surprise”.

He explained that investors “are clearly excited about Diageo’s prospects under Lewis. The stock is unloved after several years of disappointment, and the appointment of a highly respected CEO could be enough to win over many investors.” However, Lewis knows he will ultimately be judged on results, not hope.

A boost for dollar exchanges and gold

In terms of currencies, the dollar exchange rate remains steady, with the current euro exchange rate hovering at around $1.15, while the yen exchange rate went up slightly to $154.1 or by 0.5%.

The UK pound is slightly weaker against the dollar, going down by 0.1% to $1.315.

Gold is up about 1.8% at roughly €3,521 per troy ounce (about €113 per gram and €113,200 per kilogram). It is still sought out as a safe place to park money, even as shutdown worries ease.

AI and tech leaders are firmer in pre-market trading alongside the broader risk-on tone, and reports show Nvidia up by around 3.5%.

The move sits within a wider global relief rally as investors price a potential end to the shutdown.

In other developments, shares of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk rose by 2.3% by midday in Europe after the company announced a partnership with Indian drugmaker Emcure Pharmaceuticals to market its weight-loss treatment Wegovy under a new brand through an exclusive agreement.

Meanwhile, the company failed in its bid to acquire biotech firm Metsera. The biotech company based in New York, which develops promising drugs against obesity, said it would accept a revised offer from Pfizer of up to $10 billion (€8.65bn).

The Trump administration is demanding states “undo” full SNAP benefits paid out under judges’ orders last week, now that the Supreme Court has stayed those rulings, marking the latest swing in a seesawing legal battle over the anti-hunger program used by 42 million Americans.

The demand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture came as more than two dozen states warned of “catastrophic operational disruptions” if the administration does not reimburse them for those SNAP benefits they authorized before the Supreme Court’s stay.

Nonprofits and Democratic attorneys general sued to force the Trump administration to maintain the program this month. They won the favorable rulings last week, leading to the swift release of benefits to millions in several states.

But, even before it won a stay on those rulings through an appeal to the Supreme Court on Friday night, the Trump administration balked at reimbursing states for the initial round of SNAP payments. Wisconsin, for example, loaded benefits onto cards for 700,000 residents, but after the U.S. Treasury froze its reimbursements to the state, it anticipates running out of money by Monday, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration warned in a lengthy statement Sunday.

The lack of money could leave vendors unpaid and trigger escalating legal claims, the states warned. “States could face demands to return hundreds of millions of dollars in the aggregate,” the filing at the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals says.

That situation “would risk catastrophic operational disruptions for the States, with a consequent cascade of harms for their residents,” the filing concludes.

That filing arrived as the Department of Agriculture on Saturday told states it would now consider any payments made last week to be “unauthorized.”

“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Agriculture, wrote to state SNAP directors. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”

Evers issued a quick response to the Trump administration’s demand. “No,” the governor said in a statement.

“Pursuant to and consistent with an active court order, Wisconsin legally loaded benefits to cards, ensuring nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites, including nearly 270,000 kids, had access to basic food and groceries,” Evers said. “After we did so, the Trump Administration assured Wisconsin and other states that they were actively working to implement full SNAP benefits for November and would ‘complete the processes necessary to make funds available.’ They have failed to do so to date.”

Bauer and Riccardi write for the Associated Press.

The Trump administration spent Friday fighting to avoid restoring $4 billion in food assistance in jeopardy due to the government shutdown, suggesting it might need to “raid school-lunch money” in order to comply with court orders.

The claim was part of a break-neck appeal in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, where the government hoped to duck a court order that would force it to pay out for food stamps — formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — through November.

“There is no lawful basis for an order that directs USDA to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Brett A. Shumate wrote in the appeal.

The administration’s only option would be to “to starve Peter to feed Paul” by cutting school lunch programs, Shumate wrote.

On Friday afternoon, the appellate court declined to immediately block the lower court’s order, and said it would quickly rule on the merits of the funding decree.

SNAP benefits are a key fight in the ongoing government shutdown. California is one of several states suing the administration to restore the safety net program while negotiations continue to end the stalemate.

