London, Feb 16, 2026, 08:29 GMT — Regular session.
- HSBC shares rose about 1.6% in early trade after a two-day slide.
- European financials led regional gains at the open, with investors watching data and earnings.
- HSBC’s next big catalyst is its annual results later this month.
HSBC Holdings Plc shares rose about 1.6% to 1,259 pence in early London dealing on Monday, trimming last week’s losses as the broader banking sector steadied. (Investing)
The move came with European stocks edging higher and financials leading, as investors positioned ahead of euro zone industrial production data and a new batch of corporate earnings due later this week. (Reuters)
Why it matters now: HSBC is a heavyweight in London’s benchmarks, and the stock’s pullback from recent highs has made positioning choppy. Traders are also trying to work out whether the tailwind from higher rates is fading just as bank valuations have re-rated.
On Friday, HSBC shares fell 2.2% to 12.39 pounds, lagging a firmer FTSE 100 session, and ended about 6% below a fresh 52-week high touched a day earlier, MarketWatch data showed. (MarketWatch)
Monday’s early bounce put the stock back in the middle of its recent range, with investors still scanning for signs that the rally in European lenders can extend beyond the earnings season.
In company news, HSBC has given notice that it will redeem its $1 billion 4.000% perpetual subordinated contingent convertible securities on March 9 at par, plus accrued interest. These “contingent convertibles” (often called AT1s) are bank capital bonds designed to absorb losses in stress, including through conversion to equity or write-downs.
The bank has also leaned into market plumbing projects. The UK has picked HSBC’s Orion platform to run a pilot issuance of tokenised, or digital, government bonds — a “gilt” is a UK government bond — in a test of whether distributed-ledger technology can cut friction in capital markets. Patrick George, HSBC’s global head of markets and securities services, said the bank was “delighted” to support the gilt market, and pointed to more than $3.5 billion of digital bond issuance run through Orion. (Reuters)
Even so, the near-term driver is simpler: bank stocks have been swinging with changing views on growth, rates and how quickly cost pressures show up in guidance.
A downside case still sits close to the surface. If rate-cut expectations firm up, it can squeeze net interest margins — the spread banks earn between loans and deposits — and that tends to hit the sector’s earnings outlook. Any surprise jump in bad-loan charges would land badly, too.
Investors’ next hard marker is HSBC’s Annual Results 2025 on Feb. 25 (4 a.m. GMT), followed by a scheduled investor-and-analyst meeting later that morning. (HSBC)
