Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 11th January 2024

11th January 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks followed suit to the gains stateside despite the lack of major catalysts as markets await US CPI. ASX 200 climbed back above 7,500 with the index led by outperformance in financials, tech and consumer stocks.Nikkei 225 continued its stellar rally and broke above 35,000 for the first time since February 1990. KOSPI remained afloat after the BoK kept rates unchanged, as expected, while it omitted the reference regarding judging the need to raise the base rate further from its policy statement and Governor Rhee also stated they see less need for rate hikes. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were firmer as Hong Kong conformed to the positive mood with advances driven by strength in tech and autos, while the mainland somewhat lagged ahead of potential frictions from the upcoming election in Taiwan.

Fast Retailing (9983 JT) - Q1 (JPY) oper. profit rose 25.3% Y/Y to 147.7bln (exp. 136.9bln), net rose 26.7% Y/Y to 107.8bln (exp. 96.1bln). (Newswires)

LG Electronics (066570 KS) - Plans to invest KRW 10tln this year to secure growth momentum. (Newswires)

Toyota (7203 JT) - India executive says will globally roll out vehicles with solid-state batteries in a couple of years and that vehicles with solid-state batteries can be charged in 10 minutes and give a range of 1200kms. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX +0.01% at 16,689.81, FTSE 100 -0.42% at 7,651.76, CAC 40 -0.01% at 7,426.08, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.01% at 4,467.55, IBEX 35 +0.07% at 10,067.10, FTSE MIB +0.14% at 30,450.78, SMI +0.05% at 11,254.40

SECTORS: Healthcare 0.39%, Consumer Disc 0.14%, Industrials 0.09%, IT 0.09%, Telecoms -0.22%, Financials -0.35%, Consumer Stpl -0.42%, Utilities -0.51%, Materials -0.81%, Energy -0.92%

FTSE 100

Glencore (GLEN LN) - Vale Base Metals’ Chairman said they are prioritising a decision on whether to combine its nickel unit in Sudbury, Canada with Glencore’s. (Newswires)

Energy/Nuclear – UK PM Sunak has unveiled the Civil Nuclear Roadmap, which outlines how the nation could attain the target of 24GW of nuclear power generation by 2050. A figure which would account for 25% of demand. The roadmap confirmed that large power plants and small modular reactors are both in consideration. (Sky News) Small modular reactors are being developed by Rolls-Royce (RR/ LN).

Ex-Dividends - SSE (SSE LN), Sage (SGE LN) and Ashtead (AHT LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payout. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Darktrace (DARK LN) – CEO Gustafsson is poised to face questions in the Mike Lynch trial regarding her part in over 100 deals while she was working in the accounts department at Autonomy. Mike Lynch is accused of manipulating Autonomy’s books. (Times)

Pennon (PNN LN) - Purchased a debt-ridden water Co. in a GBP 380mln deal. Pennon is raising GBP 180mln from investors to help fund the takeover, valuing Sutton and East Surrey Water at GBP 380mln, with the rest of the money to be used to pay off existing debt, according to The Times. (Times)

BROKER MOVES

Antofagasta (ANTO LN) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC

British Land (BLND LN) initiated with Buy at Berenberg

Land Securities (LAND LN) initiated with Buy at Berenberg

Spirax-Sirco (SPX LN) downgraded to Reduce from Hold at HSBC

WPP (WPP LN) downgraded to Sell from Buy at UBS

DAX

Mercedes-Benz (MBG GY) - Workers at an Alabama factory say over 30% of the plant's workforce have signed union authorisation cards, according to UAW. (Newswires)

SAP (SAP GY) - SAP will pay over USD 220mln to settle DoJ and SEC investigations related to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. The resolution involves bribery schemes in South Africa and Indonesia. SAP entered a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, resolving criminal charges of conspiracy to violate FCPA provisions. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Evonik (EVK GY) - DATAGROUP SE said Evonik relies on their end-user services. The contract of roughly three years with an extension option will start in the spring of 2024. The IT service provider will assume responsibility for some 30,000 IT workstations worldwide, which includes Germany and other European countries, but also China, India, Singapore and the USA. The service range comprises the service delivery management, client services as well as field support. (DATAGROUP)

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Awarded 122MW in orders. (Newswires)

Suedzucker (SZU GY) - Q3 (EUR): EBITDA 1.12bln (prev. 805mln Y/Y), Op. 860mln (prev. 536mln Y/Y), Revenue 7.78bln (prev. 7.11bln Y/Y). (Newswires) Shares seen +3% in pre-market trade.

