EUROPEAN EQUITY UPDATE: Stocks extend on Monday’s gains as markets brace for peace talk updates

Analysis details (09:45)

European equities (Eurostoxx 50 +1.3%) have continued to extend on yesterday’s advances following the late pick-up on Wall St. and positivity seen during APAC trade as markets await the fallout from the latest Ukraine-Russia peace talks. Ahead of which, a report in the FT yesterday suggested that Russia is no longer requesting Ukraine be “denazified” in ceasefire talks and is prepared to let Kyiv join the EU if it remains militarily non-aligned. In terms of the latest updates from today’s session, beyond confirmation of the commencement of talks, it’s been a headline-light session thus far with current upside clearly vulnerable to any negative updates from the peace talks. US futures (ES +0.2%) have modestly extended on yesterday’s upside ahead of Fed speakers including 2022 voter Williams and 2023 voter Harker with this week’s first batch of jobs data also due on the docket via the JOLTS release at 15:00BST/10:00EDT. Sectors in Europe are firmer across the board with outperformance in Autos and Energy names with the latter attempting to claw back some of the losses seen during yesterday’s session after crude prices slipped by 9%. In terms of individual movers, Delivery Hero (+9%) sits at the top of the Stoxx 600 following an upgrade at Exane BNP with competitor Just Eat Takeaway (+4%) also benefiting from positive action at the broker. To the downside, Barclays (-4.2%) is enduring another session of losses after an unnamed seller offloaded 575mln shares in the Co. as a discount in excess of 6% of yesterday’s close with the Co. also subject to a downgrade at JP Morgan. Finally, Royal Mail (-3.7%) is another notable laggard in the Stoxx 600 after Deutsche Bank downgraded the Co. to sell from buy.

29 Mar 2022 - 09:44- EnergyImportant- Source: Newsquawk