Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 13th January 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly negative in reaction to the hot NFP jobs report and subsequent rise in yields as Fed rate cut bets were unwound, while risk sentiment was also not helped by the holiday closure in Japan and failed to benefit from Chinese trade data. ASX 200 was lower with underperformance in tech, financials and consumer discretionary sectors, while energy bucked the trend owing to a surge in oil prices. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were pressured at the open as participants awaited the latest Chinese trade data but pared some of the losses following comments from PBoC Governor Pan that they have the confidence and means to overcome difficulties in the economy and will use interest rate and RRR tools to keep liquidity ample, while sentiment then remained subdued amid the broad risk-aversion and failed to benefit from the better-than-expected Chinese trade figures.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -0.47% at 20,221, FTSE 100: -0.86% at 8,248, CAC 40: -0.79% at 7,431, Euro Stoxx 50: -0.82% at 4,977, AEX: -0.62% at 890, IBEX 35: -1.50% at 11,721, FTSE MIB: -0.64% at 35,090, SMI: -1.26% at 11,783, PSI: -1.53% at 6,300.

SECTORS: Energy 0.14%, Telecoms -0.07%, Healthcare -0.24%, IT -0.54%, Consumer Disc -0.55%, Materials -0.88%, Industrials -0.94%, Financials -1.03%, Consumer Stpl -1.73%, Utilities -2.32%

FTSE 100

easyJet (EZJ LN) - CEO intends to sell short-term city breaks as package holidays, via offering rooms with their flights. Telegraph article frames this as a challenge to Ryanair (RYA ID) and Booking Holdings (BKNG). (Telegraph)

Serco (SRP LN) – Co. will unveil a succession plan that will see CEO Irwin retiring, according to Sky News reporter Kleinman on X. (X)

Standard Chartered (STAN LN) – Zambia’s SEC sanctions Standard Chartered for mis-selling a Chinese property company’s bonds, via Reuters citing sources. (Reuters)

UK Stocks - UK Chancellor Reeves said the fiscal rules set in the October Budget are non-negotiable and that there undoubtedly have been moves in global financial markets. Reeves said that they will take action to ensure that they meet fiscal rules and she is committed to having one Budget a year which will be in Autumn. Reeves also announced that the UK will earn GBP 600mln from five-year agreements made with China. (Newswires)

UK Hiring – Deloitte said large UK companies plan to cut hiring and scale back investment due to the recent tax hikes announced in the October budget, via Reuters. (Reuters)

UK Tourism/Hotel Names - UK Chancellor Reeves is reportedly considering a "hotel tax" of GBP 1 per person a night, for both domestic and foreign tourists. Hospitality bodies have urged the Chancellor not to impose such a measure, describing it as extremely damaging. (Telegraph) Of note for the likes of InterContinental Hotels (IHG LN)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Shein IPO – UK Parliaments Committee Chair writes to LSE CEO and the FCA about Shein’s evidence to enquiry; writes that the committee is “profoundly concerned at the lack of candid and open answers” regarding Shein’s supply chain. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Bunzl (BNZL LN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citi

Severn Trent (SVT LN) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein

DAX

Qiagen (QIA GY) – Co. to return approx. USD 300mln to shareholders through a synthetic share repurchase. (Newswires)

Porsche AG (P911 GY) – Delivered 310,718 vehicles in 2024. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Nordex (NDX1 GY) – Secured 247 MW wind turbine orders from Canada. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Sanofi (SAN FP) - Sarclisa obtains first approval in China for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. (Sanofi)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Elis (ELI FP) – Announces the acquisition of Wascherei Bodensee in Switzerland. (Newswires)

BioMerieux (BIM FP) – Will acquire 100% ownership of Spinchip for a total EV of EUR 138mln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Anima (ANIM IM) / Banco BPM (BAMI IM) - Corriere della Sera daily reported that Banco BPM is planning to update it industrial plan before end-March, where it will target higher profits and larger shareholder renumeration. The report also noted that it could raise its buyout offer for Anima. (Corriere della Sera daily)

Airliners / Deutsche Lufthansa (LHA GY) – Brussels Airlines said it would need to cancel a significant number of flights at Brussels Airport on Monday due to strikes. (Newswires)

Argenx (ARGX BB) – Reports USD 2.2bln in prelim 2024 global net sales. Expects combined R&D and SG&A expenses in 2025 to be USD 2.5bln. (Newswires)

