Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 13th February 2023

13th February 2023

ASIA

Asia-Pac stocks began the week mostly subdued as geopolitical tensions lingered after the US shot down a fourth flying object and with markets bracing for Tuesday's US CPI data, while the region also digested a slew of earnings releases and news that the Japanese government is likely to nominate academic and former BoJ member Ueda to head the central bank. ASX 200 (-0.2%) was lacklustre with earnings updates in focus and the Consumer Discretionary sector was pressured as Star Entertainment shares dropped more than 20% after it flagged an impairment charge of up to AUD 1.6bln for its New South Wales business. Nikkei 225 (-0.9%) underperformed as participants pondered over the future of the BoJ with the government likely to nominate dark horse Ueda as the next central bank chief after dovish continuation candidate and BoJ’s QE policy architect Amamiya was said to turn down the role. Hang Seng (-0.4%) and Shanghai Comp. (+0.6%) were mixed with Hong Kong pressured early on by weakness in property and tech, while the mainland was kept afloat after China’s recent loans and aggregate financing data topped forecasts with New Yuan Loans at a record high for January.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: EURO STOXX 50 -1.23% at 4,197, FTSE 100 -0.36% at 7,882, DAX 40 -1.39% at 15,307, CAC 40 -0.82% at 7,129, FTSE MIB -0.86% at 27,268, IBEX 35 -1.36% at 9,117, SMI -0.86% at 11,121.

SECTORS: Energy 2.77%, Consumer Stpl -0.05%, Utilities -0.10%, Telecoms -0.19%, Healthcare -0.57%, Financials -1.11%, Industrials -1.22%, IT -2.15%, Materials -2.29%, Consumer Disc -2.29%

FTSE 100

Flutter Entertainment (FLTR LN) - FanDuel CEO said she is confident the unit will achieve FY profitability this year. (Newswires)

Pershing Square Holdings (PSH LN) - Co. is said to be mulling moving its listing to New York. (The Times)

Severn Trent (SVT LN) - UK environment secretary Coffey is said to be backing away from higher fines for spilling sewage into rivers and seas, amid fears large fines could scare off investors from lending money for waterway infrastructure upgrades. (Times)

UK firms - UK employers are expected to increase wages by the most since 2012 with median expectations for a 5% pay increase, while 55% of recruiters were planning to lift base or variable pay this year, according to a survey by CIPD. (Newswires)

UK energy providers - CEO of industry body Energy UK has warned more energy suppliers could go under amid the rising number of households unable to pay their bills. (Times)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Ashtead (AHT LN) reiterated with Overweight at JPMorgan Chase

Barratt Developments (BDEV LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

Bellway (BWY LN) reiterated with Overweight at JPMorgan Chase

British American Tobacco (BATS LN) reiterated with Overweight at JPMorgan Chase

Crest Nicholson (CREST LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

Pennon Group (PNN LN) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC

Persimmon (PSN LN) downgraded to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank

Redrow (RD LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

Severn Trent (SVT LN) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC

Taylor Wimpey (TW/ LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

DAX

Deutsche Bank (DBK GY) - Staff acted disingenuously, exploited control flaws and breached EU rules according to the Co’s probe into the mis-selling of FX derivatives in Spain, via FT citing sources. (FT)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Fraport (FRA GY) - Jan passengers +65.5% Y/Y, cargo volume -18.8% Y/Y, flight movements +20.6% Y/Y. (Newswires)

Leoni (LEO GY) - FY22 (EUR): Revenue 5.1bln (prev. 5.1bln). Adj. EBIT 11mln (prev. 130mln). Co. says cash flow after financing costs will again be strongly negative in 2023. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Siemens Healthineers (SHL GY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Kepler Cheuvreux

Siltronic (WAF GY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Berenberg

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP) - Co. reportedly signs an agreement with Tata's Air India for roughly 250 planes, according to Reuters sources. (Newswires) Separately, British startup Avealto has sent Airbus a “cease and desist” legal letter regarding Airbus' move to change the name of its Zephyr project to "Aalto". (Times)

Orange (ORA FP) - EU antitrust regulators are set to approve Orange's Belgian deal, where clearance may be provided by the end of February, according to Reuters sources. (Newswires)

Renault (RNO FP) - Co. and Nissan (7201 JT) are to invest USD 600mln to produce six new models in India including two EVs. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Airbus (AIR FP) reiterated with Overweight at JPMorgan Chase

PAN EUROPE

Automakers - US President Biden's admin. is to release a final rule this week on EV charging standards as part of a USD 7.5bln effort to electrify US roads, according to officials. The new rule is likely to force Tesla (TSLA) to unlock superchargers and adopt competitor standards or forgo funding, according to Reuters sources. (Newswires). Elsewhere, Electric Vehicle prices could match those for gasoline cars this year, NYT reports, citing competition, government incentives and falling raw material prices, which are making battery-powered cars more affordable sooner than expected. (NY Times)

Iberdrola (IBE SM) - Q4 net electricity production -1.1% Y/Y. (Newswires)

Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP IM) - CEO said private banking is targeting revenue growth between 3.5-4.0% this year, with inflows up around 4%, via a Bloomberg interview. (Newswires)

Telecom Italia (TIT IM) - Italy's government reportedly could seek to buy a 20% stake in the Co's network unit for some EUR 2bln to keep oversight over the asset, according to sources. A decision has not yet been made. (Sole 24 Ore)

Telefonica (TEF SM) - Co. and Liberty Global (LBTYA) reportedly look to sell 25% of Cornerstone and could fetch in excess of EUR 3bln, according to Reuters sources. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Buzzi Unicem (BZU IM) reiterated with Underweight at JPMorgan Chase

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.22% at 4,090, NDX -0.62% at 12,304, DJIA +0.50% at 33,869, RUT +0.18% at 1,918.

SECTORS: Energy +3.93%, Utilities +2.01%, Health +0.94%, Consumer Staples +0.93%, Industrials +0.74%, Financials +0.4%, Materials +0.35%, Real Estate +0.26%, Technology -0.55%, Communication Services -0.89%, Consumer Discretionary -1.22%.

JetBlue (JBLU)/Spirit (SAVE) - US DoJ is likely to sue to block the JetBlue and Spirit deal, according to Politico. (Politico)

Tesla (TSLA) - US Biden admin is to release a final rule this week on EV charging standards as part of a USD 7.5bln effort to electrify US roads, according to officials. The new rule likely to force Tesla (TSLA) to unlock superchargers and adopt competitor standards or forgo funding, according to Reuters sources. Separately, shareholder Ross Gerber says he'll push for a seat on board and push for change, according to Bloomberg. (Newswires)

13 Feb 2023 - 06:46- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk