European stocks fall as tariff uncertainty lingers; Infineon up 10%

Infineon CFO Sven Schneider speaks to CNBC’s Annette Weisbach after the company raised its full-year outlook, as first-quarter results come in slightly better than expected.

Shares of companies in the European beverages industry fell on Tuesday morning, after spirits maker Diageo removed its medium-term guidance and warned tariffs could dent the company’s sales recovery.

Diageo shares were 3.7% lower at 9:29 a.m. London time. Shares of industry peers Davide Campari, Pernod Ricard and Fevertree all shed more than 2%.

— Chloe Taylor

Shares of German semiconductor maker Infineon gained 10.9% by 8:25 a.m. London time, lifting the company to the top of the Stoxx 600 index.

Infineon reported its fiscal first-quarter results on Tuesday, with revenue coming in at 3.42 billion euros ($3.54 billion) — down 13% quarter-on-quarter. The firm attributed the decline to weaker demand across all of its key divisions.

Despite the quarterly-revenue contraction, the company’s income beat its own forecasts. In November, the company said it expected to generate revenue of around 3.2 billion euros in the first quarter of its fiscal 2025.

On Tuesday, Infineon raised its full-year guidance, saying it now expects 2025 revenue to be flat or increase slightly. Previously, it had forecast a slight decline in revenue for the year. The forecast revision was based on a change in the assumed euro/U.S. dollar exchange rate.

“The change to Infineon’s outlook is [around] 3% to 4% above current revenue consensus and, even if the outlook raise is just FX driven, we think it positive that management have managed expectations well to begin the year, setting a base from which the stock can appreciate further as the cycle should turn later in the year,” Citi analysts said in a note on Tuesday.

— Chloe Taylor

Spirits maker Diageo posted a 0.6% decline in first-half reported sales to $10.9 billion, coming in slightly ahead of the $10.7 billion estimated by analysts in an LSEG poll.

The FTSE 100-listed company said Tuesday that it is taking measures to deal with the potential impact of U.S. tariffs and has removed its medium-term guidance due to macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.

“We are taking a number of actions to mitigate the impact and disruption to our business that tariffs may cause, and we will also continue to engage with the U.S. administration on the broader impact that this will have on everyone supporting the U.S. hospitality industry, including consumers, employees, distributors, restaurants, bars and other retail outlets,” Diageo said in a statement accompanying its interim earnings.

Read the full story here.

— Karen Gilchrist

French lender BNP Paribas posted close to a 16% annual rise in fourth-quarter profit in its latest earnings update on Tuesday, helped by a rise in investment banking income.

Net income for the final three months of 2024 came in at 2.32 billion euros ($2.4 billion) — a year-on-year rise of 15.7%. Full-year net income rose 4% from 2023 to reach 11.7 billion euros.

Revenues for full-year 2024 rose 4% on an annual basis to reach 48.8 billion euros.

The bank said it had surpassed its 2024 objectives, having been targeting revenue growth of 2% for the year and a full-year net income of 11.2 billion euros. It raised its dividend, due to be paid to shareholders on May 21, by 4% to 4.79 euros.

BNP Paribas noted revenues at its investment banking division had “increased very strongly,” having jumped 20% year on year in the fourth quarter.

The company also said it would be launching a 1.08 billion euro share buyback program, which will begin in the second quarter of 2025.

— Chloe Taylor

Swiss banking giant UBS on Tuesday posted $770 million in fourth-quarter net profit, launching a $1 billion share buyback program in the first half of 2025.

The net profit figure compares with a mean forecast of $886.4 million in a LSEG poll of analysts and with a $483 million estimate in a company-provided consensus estimate.

Group revenue over the period hit $11.635 billion, versus analyst expectations of $11.64 billion in a LSEG analyst poll.

The bank also announced plans to repurchase $1 billion of shares in the first half of 2025, along with up to an additional $2 billion over the second half of this year.

Read the full story here.

— Ruxandra Iordache

China’s DeepSeek shook global stock markets after revealing that it had built a powerful artificial intelligence model for a mere $6 million.

While some have disputed the shockingly low cost of developing the AI models, most agree that DeepSeek has sharply cut the ongoing cost of running powerful AI models and the Chinese firm’s decision to release its technology for free has altered the course of the industry.

CNBC Pro spoke to Roadzen, a Nasdaq-listed firm attempting to disrupt the insurance sector, and OODA AI, a Sweden-listed AI service company, on how DeepSeek’s new AI models are set to impact their operations and financials.

— Ganesh Rao, Chloe Taylor

European markets are expected to open higher Tuesday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 8 points higher at 8,581, Germany’s DAX up 65 points at 21,462, France’s CAC up 6 points at 7,851 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 18 points at 36,360, according to data from IG.

On Tuesday, earnings come from UBS, OMV, Amundi, Vodafone, BNP Paribas, Dassault Systemes, Infineon, Diageo, Spotify and Intesa Sanpaolo. There are no major data releases Tuesday.

— Holly Ellyatt