Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 15th March 2022

The Daily European Equity Opening News is uploaded at 0700GMT/0200EST recapping all of the overnight equity news.

From 0700GMT/0200EST all equity news will be covered in real-time over the audio and headline feed and the full audio rundown will be at 0715GMT/0215EST.

There will be an additional audio rundown at 0750GMT/0250EST recapping any company news which has hit the wires since 0715GMT/0215EST ahead of the European equity open

European equity coverage will only cover companies in the STOXX 600 or companies of systemic importance to particular sectors.

ASIA

APAC stocks mostly declined amid the current geopolitical backdrop and COVID-19 concerns in China. ASX 200 was dragged lower by weakness in the commodity-related sectors as oil retreated around 5%. Nikkei 225 was shielded by currency flows and plans to end the quasi-state of emergency in Tokyo. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. extended on the prior day’s stock rout with heavy losses at the open after a jump in Chinese COVID-19 infections and with tech heavily suffering in the wake of a near-12% drop in the Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index. The PBoC also disappointed expectations for a 10bps cut to the 1yr MLF rate, although its CNY 200bln operation resulted in a CNY 100bln net injection and the latest Chinese Industrial Production and Retail Sales topped forecasts which helped briefly pare some of the losses.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: EURO STOXX 50 +1.5% at 3,741, FTSE 100 +0.5% at 7,193, DAX 40 +2.2% at 13,929, CAC 40 +1.8% at 6,369, FTSE MIB +1.7% at 23,426, IBEX 35 +1.1% at 8,234, SMI +1.7% at 11,684.

SECTORS: Financial Services 2.64%, Industrials 2.25%, Telecoms 1.63%, Consumer Services 1.57%, Healthcare 1.21%, Consumer Goods 0.71%, Utilities 0.55%, Technology -0.60%, Energy -1.37%, Basic Materials -2.63%

FTSE 100

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) - Co. wants to buy out minority shareholders in Mongolian copper miner Turquoise Hill Resources for USD 2.7bln. (The Australian)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

AB Foods (ABF LN) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Exane BNP

Asos (ASC LN) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Exane BNP

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Porsche Automobil SE (PAH3 GY) - Porsche and Bridgepoint are jointly acquiring US traffic-management solutions company Econolite Group, sum undisclosed. (Porsche)

RWE (RWE GY) - Co. says it has a long-term gas contract with Russia's Gazprom, and what the Ukraine crisis means for the contract remains to be seen. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Fraport (FRA GY) - FY21 (EUR): Net profit 91.8mln (prev. -690.4mln). 2022 group revenue is expected to reach around EUR 3bln. Revenue and profit were boosted by higher passenger demand and cost reductions. Will not propose a dividend. (Newswires)

Wacker Chemie (WCH GY) - FY21 (EUR): EBIT 1.13bln (prev. 263mln). Sales growth +32% Y/Y. Co. continues to expect growth in 2022. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Adidas (ADS GY) initiated with Outperform at Bernstein

HeidelbergCement (GEI GY) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Zalando (ZAL GY) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Exane BNP

CAC

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

EssilorLuxottica (EL FP) upgraded to Hold from Sell at SocGen

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

European Banks - EU regulators have ruled out a blanket ban on banks' dividend payout and share buybacks during the Ukrainian crisis which is a more relaxed approach than what it took during the pandemic. Separately, Banks are reportedly on alert for a Russian reprisal cyber attacks on SWIFT. (FT)

Generali (G IM) - Co. is reportedly moving to propose Donnet and Sironi as CEO and Chairman respectively. (Newswires)

Leonardo (LDO IM) - Co. won a US contract for two AW130 helicopters. (Newswires)

Solvay (SOLB BB) - Co. has announced plans to spin off its Materials and Solutions units in H2 2023. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Prosus (PRX LN) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan Chase

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW LN) upgraded to Buy from Sell at SocGen

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Equinor (EQNR NO) - Co. is to stop trading in Russian oil and oil products, while it will not enter any new trades or engage in the transport of oil and oil products from Russia, but noted it will receive four oil cargoes in March as part of pre-invasion commitments. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Aryzta (ARYN SW) upgraded to Buy from Add at Baader Helvea

Swedbank (SWEDA SS) upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.74% at 4,173, NDX -1.92% at 13,047, DJIA flat at 32,945, RUT -1.92% at 1,942.

SECTORS: Energy -2.89%, Technology -1.9%, Communication Svs. -1.81%, Consumer Discretionary -1.75%, Real Estate -0.73%, Materials -0.13%, Utilities -0.11%, Industrials +0.32%, Consumer Staples +0.57%, Health care +0.68%, Financials +1.25%.

Chevron (CVX) - Reportedly is preparing to trade Venezuelan oil if the US revamps its license to permit it to operate projects and market oil for exports, according to Reuters sources. (Newswires)

Tesla (TSLA) - Raised prices for all models in the US and some China-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. (Newswires)

RUSSIA-EXPOSED EUROPEAN STOCKS

EUROPEAN COMPANIES WITH STAKES IN RUSSIAN FIRMS

Source: Goldman Sachs/GoogleOrder: Descending market cap

• 
  Shell (SHEL LN) - (Energy) Has a stake of around 28% stake in Gazprom-operated Sakhalin-2 LNG project. [Announced the exit of Gazprom entities (Mar 1)]
  


• 
  TotalEnergies (TTE FP) - (Energy) Exposed via its partnerships with Russian nat gas producers Novatek and Yamal LNG. [Holds presence in Russia but announced no further investments (Mar 1)]
  


• 
  Prosus (PRX AV) - (Tech) Co. owns Avito, a Russian classified advertisements website.


• 
  BP (BP/ LN) - (Energy) Exposed via its 20% stake in Rosneft. [Announced sale of stake with potential hit of USD 25bln (Feb 27)]
  


• 
  Equinor (EQNR NO) - (Energy) Owns minority stakes in three oilfields in Russia.


• 
  Glencore (GLEN LN) - (Basic Resources) Owns a 0.6% stake in Rosneft and 10.5% in Anglo-Russian green energy and metals company EN+.


• 
  OMV (OMV AV) - (Energy) Exposed via the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil and gas field. [No longer pursuing investments in Russia (Mar 7)]


• 
  Tenaris (TEN IM) - (Energy) Exposed via a pipeline deal it owns 49% interest in.


• 
  Renault (RNO FP) - (Auto & Parts) 6% of Renault's revenue and 15% of EBIT comes from its ownership of AvtoVAZ - Russian automobile manufacturing company.


• 
  Alstom (ALO FP) - (Industrial) Has a 20% stake in Russia's largest rail manufacturer - Transmasholdings.

EUROPEAN COMPANIES WITH RUSSIAN SALES EXPOSURE ABOVE 20%

• 
  VEON (VEON AV) (Telecom) 48%


• 
  Polymetal (POLY LN) (Basic Materials) 42%


• 
  EVRAZ (EVR LN) (Basic Materials) 38%


• 
  Uniper (UN01 GY) (Utilities) 25%


• 
  Fortum (FORTUM FH) (Utilities) 25%


• 
  NOKIAN (TYRES FH) (Autos) 21%

15 Mar 2022 - 06:53- MetalsResearch Sheet- Source: Newswires