BROKER MOVES

Leg Immobilien (LEG GY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

CAC

Danone (BN FP) - A New York judge has ruled that the Co. will be subject to a lawsuit challenging carbon-neutral claims on Evian bottles. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Casino (CO FP) - AMF has granted a waiver of obligation for members of the consortium acting in concert and their vehicle to file a draft public offer for the Co’s shares. (Newswires)

Eiffage (FGR FP) - Secured a EUR 63mln contract consisting of two works packages to redevelop the former Saint Vincent de Paul hospital in Paris. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Hermes (RMS FP) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs

Teleperformance (TEP FP) resumed with Outperform at BNP Paribas

PAN EUROPE

OMV (OMV AV) – Q4 hydrocarbon production 364k (prev. 385k boepd Y/Y, exp. 359.3k). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Merlin Properties (MRL SM) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

SMI

ABB (ABBN SW) - Acquires Sevensense, a robot navigation Co. No terms disclosed. (Newswires)

UBS Group AG (UBSG SW) - Citadel Securities is the sole global bidder for Credit Suisse's securities venture in China, offering between CNY 1.5-2bln, Bloomberg reported. The UBS-owned bank seeks around CNY 2bln for the unit. Other potential buyers, including Warburg Pincus, have refrained from proceeding due to pricing concerns. Citadel aims to establish a platform amid challenges in China's market expansion.

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

VAT Group (VACN SW) - Q4 (CHF): Revenue 221mln (prev. 291mln Y/Y). Order backlog 292mln (prev. 517.7mln Y/Y). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Barry Callebaut (BARN SW) downgraded to Sell from Buy at UBS

The Swatch Group (UHR SW) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs

SGS (SGSN SW) upgraded to Buy from Sell at SocGen

SCANDINAVIA

Maersk (MAERSKB DC) - Co. is to set up a land bridge for one of its services to avoid the Panama Canal due to low water levels. (Maersk)

BROKER MOVES

Nordea Bank (NDA SS) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

SSAB (SSABA SS) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.57% at 4,783, NDX +0.69% at 16,793, DJI +0.45% at 37,696, RUT +0.11% at 1,970.

SECTORS: Energy -1.01%, Materials -0.17%, Consumer Staples -0.13%, Utilities -0.06%, Real Estate +0.13%, Financials +0.2%, Health +0.42%, Industrials +0.48%, Consumer Discretionary +0.98%, Technology +1%, Communication Services +1.17%.

Citigroup (C) - Citigroup faces UDS 3.8bln of charges in its Q4 earnings. To record a USD 1.3bln reserve build in Q4 related to increases in transfer risk associated with exposures outside the US (Argentina and Russia). Citi recorded approximately USD 780mln in restructuring charges (including employee severance for the bank's reorganisation), and a USD 1.7bln charge to operating expenses in Q4. The update puts Citigroup at risk of quarterly loss, and analysts noted that the announced charges were significantly larger than the "couple hundred million dollars" that the CFO told investors to expect in December, CNBC reports. Citi is set to report Q4 earnings on Friday. (Newswires)

PCs - Gartner said PC shipments rose +0.3% Y/Y in Q4, snapping a run of eight straight quarters of negative growth. "The PC market has hit the bottom of its decline after significant adjustment," Gartner said, "this subtle growth suggests that demand and supply are finally balanced." Lenovo shipments +3.2%, HPQ +5.6%, AAPL +7.2% (and +14.5% Y/Y in the US), Dell -8.3%. For the 2023 total, PC shipments -14.8% to 241.8mln, which was the first time that volumes fell below 250mln since 2006. (Newswires)

11 Jan 2024 - 06:52- MetalsResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk