European markets mixed as earnings stay in focus; Santander up 7.5%

Spanish lender Santander posted a 14% year-on-year increase in annual profit on Wednesday, with its full-year profit reaching 12.6 billion euros ($13.1 billion) in 2024. Full-year revenues in constant currency rose 10% from a year earlier to reach 62.2 billion euros.

The bank said it marked the third consecutive year of record financial results, with its performance driven by the addition of 8 million new customers and strong revenue growth across all of its global businesses.

It also announced it would launch a new 10 billion euro share buyback program, which would come from its 2025 and 2026 earnings and anticipated excess capital.

Santander said it was targeting 62 billion euros in revenue in 2025.

Shares of Santander were up 7.6% at 8:39 a.m. London time, lifting the company to the top of the Stoxx 600 index.

— Chloe Taylor

French oil major TotalEnergies on Wednesday reported a sharp drop in full-year earnings, against a backdrop of lower crude prices and weak fuel demand.

The oil and gas giant posted full-year 2024 adjusted net income of $18.3 billion, reflecting a 21% fall from $23.2 billion a year earlier.

Analysts had expected TotalEnergies’ full-year 2024 adjusted net income to come in at $18.2 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.

The energy major reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter adjusted net income of $4.4 billion, an 8% increase on the previous quarter.

Shares were 1.4% higher at 8:27 a.m. London time.

Read the full story here.

— Sam Meredith

Shares of Novo Nordisk rose 4.6% on Wednesday after reporting better-than-expected net profit in the fourth quarter amid soaring demand for its Wegovy obesity drugs, but forecast a slight slowdown in sales for 2025.

Net profit at the Danish pharmaceutical behemoth rose 29% annually to 28.23 billion Danish kroner ($3.98 billion) in the fourth quarter, versus the 26.09 billion Danish kroner anticipated.

Full-year net profit climbed 21% to 100.99 billion Danish kroner, also beating estimates of 99.14 billion Danish kroner for 2024.

Read the full story here.

— Karen Gilchrist

British pharmaceutical giant GSK raised its long-term sales guidance on Wednesday as it posted a rise in full-year core operating profit and forecast sales growth of up to 5% in 2025.

GSK’s core operating profit rose 11% year on year in 2024 to reach £9.1 billion ($11.4 billion), it said in its earnings update.

Total operating profit slumped 33% in 2024, driven by a £1.8 billion charge relating to GSK’s settlement of litigation related to its Zantac medicine. The drug was withdrawn from European and U.S. markets in 2019 and 2020 after regulators raised concerns about it containing a probable carcinogen.

The company said it now expects 2031 sales to reach more than £40 billion, up from £38 billion, a reflection of progress in its late-stage pipeline. In nearer-term guidance, the firm said it anticipates sales growth between 3% and 5% in 2025. Total sales for 2024 reached £31.4 billion, an annual rise of 7%.

Shares of GSK were 6.4% higher shortly after the opening bell in Europe.

— Chloe Taylor

Gold futures rose to a fresh record as investors flocked to the safe-haven asset, following China’s retaliatory tariffs on select U.S. imports.

Gold futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose to $2,875.8 per ounce, data from FactSet showed.

Price of the bullion continues to climb from the uncertain economic backdrop as a result of Trump’s trade war, ANZ wrote in a note dated Feb. 5.

“Gold hit a record high amid strong haven demand,” ANZ’s analysts wrote, adding that a softer greenback also supported investor demand.

Trump’s trade tariffs are just the “latest crisis to spur fresh record highs in the price of gold,” said BullionVault’s director of research Adrian Ash.

—Lee Ying Shan

Twenty-two stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week highs during Tuesday’s trading session.

Among those, 19 scored fresh all-time highs. Below are some stocks that hit this milestone:

• Fox Corporation Class A trading at all-time highs back to its creation as the portion not acquired by Disney in 2019
• Alphabet C shares trading at all-time highs back to the special distribution on April 2, 2014, when the nonvoting share was created, and it began trading on April 3, 2014
• Live Nation Entertainment trading at all-time-high levels back to its initial public offering in December 2005
• Netflix trading at all-time-high levels back to its IPO in May 2002
• Amazon trading at all-time-high levels since back to its IPO in May 1997
• Costco trading at all-time-high levels back to its IPO in December 1985
• Walmart trading at all-time-high levels back to when it first began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in August 1972
• Wells Fargo trading at all-time-high levels back through our history to 1968
• International Business Machines trading at all-time highs back to when it began publicly trading on the New York Stock Exchange in January 1962
• Palantir trading at all-time highs back to its IPO in September 2020

Meanwhile, 14 stocks in the broad market index, including Archer-Daniels-Midland and Hershey, reached new 52-week lows. ADM was trading at lows not seen since November 2020, while Hershey was trading at lows not seen since March 2021.

— Sean Conlon

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 lower Wednesday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 18 points lower at 8,555, Germany’s DAX down 67 points at 21,439, France’s CAC down 23 points at 7,888 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 91 points lower at 36,707, according to data from IG.

Earnings are set to come from Handelsbanken, TotalEnergies, Akzo Nobel, Credit Agricole, Novo Nordisk, GSK, Vestas Wind and Banco Santander, among others. On the data front, the latest purchasing managers’ index data from the euro zone will be confirmed on Wednesday.

— Holly Ellyatt