Markets, Business & Tech Briefing: PSI Slips 0.5%, NOS Drags, Portugal Launches Amália AI
Wednesday, 1 July 2026. Euronext Lisbon opened the second half of the year on the back foot, sliding for a third straight session as telecoms and grid names led the retreat and only a handful of blue chips finished higher. Below, where the PSI settled, what bonds and the euro are signalling, and three corporate stories — Mota-Engil closing in on the dismissal of a US short-seller's defamation suit, the launch of Portugal's first open-source AI model, and a fresh acceleration in new-car sales.
Lisbon slips for a third session
The PSI closed Wednesday at 9,090.47 points, down 0.46% (a loss of about 42 points), its third consecutive decline, with the bulk of the index in the red. The benchmark now sits some way below its 9,516 high for the year but remains well above the 7,522 floor it touched earlier in 2026, leaving it comfortably higher over the past twelve months. The damage was led by NOS, the telecoms operator, which slid 3.07% to pace the losers, followed by grid company REN — Redes Energéticas Nacionais (National Energy Networks), down 2.38%. Utility EDP fell 1.70% and pulp group Altri lost 1.58%, with Navigator (−0.87%), construction group Mota-Engil (−0.77%), Jerónimo Martins (−0.30%) and Galp (−0.16%) all lower. Against the tide, CTT — Correios de Portugal (the postal and logistics operator) was the standout, jumping 3.03%, while lender BCP rose 0.82% and EDP Renováveis edged up 0.28%.
Bonds soften slightly, the euro dips
In fixed income, the Portuguese 10-year yield rose to 3.27%, up about 2 basis points on the day as core euro-area yields ticked higher. With the German 10-year Bund near 2.94%, the spread held around 33 basis points — still close to its tightest in years and a continuing vote of confidence in Portugal's public finances, which the debt agency has been rewarded for with some of the lowest funding costs in the bloc's periphery. The single currency softened marginally: EUR/USD slipped to about 1.1407, down roughly 0.13%, as a firmer dollar and start-of-quarter positioning kept the euro pinned ahead of the next batch of euro-area and US data.
Mota-Engil closes in on dismissal of Muddy Waters suit
Construction and concessions group Mota-Engil moved a step closer to seeing off the defamation lawsuit brought against it and its chief executive by US short-seller Muddy Waters. The case, filed earlier this year in a Texas federal court, stems from remarks in which the company characterised the fund's activity as market manipulation after Muddy Waters published a critical report questioning the group's debt. Reporting on Wednesday indicated the action is heading toward dismissal on jurisdictional grounds — that a US court is not the proper venue for the dispute — a procedural win the company has pushed for since submitting its defence and requesting the suit be thrown out for a lack of merit. A dismissal would remove one of the overhangs that has dogged the stock since the short-seller went public, though Mota-Engil shares still finished the session lower alongside the broader market.
Portugal launches its first open-source AI model
Portugal on Wednesday formally launched Amália, its first open-source artificial-intelligence language model, joining a widening European push for technological sovereignty and less reliance on US providers. Built specifically for Portuguese, the model has been developed by a consortium led by NOVA University Lisbon and the Instituto Superior Técnico (Higher Technical Institute) with backing from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Foundation for Science and Technology) under the country's EU-funded recovery plan, and the government has signalled it is raising its financial commitment to the project. Ministers frame Amália as the language layer that will sit alongside Portugal's planned AI "gigafactory" investment, giving public services and local firms a home-grown model tuned to Portuguese language and culture rather than one imported wholesale from abroad.
New-car sales accelerate again in June
Portugal's new-vehicle market kept its momentum into the summer: industry figures released on Wednesday showed registrations rose about 15% year-on-year in June to more than 30,000 units, according to the automotive trade body ACAP — Associação Automóvel de Portugal (the Portuguese Automobile Association). The reading extends a run of solid monthly gains that has kept the market comfortably ahead of 2025, buoyed by fleet renewal and the continued shift toward electrified models. A resilient car market is a useful read on household and corporate confidence at a time when other indicators — from business sentiment to hiring intentions — have sent more mixed signals.
Outlook for Thursday
Attention turns to the next euro-area inflation and labour-market prints and to US data ahead of the holiday-shortened week on Wall Street, with a firmer dollar still capping the euro. On Lisbon, the question is whether beaten-down telecoms and grid names can stabilise enough to snap a three-day losing streak, while any fresh detail on the Mota-Engil case or on TAP's binding bids could set the corporate tone.
