EUROPEAN EQUITIES UPDATE: European stocks trim earlier gains with newsflow quiet

STOXX 600: -0.3%

• European bourses opened mixed, but quickly succumbed to some selling pressure to display a negative picture in Europe thus far.
• The European morning has been quiet, aside from German unemployment data; the headline rate remained stable at 6.1% vs expectations of a tick higher to 6.2%. This ultimately spurred little impact in the complex. EZ data docket ahead is quiet; ECB’s Lane is due.

Sectors: Negative bias

• European sectors opened mixed, but now hold a slight negative bias.
• Financial Services takes the top spot, buoyed by gains in UBS, after it received a broker upgrade at BNP Paribas. Energy follows closely behind, as the underlying oil complex remains elevated.
• Consumer Products once again is towards the foot of the sector list, with Luxury names doing much of the dragging; Autos and Travel & Leisure complete the bottom three. For Travel names specifically, Wizz Air and Ryanair both reported a growth in their passenger numbers, but are ultimately swept away by the ongoing oil price strength.

Majors: FTSE 100 -0.1%, CAC 40 -0.7%, DAX 40 -0.2%

• The FTSE 100 is a little lower today and generally faring better vs peers. Energy names such as Shell and BP (+0.8%) continue to build on the prior day’s gains as the oil complex remains at elevated levels. Outside of the FTSE 100, but sticking with energy; Tullow Oil (+7%) jumped higher at the open after news that it was exempt from a USD 320mln tax on Ghana operations. Mining names populate the lower end of the index, despite the NDRC announcing new support programmes; Antofagasta (-1.4%), Anglo American (-1.2%).
• The CAC 40 is once again the underperformer in Europe, hampered by losses in Luxury names; Kering (-3.4%) sits at the bottom of the index, alongside LVMH (-2.1%) and Hermes (-1.8%). As a reminder, this comes after the poor Chinese Manufacturing data on Thursday, but despite the NDRC announcing two new support programmes.

US Equity Futures: ES +0.2%, NQ +0.2%, RTY +0.1%

• Futures are modestly firmer, with modest outperformance in the NQ after trading lower in the prior session.
• The US Day sees the release of the ISM manufacturing report for December, which is expected to be unchanged at the headline level.