Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 17th November 2023

17th November 2023

ASIA

Asia-Pac stocks traded mixed following the choppy performance stateside as yields declined and participants digested soft US data releases. ASX 200 (-0.1%) marginally declined with notable underperformance in the energy sector after oil prices slumped to their lowest since July although the downside in the index was cushioned by resilience in miners and defensives. Nikkei 225 (+0.3%) was indecisive amid a lack of fresh catalysts and after unsurprisingly balanced comments from BoJ Governor Ueda. Hang Seng (-2.2%) and Shanghai Comp. (-0.4%) were pressured with the Hong Kong benchmark dragged lower by heavy losses in Alibaba after it scrapped its cloud business spinoff due to US chip restrictions and with energy names reeling from the tumble in oil prices.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX +0.24% at 15,786.61, FTSE 100 -1.01% at 7,410.97, CAC 40 -0.57% at 7,168.40, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.28% at 4,303.25, IBEX 35 +0.28% at 9,667.40, FTSE MIB -0.71% at 29,258.10, SMI -0.61% at 10,643.07, PSI -0.81% at 6,247.63

SECTORS: Utilities 1.14%, Telecoms 0.20%, Industrials -0.01%, Healthcare -0.03%, IT -0.35%, Financials -0.45%, Consumer Stpl -1.00%, Materials -1.19%, Consumer Disc -1.62%, Energy -2.91%

FTSE 100

AstraZeneca (AZN LN) - FDA approves capivasterib with fulvestrant in adult patients for some types of breast cancer. (Newswires)

London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG LN) - Co. announced GBP 1bln of share buybacks for 2024 with EBITDA margins seen increasing over time. Co. sees mid-to-high single-digit organic revenue growth annually, accelerating after 2024, and said early product enhancements and new applications to begin to launch in H1 2024. From 2024, LSEG remains on track to reaching 2023 guidance. Co. continues to expect to maintain day-to-day leverage around the middle of the target range of 1.5-2.5x operating net debt to adj. EBITDA. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Aston Martin (AML LN) - F1 unit receives investment from Arctos Partners valuing the unit at GBP 1bln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Babcock (BAB LN) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

NatWest (NWG LN) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

DAX

German Restaurant-exposed Stocks - The German government coalition agreed to raise VAT for food in restaurants back to 19% from 7% starting in 2024, according to Handelsblatt. It was separately reported that Germany's budget committee interrupted the final deliberations on the 2024 draft budget, according to budget committee representatives. (Handelsblatt)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Evonik Industries (EVK GY) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley

Fresenius Medical Care (FME GY) upgraded to Buy from Hold at SocGen Shares seen +3.6% in pre-market trade

Telefonica Deutschland (O2O GY) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BNP Paribas

CAC

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Elia (ELIS FP) - S&P upgrades rating to investment grade to BBB- (prev. BB+). Outlook revised to Stable from Positive. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Remy Cointreau (RCO FP) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Kepler Cheuvreux

PAN EUROPE

Acciona Energias (ANE SM) - Net Investment approx. 3bln and confirms FY outlook. (Newswires)

AB InBev (ABI BB) - Reached a tentative agreement with the Teamsters Union to restore retirement benefits for active and retired members. (Newswires)

Airbus (AIR FP), BAE Systems (BA/ LN), Leonardo (LDO IM) - Turkey says it wants to purchase 40 Eurofighter typhoon jets and is in talks with the UK and Spain. (Newswires)

Generali (G IM) - 9M (EUR): Adj. Net 2.98bln (prev. 2.23bln Y/Y), GWP 60.5bln (prev. 59.3bln Y/Y). (Newswires)

Merlin Properties (MRL SM) - 9M (EUR): Net 12.5mln -98% Y/Y, Revenue 365mln (prev. 341mln Y/Y). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Enel (ENEL IM) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight from Morgan Stanley

SMI

Zurich Insurance Group AG (ZURN SW) - Appoints Bruno Scaroni as CEO of Zurich Italia effective Jan 2024. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

ams Osram (AMS SW) - Announced the successful pricing of an upsized offering of senior notes, bringing forward the final component of its previously announced holistic financing plan. Comprising EUR 625 million aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes due March 2029 at a coupon of 10.5% per annum and USD 400 million aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes due March 2029 at a coupon of 12.25% per annum (collectively, the "Notes"), which was upsized due to strong demand, as part of its financing plan presented on 27 September 2023. (ams Osram)

Julius Baer (BAER SW) - To sell Kairos Investment Management to Anima for EUR 20-25mln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Volvo Cars (VOLCARB SS) - Geely reportedly exploring the sale of about 100mln Volvo Cars shares (3.4% of all shares), according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.12% at 4,508, NDX +0.10% at 15,833, DJI -0.13% at 34,945, RUT -1.52% at 1,774.

SECTORS: Communication Services +0.94%, Technology +0.68%, Utilities +0.45%, Health +0.38%, Financials +0.32%, Materials +0.25%, Real Estate +0.03%, Industrials -0.06%, Consumer Discretionary -0.91%, Consumer Staples -1.2%, Energy -2.11%.

Amazon (AMZN) - To launch online vehicle sales in the US, starting with Hyundai (005380 SK) in 2024. Under the partnership, Hyundai names AWS as its preferred cloud provider. Starting in 2025, Amazon and Hyundai to bring Alexa built-in experience to Hyundai’s next-generation vehicles.

Apple (AAPL) - Push to replace Qualcomm (QCOM) chip set is to slip further behind, according to Bloomberg. Apple's bid to bring the modem chip in-house faces technical challenges; it risks delay of modem chip until the end of 2025 or early 2026; slipping from its goal of making the modem chip by Spring 2025. In other news, later this year Co. will adopt the RCS protocol for reliable texting exchange with Android devices, via The Guardian. (Bloomberg/The Guardian)

Applied Materials Inc (AMAT) - Q4 2023 (USD): Adj. EPS 2.12 (exp. 2.00), Revenue 6.723bln (exp. 6.52bln).Outlook Q1 adj. EPS view 1.78-2.08 (exp. 1.85), revenue view 6.47bln (exp. 6.39bln). Revenue: Semiconductor Systems net sales USD 4.88bln (exp. 4.77bln). Applied Global Services net sales USD 1.47bln (exp. 1.44bln). Display and Adjacent Markets net sales USD 298mln (exp. 280.3mln). Co. reportedly under US criminal investigation for potentially evading export curbs on China's SMIC, according to Reuters via sources (Newswires) Shares fell -7.6% in after-hour trade - shortly before close Reuters sources reported the Co. is under US criminal investigation.

17 Nov 2023 - 06:50- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk