Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 17th March 2022

17th March 2022

The Daily European Equity Opening News is uploaded at 0700GMT/0300EDT recapping all of the overnight equity news.

From 0700GMT/0300EDT all equity news will be covered in real-time over the audio and headline feed and the full audio rundown will be at 0715GMT/0315EDT.

There will be an additional audio rundown at 0750GMT/0350EDT recapping any company news which has hit the wires since 0715GMT/0215EDT 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 gained post-FOMC while Chinese tech remained euphoric on support pledges. ASX 200 was led higher again by outperformance in tech and following strong jobs data. Nikkei 225 rallied after recent currency weakness and despite the deadly earthquake in Fukushima. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. continued to benefit from China’s recent policy support pledges which lifted the NASDAQ Golden Dragon China Index by 33% and with the PBoC boosting its liquidity efforts. Significant gains were also seen amongst developers after reports that China is not planning to expand its pilot property tax reform this year.

China's Shenzhen will allow companies to resume work and production in an orderly manner. (Newswires) As a reminder, a lockdown was imposed this week for Shenzhen due to COVID-19 and as the city conducts rounds of testing.

Nissan (7201 JT) halts Iwaki plant following the earthquake. (Newswires)

Renesas (6723 JT) output at Naka chip plant is temporarily halted and it is assessing impact of overall supply chain following recent earthquake. (Newswires)

Sony (6758 JT) suspending 3 plants in Japan to check safety following the earthquake. (Newswires)

Toyota (7203 JT) reportedly halted two plants in northeaster Japan following earthquake. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: EURO STOXX 50 +4.1% at 3,889, FTSE 100 +1.6% at 7,291, DAX 40 +3.8% at 14,440, CAC 40 +3.7% at 6,588, FTSE MIB +3.3% at 24,284, IBEX 35 +1.8% at 8,380, SMI +2.0% at 11,916.

SECTORS: Technology 6.60%, Financial Services 4.45%, Consumer Goods 4.20%, Industrials 3.79%, Basic Materials 3.60%, Consumer Services 2.22%, Healthcare 1.67%, Telecoms 1.09%, Energy -0.47%, Utilities -0.81%

FTSE 100

HSBC (HSBA LN) – Increasing climate commitments following investor pressure; agreed to phase down fossil fuel financing in-line with 1.5C limits and to update relevant policies by end-2022. (City AM)

Ex-Dividend - Anglo American (AAL LN), British American Tobacco (BATS LN), M&G (MNG), NatWest (NWG LN) and SEGRO (SGRO LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Diageo (DGE LN) upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan Chase

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

MorphoSys (MOR GY) - FY21 (EUR): Revenue 179.6mln (prev. 327.7mln) Net -514.5mln (prev. +97.9mln). (Newswires)

ThyssenKrupp (TKA GY) - Suspends FY22 FCF forecasts ex-M&A due to present geopolitical and economic turmoil, impact on business development expected as result of direct and indirect effects of the war in Ukraine. Currently still expect adj. EBIT in Q2 to increase QQ. Statement on the feasibility of spinning off the steel business is not possible in current economic conditions, remain convinced that such an option offers very good future prospects. (ThyssenKrupp) Shares seen opening -4.5%

BROKER MOVES

HeidelbergCement (HEI GY) upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan Chase

Henkel (HEN3 GY) downgraded to Sector Perform from Outperform at RBC

CAC

EDF (EDF FP) - Co. has signed for EUR 10.25bln of banking facilities with loans across nine banks. (Newswires)

TotalEnergies (TTE FP) - Co. is said to cut costs at French stations by around EUR 0.10/litre, according to reports. (Nasdaq) Separately, the Church of England pensions board is urging Total to reconsider its plans to retain Russian assets, board is now assessing its shareholdings in Total. (City AM)

Vinci (DG FP) - Feb motorway traffic +7.5% vs 2019. Airport traffic -4.7% vs 2019. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

ADP (ADP FP) - Feb passenger traffic at 62.3% of 2019 levels. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Valeo (FR FP) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Exane BNP

Vinci (DG FP) reiterated with Overweight at JPMorgan Chase

PAN EUROPE

DiaSorin (DIA IM) - FY21 (EUR): Revenue 1.24bln (exp. 1.23bln). EBITDA 543.1mln (prev. 383.5mln Y/Y). Adj. net 356.9mln (prev. 248.3mln). (Newswires)

Moncler (MONC IM) - Co. does not expect a significant hit to FY profitability from its paused Russian operations. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Buzzi Unicem (BZU IM) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan Chase

Inditex (ITX SM) reiterated with Overweight at JPMorgan Chase

SMI

Roche (ROG SW) - Roche provides molecular testing solutions to identify and differentiate SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants of concern. (Roche)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Swedbank (SWEDA SS) upgraded to Buy from Hold at DNB Markets

Volvo Cars (VOLVOB SS) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Exane BNP

US

CLOSES: S&P 500 +2.2% at 4,358, Nasdaq 100 +3.7% at 13,956, Dow Jones +1.6% at 34,063, Russell 2000 +3.1% at 2,029.

SECTORS: Consumer Discretionary +3.4%, Technology +3.3%, Communication Services +2.9%, Financials +2.9%, Materials +1.6%, Industrials +1.3%, Health +1.2%, Real Estate +1.1%, Consumer Staples +0.1%, Utilities -0.2%, Energy -0.4%.

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%