EUROPEAN EQUITY OPEN: Stocks slide at the open after weak Wall Street and APAC sessions

INDICES: At 08:13BST, Euro Stoxx 50 -1.48% at 3,636; FTSE 100 -0.82% at 7,377; DAX -1.45% at 13,804; CAC 40 -1.38% at 6,265; IBEX 35 -0.96% at 8,395; FTSE MIB 0.00% at 26,301; SMI -1.48% at 11,407.

OPEN: The risk tone is fragile after shares on Wall Street Wednesday endured their most intense selling since June 2020. The Wall Street slide began with some hefty Treasury block selling activity in the pre-markets, and was then exacerbated by weak earnings reports from major US retailers, which comes against the current background of concerns surrounding global growth and inflation, and as global central banks are unrelenting in their endeavours to tighten policy–potentially into restrictive territory–as they attempt to cool consumer prices. Commentary from ECB officials–who have generally been amongst the more dovish G10 central bankers in recent years–is also starting to tilt towards tightening; further insight may be gained today with the release of the ECB’s latest meeting minutes (our primer is here); analysts believe that the central bank will use its June meeting to telegraph rate rises once its asset purchases conclude in Q3, leaving potential to inject further hawkishness into today’s market narrative. Elsewhere on the economic docket, the US will release weekly jobless claims data, while the Philly Fed manufacturing report will be eyed after the weak NY Fed manufacturing data for May. EMFX traders will be watching the SARB rate decision (+50bps expected, our primer can be found in the week ahead preview here). Our full 'Day Ahead' calendar can be accessed here.

NOTABLE MOVERS:

• Elior (ELIOR FP) +10.0%: Derichbourg to acquire BIM and Gilles Cojan stakes.


• Valneva (VLA FP) +5.0%: EMA accepts MMA for COVID-19 Vaccine candidate.


• Generali (G IM) +1.2%: Results, confirms targets.


• Unibail-Rodamco (URW NA) -1.0%: Westfield brand expands to new flagship destinations.


• Orpea (ORP FP) -1.3%: Not identified material negative impact on cash flow and real estate assets as a result of reported fraudulent activities.


• EDF (EDF FP) -2.0%: Nuclear power plants outages would have a negative impact of EUR 18.5bln on core earnings this year


• Royal Mail (RMG LN) -6.1%: Results.

Our full European pre-market equity briefings for May 19th can be accessed here and here. Our 'Day Ahead' calendar can be accessed here.

19 May 2022 - 08:15- Fixed IncomeResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk