EUROPEAN EQUITY UPDATE: Bourses grind higher with the calendar and newsflow light thus far

STOXX 600: +0.7%

• European bourses opened modestly firmer across the board and have continued to climb since the cash open; as it stands, indices reside near best levels.


• EZ docket has been light thus far; EU CPI (Final) due, with ECB's Nagel, Escriva and Centeno dotted throughout the morning.

Sectors: Positive

• European sectors hold a strong positive bias, with Autos & Parts leading the gains whilst Tech is the marginal laggard, as it trades on either side of the unchanged mark.


• Autos & Parts outperform, but without a clear catalyst driving the upside; some optimism could be garnered following the positive Chinese data overnight; metrics which has lifted Basic Resources.


• Tech is towards the bottom of the pile, paring some of the TSMC-induced upside seen in the prior day. Travel & Leisure is also the marginal laggard, despite UK gambling name Evoke (+8.2%) reporting strong Q4 performance and providing upbeat profit review; larger peers such as Entain (+5.2%) also gain.

Others: FTSE 100 +1%, CAC 40 +1.1%

• The FTSE 100 is on a firmer footing, lifted by gains in the mining sector after encouraging Chinese GDP and activity data overnight, which has helped to lift metals prices; Antofagasta (+3.5%), Anglo American (+2.7%) both gain. Further for the industry, it was reported that Rio Tinto (+1.5%) and Glencore (+2.2%) held early-stage talks in October 2024 on a potential merger, but FT suggested the discussions ended without progress. Elsewhere, Smiths (+3.5%) benefits from reports that activist investor Engine Capital is asking the co. to explore the break up of its various products/services. More broadly for the Banking sector, UK banks such as Lloyds (+1%) and Barclays (+1.7%) both gain after the UK’s PRA decided to delay the implementation of Basel 3.1. UK Retail Sales were also on the docket today; In short, another dovish data release to round off the week after soft GDP metrics and cooler-than-expected CPI.


• The CAC 40 is one of the better performers in Europe today, continuing to build on the prior day’s strength; but despite the Luxury strength cooling a touch with LVMH (-0.5%) and Kering (-0.1%) both a little lower. Chinese activity data overnight was encouraging, with Retail Sales printing above expectations.

US Equity Futures: ES +0.3%, NQ +0.4%, RTY +0.3%

• Futures are modestly in positive territory, attempting to make up for the lacklustre performance in the prior session and garnering optimism via a strong European session thus far.


• The US Day sees the release of December building permits (1.46mln expected from 1.493mln) and housing starts (1.32mln expected from 1.289mln). US industrial production is expected to grow +0.3% M/M in December (prev. -0.1%), while manufacturing output is seen +0.2% M/M (matching the prior). The CBO will release its Budget and Economic Outlook in the afternoon.

17 Jan 2025 - 09:55- MetalsData- Source: Newsquawk