European Equities Decline in Tuesday Trading; BlackRock, Vanguard Face Pressure as European Banks Launch ETFs

11:52 AM EDT, 09/29/2026 (MT Newswires) -- European stock markets closed lower in Tuesday trading with the Stoxx 600 down 0.2%, Germany's DAX fractionally lower, the UK's FTSE 100 shedding 0.5%, France's CAC down 0.5%, and the Swiss Market Index decreasing 0.2%. In economic news, the European Commission said that in September, the Economic Sentiment Indicator decreased "mildly" in both the EU, down 0.4 points to 97.9, and in the euro area, down 0.5 points to 97.9, compared with the previous month. Spain's consumer price index rose 4.9% on-year in September, rising from 4.3% in August, the National Statistics Institute, or INE, reported. In regulatory news, Alphabet's Google said Tuesday it is appealing two EU orders requiring it to share search data and ensure effective interoperability with Android features relevant for AI services. The company said that sharing such data could present cybersecurity risks and cause "irreversible harm to user privacy." "The Commission will defend its decisions in court," the European Commission said in an emailed statement to MT Newswires. In corporate news, BlackRock and Vanguard face growing competition from European banks launching their own exchange-traded funds as they seek to retain more investment fees from retail customers, the Financial Times reported. Santander, ING, UniCredit and Commerzbank have launched ETFs or filed plans with regulators since the start of the year, while Revolut has registered a platform for ETFs and mutual funds, the report said. The banks are increasingly using their large retail customer bases to distribute own-brand funds instead of relying on third-party asset managers, according to the report. Santander shares were up 0.1% in Madrid, ING declined 0.6% in Amsterdam, and Commerzbank was down 0.7% in Germany. Shell said Tuesday it made a final investment decision to expand LNG Canada in Kitimat, British Columbia, doubling the facility's production capacity to 28 million tonnes per annum. Shell said the phase 2 expansion will add two LNG processing units and increase its annual LNG entitlement by nearly 6 million tonnes. Commercial operations are expected to begin in the early 2030s, the company said. Shell shares were down 1.5% in London. Novo Nordisk's retrospective real-world analysis showed a 6% lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events for adults with type 2 diabetes who increased Ozempic, or semaglutide, to 2 mg versus those who switched to Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, or tirzepatide, the company said Tuesday. Novo shares were down 0.2% in Copenhagen. Summit Therapeutics said late Monday that AstraZeneca has agreed to invest $2 billion in convertible preferred shares in it, along with a nonbinding clinical collaboration focused on ivonescimab and sonesitatug vedotin. AstraZeneca shares shed 0.6% in London. Nokia said that Zain KSA deployed its Deepfield Cloud Intelligence platform across its network in more than 100 cities across Saudi Arabia. Nokia shares gained 3.8% in Helsinki. British American Tobacco said it continues to expect 2026 adjusted earnings per share growth towards the middle of its outlook range of 5% to 8% at constant exchange rates and reaffirmed its full-year revenue towards the lower end of its 3% to 5% growth range. Its shares fell 2.3% in London. Ryanair is expecting no significant delays to the delivery of Boeing's latest 737 MAX 10 aircraft model after a US regulator held back its certification due to software issue, the chief executive of the Irish airline said Tuesday. The company does not know the extent of the issue, but it does not believe there will be a "substantial delay," CEO Michael O'Leary said at a briefing in Poland. Ryanair continues to expect to receive its first 15 MAX 10 aircraft in spring of 2027, which are required to grow capacity by about 2% or 3%, O'Leary added. Ryanair shares added 0.9% in Ireland.