Auto Stocks - China 2024 vehicle sales +4.5% Y/Y (prev. +12% in 2023), according to the industry association; December vehicle sales +10.5% Y/Y (prev. 11.7% in November); 2024 NEV sales +39.7% Y/Y, Dec NEV sales +34% Y/Y. (Newswires)

Banco BPM (BAMI IM) / UniCredit (UCG IM) – Italy is preparing to start a formal review of UniCredit’s bid for Banco BPM, via Bloomberg. Italy plans to start special process on the UniCredit bid that allows conditions if a deal is approved. La Stampa reported that representatives from UniCredit met with Government officials to discuss the bid; the Government could ask for no job cuts/branch closures in return for approval of the deal. (Bloomberg / La Stampa)

China-exposed Stocks - Chinese Trade Balance USD (Dec) 104.84B vs. Exp. 99.8B (Prev. 97.44B). Chinese Imports YY (Dec) 1.0% vs. Exp. -1.5% (Prev. -3.9%). Chinese Exports YY (Dec) 10.7% vs. Exp. 7.3% (Prev. 6.7%). (Newswires) Separately, PBoC Governor Pan said China's economy addressed risks and challenges in recent years, adds have confidence and means to overcome difficulties in the economy, will use interest rate and RRR tools to keep liquidity ample. PBoC raises cross-border macro adjustment parameter to 1.75 (prev. raised to 1.50 in July 2023), while the PBoC held a meeting for the FX market in Beijing and pledged to strengthen FX market management. (Newswires)

Grupa Azoty (ATT PW) - CEO Skolmowski said they are looking into selling its German fertiliser unit. More broadly, he remarked that the Co. could see positive EBITDA this year but acknowledged that liquidity and debt issues remain. (FT)

Oil Stocks - Crude futures gained around 2% apiece overnight amid expectations of Russian crude supply disruption after the US recently toughened sanctions on Russia's energy sector targeting more than 200 entities and individuals, while it was also reported that Israel struck a number of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) - US exec said co. reduced US inventories by 100k units last year, ahead of schedule. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Novartis (NOVN SW) – Novartis Entresto US patent upheld by US Court of Appeals. There are currently no generic versions of the drug available in the US. (Newswires)

Roche (ROG SW) - Roche receives FDA clearance for new, highly-sensitive test to aid clinicians in diagnosing B-cell lymphoma. (Newswires)

UBS (UBSG SW) - UBS Asia-Pac President Khan says US and Asia are two growth engines. Expects China to take a more proactive fiscal stance. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -1.54% at 5,827, NDX -1.57% at 20,848, DJI -1.63% at 41,938, RUT -2.22% at 2,189

SECTORS: Energy +0.34%, Utilities -0.57%, Health -0.58%, Consumer Discretionary -0.97%, Materials -0.98%, Communication Services -1.00%, Industrials -1.11%, Consumer Staples -1.13%, Technology -2.23%, Financials -2.45%, Real Estate -2.46%

Apple (AAPL) - On Friday, Apple watcher Ming-Chi Kuo said the iPhone maker is facing challenges in 2025, including stagnant iPhone growth, declining Chinese market share, and limited impact from AI developments, with shipments projected 8–10% below consensus, and new models struggling to boost demand significantly. Separately, Meta Platforms' (META) chief Mark Zuckerberg criticised Apple in a Joe Rogan interview, claiming the company has not innovated in years, relying on iPhone sales and charging developers high fees; Zuckerberg also took issue with Apple’s control over products like AirPods and its treatment of Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses. Elsewhere, Apple faces a GBP 1.5bln class action in the UK over alleged "excessive and unfair" charges on App Store software, with a trial set to begin in the Competition Appeal Tribunal; the claimants argue that Apple abuses its dominant position by charging high commissions, impacting consumers who download apps, FT reports.

Eli Lilly (LLY) - Co. reportedly in advanced talks to acquire US cancer biotech Co. Scorpion Therapeutics for up to USD 2.5bln, according to FT. (FT)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) - Co. won a deal worth over USD 1bln to provide Musk's X social network with servers optimized for AI work, according to Bloomberg citing sources, who add Dell (DELL) and Super Micro (SMCI) also bid to sell the equipment. (Newswires)

13 Jan 2025 - 06:47- Geopolitical- Source: Newsquawk