Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 12th June 2024

12th June 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly subdued after the mixed handover from US peers as markets braced for the incoming US CPI data and the FOMC announcement. ASX 200 was pressured amid weakness in mining, tech, and the defensive sectors. Nikkei 225 retreated beneath the 39,000 level as participants digested firmer-than-expected PPI data which rose at the fastest annual pace in 9 months. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were somewhat varied with underperformance in Hong Kong as China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle shares dropped around 20% amid the threat of losing key assets after local administrative bodies demanded repayment of CNY 1.9bln in subsidies by its units. Meanwhile, the mainland was cautious amid frictions with the US and after mixed Chinese inflation data including softer-than-expected CPI and a narrower deflation in factory gate prices.

Chinese Inflation - Chinese CPI MM (May) -0.1% vs. Exp. 0.0% (Prev. 0.1%); CPI YY (May) 0.3% vs. Exp. 0.4% (Prev. 0.3%); PPI YY (May) -1.4% vs. Exp. -1.5% (Prev. -2.5%). (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -0.66% at 18,372, CAC 40: -1.33% at 7,789, PSI: -1.41% at 6,635, FTSE 100: -0.98% at 8,148, IBEX 35: -1.6% at 11,176, FTSE MIB: -1.93% at 33,874, SMI: -0.57% at 12,069, Euro Stoxx 50: -1.04% at 4,964.

SECTORS: IT -0.54%, Consumer Stpl -0.55%, Healthcare -0.55%, Energy -0.76%, Industrials -0.88%, Materials -0.95%, Consumer Disc -0.97%, Telecoms -0.97%, Utilities -1.17%, Financials -1.57%      

FTSE 100

Rentokil (RTO LN) - Activist investor Nelson Peltz's Trian has amassed a significant stake in Rentokil, making them a top 10 shareholder of the Co., according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

SSE (SSE LN) - Co. and partners were selected in a Netherlands offshore wind tender. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

St. James Place (STJ LN) reinstated with Buy at Peel Hunt

DAX

BMW (BMW GY) - UAW members at the Pennsylvania BMW distribution centre vote to authorise a strike if necessary. (Newswires)

SAP (SAP GY) - Oracle (ORCL) shares rose 9.5% after-hours despite reporting a miss on headline metrics, with optimism stemming from positive AI-related commentary for FY25. Details in the US section.

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Mexico has accepted a US request for a labour rights review at Volkswagen's plant in Puebla. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Stabilus (STM GY) - Adjusts forecasts for FY24: Now expects Revenue in the range of EUR 1.3-1.35bln (prev. guided 1.4-1.5bln); expects Adj. EBIT margin of 11.7-12.3% (prev. guided 13-14%). Adjusted forecast based on weaker-than-expected revenue development and sees no expected recovery in H2'24. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

French Stocks - Fitch Ratings said France's snap election heightens fiscal and reform uncertainty, while it has increased uncertainty around policy settings but there are no immediate implications for France's AA-/Stable rating. (Fitch)

Sanofi (SAN FP) - Executive says it expects to have no or limited supply constraints in 2025, in a Goldman Sachs conference call; and expects to increase its R&D by about EUR 700mln. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Atos (ATO FP) - Enters into exclusive negotiations with Alten for the sale of Worldgrid, for EV of EUR 270mln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Credit Agricole (ACA FP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

PAN EUROPE

Autos - The EU is pushing ahead with Chinese electric vehicle tariffs that are set to bring in more than EUR 2bln a year, despite opposition from Germany, according to FT. European Commission will notify carmakers that it will provisionally impose additional duties of up to 25% on imported Chinese EVs from next month. Note, it was reported yesterday that the Chinese Auto Industry Association CPCA said the EU could impose a 20% tariff on Chinese EVs, which is an understandable trade practice.

Eni (ENI IM) - Starts sale of 10% Saipem (SPM IM) share capital, sales counter value of around EUR 393mln; shares to be placed are not among those covered by existing shareholders agreement between Eni and CDP. (Newswires)

DSM Firmenich (DSFIR NA) - Co. announced the sale of its Yeast extract business to Lesaffre, which has annual sales of about EUR 120mln. (Newswires)

Fincantieri (FCT IM) - Co. BoD exercises the authorisation to increase the share capital for EUR 500mln in divisible form. (Newswires)

Prosus (PRX NA) - Trading Statement: on track to fulfil consolidated e-commerce profitability and cash flow generation. Core headline EPS and headline EPS for the year are expected to increase. EPS is expected to be negatively impacted this year. Expected FY continuing operations core headline EPS USD 0.90-97/shr. (Newswires)

UCB (UCB BB) - UCB Presents Two-Year Data From Phase 3 Studies, Open-Label Extension Evaluating Bimekizumab; Patients with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) and those with radiographic axSpA (r-axSpA) treated with bimekizumab showed sustained and consistent clinical and patient-reported outcomes up to two years. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Novo Nordisk (NOVOB DC) - Says Co. has previously communicated its CEO's willingness to testify at a Senate hearing, and offered several dates for a hearing, via a statement. (Newswires)

Orsted (ORSTED DC) - Invests in a battery energy storage system co-located with the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.27% at 5,375, NDX +0.71% at 19,210, DJI -0.31% at 38,747, RUT -0.36% at 2,024.

SECTORS: Utilities -0.64%, Materials flat, Real Estate -0.27%, Communication Services +0.53%, Consumer Staples -0.1%, Energy -0.24%, Consumer Discretionary -0.22%, Industrials -0.54%, Health -0.35%, Technology +1.66%, Financials -1.21%.

Chip names - US weighs more limits on China's access to chips needed for AI, US officials are reportedly in early talks on high-bandwidth memory curbs, according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

Oracle (ORCL) - Q4 2024 (USD): Adj. EPS 1.63 (exp. 1.65), revenue 14.30bln (exp. 14.59bln); Cloud services and license support revenue rose 9.2% Y/Y to 10.23bln (exp. 10.2bln). Cloud license and on-premise license revenue fell 15% Y/Y to USD 1.84bln (exp. 2.09bln). Hardware revenue fell 0.9% Y/Y to USD 842mln (exp. 796.3mln). Service revenue fell 6.3% Y/Y to USD 1.37bln (exp. 1.4bln). Sees continued strong AI demand to push sales and RPO even higher throughout fiscal year 2025 and result in double-digit revenue growth. Guides Q1 EPS 1.31-1.35 or 1.33-1.37 in constant currency (exp. 1.32) guides rev. to grow 5-7% or 6-8% cc (exp. 7.2%). Additionally, Oracle (ORCL) and Alphabet's (GOOG) Google Cloud announce a ground-breaking multicloud partnership in which OpenAI selects Oracle Cloud infrastructure to extend Microsoft's (MSFT) Azure AI platform. (Newswires) +9.5% in after-hours trade.

Paramount (PARA) - Shari Redstone's NAI decides to stop discussions with Skydance, according to WSJ. (WSJ)

12 Jun 2024 - 06:54- Exclusive- Source: Newsquawk