Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News

5th August 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks mostly slumped following last Friday's continued sell-off on Wall St owing to disappointing jobs data which sparked recession concerns, while heightened tensions in the Middle East linger as markets await Iran's retaliation. ASX 200 declined with tech, financials and real estate leading the broad retreat seen across all sectors. Nikkei 225 continued its aggressive slide and dipped beneath the 33,000 level for the first time since early January, while the index entered into a bear market along with the Topix. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. showed early resilience with the mainland initially kept afloat after Caixin Services PMI topped forecasts, while China recently laid out its priorities to spur consumer spending and the State Council designated 20 key steps to expand basic consumption. However, the bourses later conformed to global losses.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -2.44% at 17,642, FTSE 100: -1.31% at 8,175, CAC 40: -1.61% at 7,252, Euro Stoxx 50: -2.71% at 4,637, AEX: -3.11% at 879, IBEX 35: -1.67% at 10,673, FTSE MIB: -2.55% at 32,019, SMI: -3.73% at 11,857, PSI: -1.06% at 6,591.

SECTORS: Consumer Stpl 0.86%, Utilities 0.14%, Healthcare -0.21%, Materials -1.89%, Telecoms -1.92%, IT -1.99%, Industrials -2.20%, Energy -2.26%, Financials -2.42%, Consumer Disc -4.61%

FTSE 100

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Infineon (IFX GY) - Q3 (EUR): Revenue 3.7bln (exp. 3.8bln), Net 403mln (exp. 447mln), adj. Gross Margin 42.2% (exp. 40.3%), adj. EPS 0.43 (exp. 0.42). Further improvement to revenue and earnings seen in Q4, FY forecasts are well within the prior guided range. It is anticipated that revenue will increase in all four segments Q/Q. Q4 Guidance: Revenue 4bln (exp. 3.9bln). (Newswires) 3.6% weighting in the DAX 40

Aurubis (NAF GY) - Q3 (EUR): EBT 90mln (exp. 99mln), PBT 333mln; significantly increases nine-month result and reports the best quarter with a major shutdown in. FY guidance confirmed.

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

1&1 (1U1 GY) - H1 (EUR): Revenue 2.012bln (prev. 1.99bln), EBITDA 326mln (prev. 352mln). Updates FY Guidance: Service Revenue 3.33bln (prev. guided 3.37bln), EBIDA 700mln (prev. guided 720mln). (1&1)

Bertrand (BDT GY) - Partially revising forecasts: EBIT expected to be significantly, over 10%, below the prior Y/Y figure of EUR 50mln. (Newswires)

United Internet (UTD GY) - H1 (EUR): Sales 3.09blnl (prev. 3.01bln), EBIT 347mln (prev. 407mln). Adj. forecasts due to the after-effects of a temporary outage, FY Guidance: Revenue 6.4bln (exp. 6.49bln), EBITDA 1.38bln (exp. 1.44bln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

L’Oreal (OR FP) - Acquires a 10% stake in Galderma (GALD SW). To be funded with available cash/credit lines. Will not be seeking to represented on the board of Galderma. (Newswires)

Societe Generale (GLE FP) - Signed two exclusive agreements to sell private banking subsidiaries within the UK; AUM of the units amount to almost EUR 25bln. (Newswires)

Vinci (DG FP) - To underground power lines for the Suedostlink project. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Auto Names - US Commerce Department is expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous, connected vehicles, according to sources cited by Reuters. (Reuters)

Banking/Finance - Revolut has reportedly told staff it will be launching the sale of up to USD 500mln worth of existing shares, at a USD 45bln valuation. (FT)

PostNL (POST NA) - Q2 (EUR): Revenue 795mln (exp. 795mln), Net 10mln, Operating 15mln. FY24 outlook confirmed. Interim dividend of 0.03/shr, in line with the policy. Postal volumes in the quarter +6%, mail volumes -1.3% Y/Y. (Newswires)

Saipem (SPM IM) - Launches a buyback for up to 18.6mln shares. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -1.8% at 5,347, NDX -2.4% at 18,441, DJIA -1.5% at 39,737, RUT -3.5% at 2,109

SECTORS: Consumer Discretionary -4.61%, Financials -2.42%, Energy -2.26%, Industrials -2.2%, Technology -1.99%, Communication Services -1.92%, Materials -1.89%, Health -0.21%, Real Estate +0.09%, Utilities +0.14%, Consumer Staples +0.86%.

Apple (AAPL) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) has reduced its stake in Apple to USD 84.2bln (vs 135.4bln last quarter).

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) - Q2 EPS 21,122 (vs 24,775 Y/Y), Q2 operating income USD 11.59bln (+15.5% Y/Y), Quarterly net income -15% to USD 30.34bln (vs 35.91bln Y/Y), Q2 revenue USD 93.65bln (exp. 94.5bln). Nearly half of BRK's profit came from its insurance businesses, including Geico car insurance, where underwriting profit more than tripled as premiums rose and claims fell. Insurance underwriting income +81% Y/Y, and insurance investment income +40% Y/Y. Berkshire's cash stake grew to USD 276.9bln (vs 189bln Q/Q) as it sold a net USD 75.5bln of stocks in Q2, the seventh straight quarter that Berkshire sold more stocks than it bought, Reuters notes. Berkshire repurchased USD 345mln of its own stock in the quarter (vs USD 2.57bln in Q1).

Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia's upcoming AI chips, part of the Blackwell series, will be delayed by over three months due to design flaws, The Information reports. This delay affects major customers like Meta Platforms (META), Alphabet (GOOG), and Microsoft (MSFT), which have collectively ordered tens of billions of dollars worth of the chips. Goldman Sachs said if the report is true, it could drive some volatility in Nvidia’s near-term fundamentals, but it expects there to be little to no impact on CY2025 earnings and, most importantly, the company’s long-term competitive position; GS maintained its Buy rating on NVDA (also on its Americas Conviction List) and its 12-month PT of USD 135 (26% potential upside).

05 Aug 2024 - 06:45- EquitiesData- Source: Newsquawk