EUROPEAN EQUITIES UPDATE: Sentiment dented by geopolitical updates; NVDA -3.1% pre-market

STOXX 600: -0.4%

• European bourses began the session on a mixed footing, but gradually teetered lower soon after the cash open.


• A further extension of the downside was seen following updates via the Kremlin’s spokesperson who noted that the storm shadow attack at Russia is a new escalation, via TASS. Thereafter, ABC News (citing a Western official) reported that Russia using a ICBM last night was not confirmed, which helped to lift bourses incrementally off lows.


• The data docket ahead is a quiet one, but there are a slew of ECB speakers scheduled throughout the day; including, ECB’s Villeroy, Cipollone, Patsalides, Lane, Elderson & Holzmann.

Sectors: Negative

• European sectors opened with a slight positive bias, before sentiment soured to show a strong negative bias in Europe.


• Insurance manages to stay in mild positive territory, largely attributed to gains in Zurich Insurance after the co. announced their 2025-27 targets.


• Autos are Europe’s worst sector, joined closely by Consumer Products; seemingly weighed on by the defensive bias.

FTSE 100: U/C

• The FTSE 100 is flat and ultimately faring better vs peers; currently trading at the bottom end of a 8,078-127 range.


• Gainer: Halma (+9.4%) tops the index after the Co. reported strong results and hiked its dividend by 7%.


• Loser: JD Sports (-16.4%) is by far the clear underperformer in London after the co. expects FY PBT to be at the lower end of its previously guided range. Co. shares have slipped just under 30% in the past month, and has moved below the 1 pound mark in recent trade.

Others: AEX -0.2%, SMI -0.1%

• The AEX is slightly lower, hampered by losses in chip-heavyweight ASML (-0.9%), with losses likely in a read-across to NVIDIA results. The bellwether reported top- and bottom lines beats but its Q4 guidance seemed to disappoint investors.


• The SMI is incrementally in the red, in-fitting with peers; Novartis (+0.1%) is essentially unchanged despite upgrading mid-term guidance. Zurich Insurance (+1.9%) benefits after it announced its new financial targets for 2025-27.

US Equity Futures: ES -0.3%, NQ -0.5%, RTY -0.2%

• Futures are modestly lower across the board, and with slight underperformance in the tech-heavy NQ after NVIDIA reported its Q3 results; the Co. is down 3.5% in pre-market trade, despite reporting strong headline metrics, but its Q4 guidance ultimately disappointed on the top-end of analyst expectations. Following the report, NVIDIA has received several PT raises at major banks including: BNP Paribas (USD 170), GS (USD 165), Morgan Stanley (USD 168) vs last close 145.89.


• Other pre-market movers: Snowflake (+20%) soars after it beat on its Q3 metrics and raised its product rev. guidance. Elsewhere, Palo Alto (-4.8%) slips, potentially on disappointing guidance.


• The US Day sees the release of weekly initial jobless claims for the week of November 16th (coincides with the BLS survey window for the November jobs report), and are expected to rise a touch to 220k from 217k; continuing claims (for the week of November 9th, which does not coincide with the November jobs data) are seen unchanged at 1.873mln. The rate of existing home sales is expected to tick up to 3.93mln in October from 3.84mln prior.

21 Nov 2024 - 10:20- EquitiesData- Source: Newsquawk