Millions of Americans have struggled to afford groceries since benefits lapsed Nov. 1, inspiring many Republican lawmakers to join Democrats in demanding an emergency stopgap.

The Trump administration was previously ordered to release contingency funding for the program that it said would cover benefits for about half of November.

But the process has been “confusing and chaotic” and “rife with errors,” according to a brief filed by 25 states and the District of Columbia.

Some states, including California, have started disbursing SNAP benefits for the month. Others say the partial funding is a functional lockout.

“Many states’ existing systems require complete reprogramming to accomplish this task, and given the sudden — and suddenly changing — nature of USDA’s guidance, that task is impossible to complete quickly,” the brief said.

“Recalculations required by [the government’s] plan will delay November benefits for [state] residents for weeks or months.”

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. of Rhode Island ordered the full food stamp payout by the end of the week. He accused the administration of withholding the benefit for political gain.

“Faced with a choice between advancing relief and entrenching delay, [the administration] chose the latter — an outcome that predictably magnifies harm and undermines the very purpose of the program it administers,” he wrote.

“This Court is not naïve to the administration’s true motivations,” McConnell wrote. “Far from being concerned with Child Nutrition funding, these statements make clear that the administration is withholding full SNAP benefits for political purposes.”

The appeal could extend that deadline by as little as a few hours, or nullify it entirely.

But the latter may be unlikely, especially following the appellate court’s decision late Friday. The 1st Circuit is currently the country’s most liberal, with five active judges, all of whom were named to the bench by Democratic presidents.

While the court deliberates, both sides are left sparring over how many children will go hungry if the other prevails.

More than 16 million children rely on SNAP benefits. Close to 30 million are fed through the National School Lunch Program, which the government now says it must gut to meet the court’s order.

But the same pool of cash has already been tapped to extend Women, Infants and Children, which is a federal program that pays for baby formula and other basics for some poor families.

“This clearly undermines the Defendants’ point, as WIC is an entirely separate program from the Child Nutrition Programs,” McConnell wrote.

In its Friday order, the 1st Circuit panel said it would issue a full ruling “as quickly as possible.”

Published on 06/11/2025 – 20:47 GMT+1
•Updated
20:56

The Commission launched on Thursday an investigation into a potential collusion between the two stock exchange groups, Deutsche Börse and Nasdaq, in the market for derivative financial products.

At the heart of EU antitrust enforcer’s concerns is the potential coordination of their conduct in the listing, trading, and clearing of those derivatives, which, if proven, would be in violation of EU’s competition rules.

EU law encourage competition between different economic operators to ensure that prices are set fairly by the market, free from any collusion or abuse of dominant position.

In September 2024, the Commission carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of both financial groups, as permitted under EU rules.

It targeted their practices around financial derivatives, which are contracts whose value changes depending on the price of another asset, such as stocks or commodities.

“Deutsche Börse and Nasdaq entities may have entered into agreements or concerted practices not to compete,” the Commission said in a statement, “in addition, the entities may have allocated demand, coordinated prices and exchanged commercially sensitive information.”

A deal made in 1999

Deutsche Börse and Nasdaq are among the world’s largest stock exchange groups.

According to EU competition commissioner Teresa Ribera, such behaviours could also affect “the proper functioning of the Capital Markets Union – a cornerstone for innovation, financial stability and growth.”

The completion of the European Capital Markets Union — a barrier-free market for capitals aimed at reducing their costs for listed companies and improve investment conditions — is one of the priorities of Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen.

If there was a collusion between Deutsche Börse and Nasdaq, it would constitute “an artificial barrier” on the EU market, Commission’s spokesperson Thomas Regnier told Euronews.

Deutsche Börse reacted in a statement saying : “We are engaging constructively with the European Commission.”

The stock exchange group explained that the Commission’s investigation concerned a 1999 deal, which Deutsche Börse considers “pro-competitive”.

“It aimed to build deeper liquidity in the respective Nordic derivatives markets and create efficiencies,” it argued, adding: “It provided clear benefits for market participants and was public.”

The 1999 deal was made between Deutsche Börse’s derivatives branch Eurex and the Helsinki Stock Exchange, which was acquired by Nasdaq in 2008, for the Nordic derivatives markets, it said.

