Santander Bank drops nearly 4%, plans $12.2 billion acquisition of Webster Bank in the US

On Wednesday, influenced by a series of corporate earnings reports in Europe, European stock markets opened with slight volatility and edged higher.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was trading slightly above the flatline shortly after the opening bell.

In early trading, the UK's FTSE 100 index rose nearly 0.5%, Germany's DAX index was up 0.3%, France's CAC 40 index climbed 0.7%, and Italy's FTSE MIB index gained 0.7%.

Previously, after a brief sell-off in cryptocurrency and precious metals, the European regional markets stabilized, followed by this round of gains.

Santander Bank's share price fell 3.5%. The bank announced it would acquire the US regional bank Webster Bank for $12.2 billion. Santander also released its fourth-quarter earnings a day early, showing a net profit of 3.76 billion euros (about $4.45 billion) for the quarter, higher than the market consensus of 3.41 billion euros; the Spanish bank also announced the launch of a new 5 billion euro stock buyback program.

Shares of Novo Nordisk plummeted 18% in early trading. The company released its results early on Tuesday, warning investors of a decline in revenue and profit growth this year. Previously, the company suffered a dual blow from price cuts in the US market and the expiration of patent protection for its blockbuster weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic in China, Brazil, and Canada.

Earnings reports once again became the market focus, with Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Infineon Technologies, Equinor, Crédit Agricole, Svenska Handelsbanken, Carlsberg, and OMV all releasing their earnings on Wednesday morning.

UBS shares fell 1.8%. Switzerland's largest bank reported a fourth-quarter net profit of $1.2 billion, up 56% year-on-year, exceeding analysts' expectations of $919 million, and plans to launch a $3 billion stock buyback.

Most Asia-Pacific markets fell overnight, following Wall Street's decline. The previous trading day, a sell-off in US tech stocks dragged down market sentiment, while gold prices continued to rise for the second consecutive trading day.

S&P 500-related US stock futures traded mostly flat overnight.

Editor: Guo Mingyu