Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News

17th February 2023

ASIA

Asia-Pac stocks traded negatively as the regional bourses took their cues from the weak performance stateside after firmer-than-expected PPI data and hawkish Fed rhetoric in which both Mester and Bullard suggested a preference for a 50bps hike at the last meeting. ASX 200 (-0.9%) was dragged lower by weakness in tech following the underperformance of the Nasdaq in the US and with sentiment also dampened as RBA Governor Lowe reiterated the view for further rate hikes. Nikkei 225 (-0.8%) also suffered from the tech rout and as earnings releases began to quieten although Bridgestone was among the best performers owing to a jump in revenue and forecasts for a 12% increase in FY23 profits. Hang Seng (-0.7%) and Shanghai Comp. (-0.2%) declined with Hong Kong pressured by tech losses and with frictions stoked after China unveiled sanctions against US firms related to Taiwan arms sales, while the mainland initially bucked the trend after a substantial liquidity injection by the PBoC.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: EURO STOXX 50 +0.40% at 4,297, FTSE 100 +0.18% at 8,012, DAX 40 +0.18% at 15,533, CAC 40 +0.89% at 7,366, FTSE MIB +1.16% at 27,853, IBEX 35 +0.35% at 9,327, SMI -0.65% at 11,199.

SECTORS: Financials 1.10%, Materials 0.82%, Telecoms 0.70%, Consumer Disc 0.49%, Energy 0.46%, Industrials 0.30%, IT 0.14%, Utilities -0.25%, Consumer Stpl -0.73%, Healthcare -1.06%.

FTSE 100

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Allianz (ALV GY) - Q4 2022 (EUR): Revenue 36.8bln (exp. 38.8bln), Operating Profit 4bln (exp. 3.5bln), Nett Income 2.0bln, adj. EPS 4.99. (Newswires)

Mercedes-Benz (MBG GY) - Q4 2022 (EUR): Revenue 41.0bln (exp. 37.87bln), Net 4.03bln (exp. 3.74bln); sees 2023 EBIT slightly below prior year's level; FY dividend 5.20/shr (exp. 4.92/shr, prev. 5.00/shr). announced a share buyback to repurchase own shares worth up to EUR 4bln (not including incidental costs) on the stock exchange over a period of up to two years. Expects 2023 FCF of industrial business at the previous year's level. Announced global charging network, realigned production network to scale EVs, Level 3 conditionally automated driving approved in Nevada, new partnerships for sourcing raw materials and semiconductors established. (MBG) 4.1% DAX weighting

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Uniper (UN01 GY) - FY22 (EUR): adj. Net Income -7.4bln (exp. -5.8bln), net debt 3bln as of end-December. Deconsolidation of Unipro is leading to a deconsolidation loss of 4.4bln. 18bln KfW faciliity has been replaced with a 16.5bln facility with a maturity until 2026. Gas replacement cost issue will be overcome by end-2024, state support via KfW will be phasing out over time. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Hapag Lloyd (HLAG GY) maintained with Underweight at JPMorgan

CAC

Safran (SAF FP) - FY 2022 (EUR): Revenue 19.04bln (exp. 18.9bln), Operating Income 2.4bln (exp. 2.2bln), dividend 1.35/shr (exp. 1.51/shr). FY23 guidance: Revenue >23bln (exp. 22.4bln), Operating Income 3.0bln (exp. 2.9bln). On track to deliver 2025 commitments. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Air France (AF FP) - Q4 2022 (EUR): Revenue 7.13bln (exp. 6.6bln), EBITDA 786mln (exp. 804mln), Operating Result 134mln. (Newswires)

Eutelsat (ETL FP) - H1 2022 (EUR): Revenue 573mln (exp. 572mln), EBITDA 419mln (exp. 426mln), Net Income 52mln (exp. 130mln). All financial objectives for FY22/23 and beyond are confirmed. (Newswires)

Valneva (VLA FP) - Co. and Pfizer (PFE) announce that Pfizer, as the study sponsor, has decided to discontinue a significant percentage of participants in the U.S. who had been enrolled in the Vaccine Against Lyme for Outdoor Recreationists (VALOR) (NCT05477524) Phase 3 clinical study; being discontinued following violations of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) at certain clinical trial sites run by a third-party clinical trial site operator. The discontinuation of these participants was not due to any safety concerns with the investigational vaccine and was not prompted by a participant-reported adverse event. (Valneva)

BROKER MOVES

Accor (AC FP) - maintained with Underweight at JPMorgan

Teleperformance (TEP FP) - maintained with Overweight at JPMorgan

PAN EUROPE

Proximus (PROX BB) - Q4 2022 (EUR): Revenue 1.56bln (prev. 1.44bln), adj. EBITDA 415mln (exp. 417mln). (Newswires)

Strabag (STRV AV) - FY Update (EUR): Order Backlog 23.7bln, +6%; Output Volume 17.7bln, +10%. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Aker ASA (AKER NO) - Q4 NAV NOK 66.9bln, proposes a dividend of NOK 15/shr for 2022 and will propose to pay an additional cash dividend in H2-2023. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -1.38% at 4,090, NDX -1.93% at 12,442, DJI -1.26% at 33,696, RUT -0.96% at 1,942.

SECTORS: Consumer Discretionary -2.16%, Technology -1.75%, Communication Services -1.55%, Materials -1.15%, Industrials -1.09%, Financials -1.07%, Energy -1.03%, Health -1.02%, Real Estate -0.93%, Utilities -0.83%, Consumer Staples -0.79%.

17 Feb 2023 - 06:40- EquitiesData- Source: Newsquawk