NEW YORK — A federal appeals court on Thursday gave new life to President Trump’s bid to erase his hush money conviction, ordering a lower court to reconsider its decision to keep the case in state court instead of moving it to federal court.

A three-judge panel in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein erred by failing to consider “important issues relevant” to Trump’s request to move the New York case to federal court, where he can seek to have it thrown out on presidential immunity grounds.

But, the appeals court judges said, they “express no view” on how Hellerstein should rule.

Hellerstein, who was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton, twice denied Trump’s requests to move the case. The first time was after Trump’s March 2023 indictment; the second followed Trump’s May 2024 conviction and a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that presidents and former presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts.

In the later ruling, at issue in Thursday’s decision, Hellerstein said Trump’s lawyers had failed to meet the high burden of proof for changing jurisdiction and that Trump’s conviction for falsifying business records involved his personal life, not official actions that the Supreme Court ruled are immune from prosecution.

Hellerstein’s ruling, which echoed his previous denial, “did not consider whether certain evidence admitted during the state court trial relates to immunized official acts or, if so, whether evidentiary immunity transformed” the hush money case into one that relates to official acts, the appeals court panel said.

The three judges said Hellerstein should closely review evidence that Trump claims relate to official acts.

If Hellerstein finds the prosecution relied on evidence of official acts, the judges said, he should weigh whether Trump can argue those actions were taken as part of his White House duties, whether Trump “diligently sought” to have the case moved to federal court and whether the case can even be moved to federal court now that Trump has been convicted and sentenced in state court.

Ruling came after oral arguments in June

Judges Susan L. Carney, Raymond J. Lohier Jr. and Myrna Pérez made their ruling after hearing arguments in June, when they spent more than an hour grilling Trump’s lawyer and the appellate chief for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which prosecuted the case and wants it to remain in state court.

Carney and Lohier were nominated to the court by Democratic President Barack Obama. Pérez was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden.

“President Trump continues to win in his fight against Radical Democrat Lawfare,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the Federal and New York State Constitutions, and other established legal precedent mandate that the Witch Hunt perpetrated by the Manhattan DA be immediately overturned and dismissed.”

Bragg’s office declined to comment.

Trump was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, whose allegations of an affair with Trump threatened to upend his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump denies her claim, said he did nothing wrong and has asked a state appellate court to overturn the conviction.

It was the only one of the Republican’s four criminal cases to go to trial.

Trump team cites Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity

In trying to move the hush money case to federal court, Trump’s lawyers argued that federal officers, including former presidents, have the right to be tried in federal court for charges arising from “conduct performed while in office.” Part of the criminal case involved checks that Trump wrote while he was president.

Trump’s lawyer, Jeffrey Wall, argued that prosecutors rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision. He also said they erred by showing jurors evidence that should not have been allowed under that ruling, such as former White House staffers describing how Trump reacted to news coverage of the hush money deal and tweets he sent while president in 2018.

“The district attorney holds the keys in his hand,” Wall told the three-judge panel in June. “He doesn’t have to introduce this evidence.”

In addition to reining in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts, the Supreme Court’s July 2024 ruling restricted prosecutors from pointing to official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial actions were illegal.

Wall, a former acting U.S. solicitor general, called the president “a class of one,” telling the judges that “everything about this cries out for federal court.”

Steven Wu, the appellate chief for the district attorney’s office, countered that Trump was too late in seeking to move the case to federal court. Normally, such a request must be made within 30 days of an arraignment. Exceptions can be made if “good cause” is shown.

Hellerstein concluded that Trump hadn’t shown “good cause” to request a move to federal court as such a late stage. But the three-judge panel on Thursday said it “cannot be confident” that the judge “adequately considered issues” relevant to making that decision.

Wall, addressing the delay at oral arguments, said Trump’s team did not immediately seek to move the case to federal court because the defense was trying to resolve the matter by raising the immunity argument with the trial judge, Juan Merchan.

Merchan rejected Trump’s request to throw out the conviction on immunity grounds and sentenced him Jan. 10 to an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction intact but sparing him any punishment.

Sisak writes for the Associated Press.