Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News

19th July 2023

ASIA

Asia-Pac stocks were mixed as the ongoing China economic woes partially offset the constructive lead from Wall St where risk sentiment was underpinned after strong bank earnings results and recent dovish ECB commentary. ASX 200 (+0.5%) was positive with gains led by the energy sector after the recent upside in oil prices which facilitated the resilience of Woodside Energy despite its quarterly decline in output and revenue, while the mining sector was choppy amid indecision in Rio Tinto due to a mixed quarterly update. Nikkei 225 (+0.8%) outperformed after recent comments by BoJ Governor Ueda provided the latest hints regarding the unlikelihood of a policy tweak at next week’s monetary policy meeting. Hang Seng (-1.4%) and Shanghai Comp. (-0.3%) were lower as Hong Kong suffered from tech losses and with a non-committal tone in the mainland amid ongoing economic woes and recent support efforts.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

Bourses: DAX +0.35% at 16,125, FTSE 100 +0.64% at 7,454, CAC 40 +0.38% at 7,319, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.30% at 4,370, IBEX 35 +0.19% at 9,456, FTSE MIB +0.34% at 28,707, SMI +1.14% at 11,102.

Sectors: Healthcare 1.31%, Energy 0.99%, Materials 0.91%, Financials 0.82%, Industrials 0.74%, Consumer Disc 0.26%, Consumer Stpl 0.14%, Utilities -0.09%, IT -0.10%, Telecoms -0.60%.

FTSE 100

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) - Q2 Pilbara iron ore output 81.3mln tons (prev. 78.6mln tons Y/Y), iron ore shipments 79.1mln tons (prev. 79.9mln tons Y/Y), mined copper 145k tons (prev. 126k tons Y/Y), aluminium output 814k tons (prev. 731k tons Y/Y). Lowers 2023 refined copper output guidance to 160k-190k tons and lowers 2023 alumina production guidance to 7.4mln-7.7mln tons. Expects to deliver shipments in the upper half of the guidance range for the year. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Aston Martin (AML LN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs

Segro (SGRO LN) upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at BNP Paribas

Severn Trent (SVT LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at SocGen

DAX

Covestro (1COV GY) - Adnoc has reportedly increased its offer for the Co. to circa EUR 57/shr (prev. around 55/shr) or EUR 11bln, via Bloomberg citing sources. (Newswires)

Wacker Chemie (WCH GY) - FY23 Outlook (EUR): Revenue 6.5-6.8bln (exp. 6.9bln), EBITDA 0.8-1.0bln (exp. 1.12bln); expects key 2023 indicators to be lower than prev. projected. Expects weak demand to continue into H2. Prelim. Q2: EBITDA 255mln (exp. 276mln). (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

QIAGEN (QIA GY) - Expands the available range of digital PCR kits/services for bioppharma. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Evonik (EVK GY) downgraded to Underweight from Equalweight at Morgan Stanley

Knorr-Bremse (KBX GY) maintained with Overweight at JPMorgan

CAC

Renault (RNO FP) - Co. and Nissan (7201 JT) are to make an announcement in the coming days on restructured alliance and have finalised a deal, according to Reuters sources. Elsewhere, Renault reports Group worldwide sales 1.13mln in H1, +13% YY. Order backlog of 3.4months as of end-June. EV car sales +18%, account for 37% of brand sales in Europe. (Reuters/Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Vinci (DG FP) - June airport traffic +24% YY. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

ASML (ASML NA) - Q2 (EUR): Revenue 6.9bln (exp. 6.73bln), Net Income 1.9bln (exp. 1.82bln), Interim Dividend 1.45/shr, Gross Margin 51.3%. Q3 Outlook: Revenue 6.5-7.0bln (exp. 6.42bln), Gross Margin 50%. CEO Wennink: "Our customers across different market segments are currently more cautious due to continued macro-economic uncertainties, and therefore expect a later recovery of their markets. Also, the shape of the recovery slope is still unclear. However, our strong backlog of around €38 billion provides us with a good basis to navigate these short-term uncertainties.". Waiting for further understanding of US export rules to China, do not expect additional US measures to have a major impact on prior guidance. (GlobeNewswire/Newswires)

Mining Names - Vale reported a 6% increase in iron ore production compared to the previous year. Copper production and sales also rose significantly, while nickel production improved. The company expects a smaller production-to-sales gap in the next quarter. Reiterates FY23 copper production view of between 335-370 kt, reiterates FY23 nickel production view of between 160-175 kt, reiterates FY23 iron ore production outlook for between 310-320 mt, and backed its FY23 pellets production view 36-40 mt2. The miner also said it has reached full capacity at the Sol do Cerrado solar energy project in Brazil. The project, with an installed capacity of 766 MW, will supply 16% of Vale's energy consumption and help reduce its carbon emissions. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Kuehne und Nagel (KNIN SW) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan

SCANDINAVIA

Nordea (NDASE SS) - To acquire Danske Bank's (DANSKEB DC) personal customer business and associated savings assets in Norway. Transaction expected to decrease CET1 ratio by 40-50bps, expected to improve cost-to-income ratio and ROC at risk. (Newswires)

SKF (SKFB SS) - Q2 (SEK): Sales 27.1bln (exp. 27bln), adj. EPS 5.3 (exp. 4.59), PBT 2.83bln (exp. 2.92bln), EBIT 3.2bln (exp. 3.39bln). Q3 guidance: mid-single-digit organic sales growth. (Newswires)

Volvo AB (VOLVB SS) - Q2 (SEK) Revenue 140bln (exp. 134bln), adj. Operating Income 21.7bln, EPS 5.30 (exp. 6.61), Net Truck Order Intake 48.3k (prev. 53.4k). Gradually entering into a more normalised demand situation, record profitability and high operational performance. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.71% at 4,554, NDX +0.82% at 15,841, DJIA +1.06% at 34,951, RUT +1.27% at 1,976.

SECTORS: Technology +1.26%, Financials +1.12%, Energy +0.98%, Materials +0.78%, Health +0.7%, Industrials +0.57%, Communication Services +0.38%, Consumer Discretionary +0.28%, Consumer Staples -0.13%, Utilities -0.78%, Real Estate -0.82%.

19 Jul 2023 - 06:50- Fixed IncomeResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk