LIVE MARKETS-Before the bell: Europe futures soft, Nvidia dents tech bounce

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BEFORE THE BELL: EUROPE FUTURES SOFT, NVIDIA DENTS TECH BOUNCE

European futures were just slightly lower on Monday as a degree of calm returned to markets after a bruising week driven by concerns that a Democratic sweep in the US midterm elections could lead to tighter AI regulation.

Investors picked up battered tech stocks after Friday's bounce on Wall Street. Asian shares rebounded, with chipmakers lifting the Taiwan benchmark .TWII by 5% after autorities activated measures to stabilise the stock market.

Sentiment however remained fragile after an internal Nvidia NVDA.O investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort put his future at the AI chipmaker under scrutiny. Its shares fell 6% in Frankfurt.

Contracts on the EuroSTOXX50 .STOXX50E benchmark fell 0.2%, while Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures were down 0.7% and flat, respectively. Oil prices, meanwhile, fell after President Donald Trump downplayed the likelihood of new strikes on Iran.

In European corporate news, banks were in focus.

Banco BPM BAMI.MI was set for a strong rally after Credit Agricole CAGR.PA proposed merging the Italian lender with its local unit, while UniCredit CRDI.MI raised its profit goal as it prepares to take control of Commerzbank CBKG.DE.

A JP Morgan upgrade to overweight lifted software group SAP SAPG.DE by almost 2% in premarket trade. Hochtief HOTG.DE was called down sharply after Spanish builder ACS ACS.MC denied plans to take over its German unit.

Investors' attention will later turn back to tech, with results from CoreWeave CRWV.O, Applied Materials AMAT.O and Cisco Systems CSCO.O expected to provide new insight into whether hefty AI-related spending is translating into profits.

US CPI data on Tuesday could also test markets.

(Danilo Masoni)

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