Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 19th December 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks traded with losses across the board amid the fallout from the hawkish Fed, as sentiment from Wall Street reverberated to the region. ASX 200 was pressured by its IT and gold sectors following the post-Fed tech downside and the slide in the yellow metal. Nikkei 225 pared some losses following the BoJ's decision to maintain rates, but choppy trade was seen thereafter ahead of Governor Ueda's presser. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were both lower as China conformed to the broader post-Fed risk tone, with Fed Chair Powell also suggesting that some Fed members had taken a very preliminary step and incorporated conditional effects of coming policies in their projections - i.e. potential Trump tariffs.

Apple (AAPL) - Co. is reportedly in talks with Tencent (700 HK) and ByteDance to integrate their AI features into iPhones sold in China, according to Reuters sources

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: +0.07% at 20,261, FTSE 100: +0.05% at 8,199, CAC 40: +0.26% at 7,385, Euro Stoxx 50: +0.31% at 4,958, AEX: +0.34% at 893, IBEX 35: +0.26% at 11,618, FTSE MIB: +0.25% at 34,401, SMI: -0.86% at 11,640, PSI: -0.28% at 6,295.

SECTORS: IT 1.36%, Telecoms 0.57%, Utilities 0.57%, Energy 0.56%, Industrials 0.44%, Consumer Disc 0.11%, Healthcare -0.13%, Financials -0.13%, Materials -0.66%, Consumer Stpl -0.71%5:20 AM

FTSE 100

Ex-dividends - British American Tobacco (BATS LN) and Halma (HLMA LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payout. (Newswires) 

Shell (SHEL LN) - Co. reports operation issue at manufacturing centre in Corunna. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Co. and unions are still engaged in open-ended negotiations over plant closures and pay cuts, Reuters sources say; Negotiations are expected to continue into Thursday; There is no guarantee that negotiations will result in a deal

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

French stocks - Marine Le Pen, the populist French leader, said on Thursday that she was preparing for an early presidential election to succeed Emmanuel Macron, who she claimed is “finished or almost finished", via The Telegraph. (The Telegraph)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Atos (ATO FP) - Opens a new chapter with the successful closing of its financial restructuring. Elsewhere, Fitch rates Atos B-; outlook stable. (Newswires)

Elis (ELIS FP) - Acquired Ernst in Germany; no terms disclosed. (Newswires)

Wordline (WLN FP) - Launches flex pricing to maximise revenue streams. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Auto names - European car sales fell 2% Y/Y to 1.06mln in November, according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

Enel (ENEL IM) - Board authorises the issue of hybrid bonds up to a maximum amount of EUR 2bln in 2025 and new bonds to refinance outstanding hybrid bonds

Mining names - President-elect Trump advisers urge ending environmental reviews for mines receiving US funding to boost domestic production, via Reuters citing sources. (Reuters)

Saipem (SPM IM) - Won in consortium offshore contract from Shell-S Nigerian unit; total value is EUR 1bln; Saipem contract value is EUR 900mln. (Newswires)

Telecom Italia (TIT IM) - Italy's Economy Minister and Retelit have filed a binding offer for Telecom Italia's Sparkle unit for EUR 700mln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Roche (ROG SW) - Roche’s Phase IIb study of Prasinezumab missed primary endpoint, but suggests possible clinical benefit in early-stage Parkinson’s disease. PADOVA study showed numerical delay in motor progression and positive trends on multiple secondary and exploratory endpoints. Prasinezumab continues to be well tolerated and no new safety signals were observed. Roche is further evaluating the data and will work together with health authorities to determine next steps. (businesswire)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

SoftwareOne (SWON SW) - Co. offers to buy Crayon for NOK 144/shr in cash and stock. Crayon expects completion of transaction to be in Q3'25. (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

Zurich Insurance (ZURN SW) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -2.95% at 5,872, NDX -3.60% at 21,209, DJIA -2.58% at 42,327, RUT -4.39% at 2,232

SECTORS: Consumer Discretionary -4.74%, Real Estate -3.97%, Communication Services -3.16%, Financials -3.03%, Technology -2.99%, Materials -2.89%, Industrials -2.82%, Energy -2.61%, Utilities -2.39%, Consumer Staples -1.44%, Health -1.38%.

Apple (AAPL) - Co. says Meta (META) has made 15 requests for potentially far-reaching access to Apple's technology, and it raises concerns about users' privacy and security as it made more requests than other firms

Micron Technology Inc (MU) - Q1 2025 (USD): Adj. EPS 1.79 (exp. 1.77), Adj. Revenue 8.71bln (exp. 8.71bln). Adjusted gross margin 39.5% (exp. 39.5%). Adjusted operating income 2.39bln (exp. 2.34bln). Adjusted operating income margin 27.5% (exp. 27%). Cash flow from operations 3.24bln (exp. 4.1bln). Guidance: Sees return to growth in H2 of FY. Q2 adj. revenue 7.7-8.1bln (exp. 8.99bln). Q2 adj. gross margin 37.5-39.5% (exp. 41.3%). Q2 adj. EPS 1.33-1.53 (exp. 1.92). Fiscal Q2 bit shipment outlook weaker than expected. Prioritizing investments to ramp 1β & 1γ tech nodes. Commentary: The PC refresh cycle is unfolding more gradually. Sees sale of projects to China-headquartered customers to be concentrated in high-end customer portfolios for the remainder of 2025. Shares fell 15% after-market.

Lennox International (LII) - Co. is to replace Catalent (CTLT) in the S&P 500. (Newswires)

19 Dec 2024 - 06:30- Fixed IncomeResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk