Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 19th March 2024

19th March 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mixed as markets digested the first of this week's central bank announcements. ASX 200 finished with mild gains after a lack of hawkish surprises at the RBA policy announcement in which it kept rates unchanged and reiterated that the Board remains resolute in its determination, while there was also a slight tweak in its language as guidance around further tightening was softened. Nikkei 225 was underpinned after a widely telegraphed and dovish exit from NIRP, YCC and ETF/J-REIT buying which a Nikkei source report had flagged, while the central bank also announced its monthly bond purchase intentions and said it will make nimble responses with JGB purchases and could increase the amount of JGB buying or conduct fixed-rate operations in the event of a rapid rise in yields. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. lagged with the Hong Kong benchmark dragged lower by weakness in tech stocks as the EU mulls joining the US in reviewing risks of Chinese legacy chips and is flagging potential risks to national security and supply chains.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 -0.09% at 4,984.25, SMI -0.42% at 11,626.70, FTSE 100 -0.06% at 7,722.55, IBEX 35 -0.01% at 10,596.70, FTSE MIB unchanged at 33,940.96, FTSE 250 -0.14% at 19,486.53, DAX +0.01% at 17,939.21, CAC 40 -0.20% at 8,148.14.

SECTORS: Energy 0.36%, IT 0.34%, Healthcare 0.07%, Materials -0.06%, Financials -0.18%, Industrials -0.20%, Utilities -0.31%, Consumer Disc -0.38%, Consumer Stpl -0.52%, Telecoms -0.87%

FTSE 100

JD Sports (JD/ LN) - UK Advertising Watchdog has received over 40 complains about a Nike (NKE) advert which features footwear deemed unsuitable for motorbike riding. (BBC)

National Grid (NG/ LN) - Co. says the British electricity network requires GBP 58bln of investment in order to attain 2035 decarbonising targets. (Sky News)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Hays (HAYS LN) initiated with Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

DAX

Siemens (SIE GY) - Co. and Nvidia (NVDA) expand collaboration on generative AI for immersive real-time visualisation. (Newswires)

SAP (SAP GY) - Confirms with Nvidia (NVDA) to accelerate generative AI adoption across enterprise applications powering global industries. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Delivery Hero (DHER GY) - Invites holders to tender their convertible bonds due 2025 and 2026 for cash; decided today to increase intended buyback amount from at least EUR 300mln to c. EUR 600mln. (Newswires)

Deutsch Lufthansa (LHA GY) - Lufthansa unit Brussels Airlines has reached an agreement with unions, averting a strike. (Aviation24)

Fraport (FRA GY) - FY23 (EUR): EBITDA 1.2bln (exp. 1.2bln), Revenue 4.0bln (exp. 3.95bln), Passengers 59.4mln, 21.3% Y/Y. Guides initial FY24 EBITDA 1.26-1.36bln (exp. 1.34bln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Continental (CON GY) initiated with Overweight at Morgan Stanley

HelloFresh (HFG GY) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

Scout24 (G24 GY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

CAC

Engie (ENGI FP) - Starts commercial operation in Chile of the largest battery energy storage system in LATAM. (Public Now)

Schneider Electric (SU FP) - Confirms collaboration with Nvidia (NVDA) on designs for AI data centres. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Aeroports de Paris (ADP FP) - Feb total passenger traffic 25mln, +13.5% Y/Y. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Airbus (AIR FP) upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC

Valeo (FR FP) initiated with Underweight at Morgan Stanley

PAN EUROPE

Enel (ENEL IM) – Co. confirmed the suspension of the sale of its Argentinian subsidiary Edesur amid hopes of Argentinian President Milei’s push to deregulate Argentina’s energy industry, according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

ACS (ACS SM) downgraded to Hold from Buy at SocGen

bpost (BPOST BB) upgraded to Hold from Sell at ING

Randstad (RAND NA) initiated with Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Prysmian (PRY IM) initiated with Buy at Berenberg

SMI

Kuehne + Nagel (KNIS SW) - Signed a multi-year agreement with Laboratories Expanscience. (Newswires)

Partners (PGHN SW) - FY23 (CHF): EBIT 1.19bln (prev. 1.13bln Y/Y), Revenue 1.95bln (prev. 1.87bln Y/Y). Affirms FY24 gross client demand. (Newswires)

Swiss Banks/Firms - SNB: Identifies a need for action with capital regulations. Regarding AT1 instruments, the aim should be to strengthen their contribution through a timely suspension of buybacks/interest payments alongside a conversion into CET1 capital earlier. Stability of financing needs to be considerably strengthened via liquidity regulations. (SNB)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Georg Fischer (GF SW) - FY23 (CHF): Net 235mln (prev. 276mln Y/Y), Adj. EBIT 378mln (prev. 378mln Y/Y), Revenue 4.0bln (prev. 4.0bln Y/Y). Raises FY25 EBIT margin 10-12% (prev. 9-11%), ROIC 20-24% (prev. 20-22%). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Adecco (ADEN SW) initiated with Underweight at Morgan Stanley

SCANDINAVIA

DKSH (DKSH DC) - Signs a distribution pact with Southern RNA in India. (Newswires)

Norsk Hydro (NHY NO) - To sell its fabrication plant in Lithuania, no terms disclosed. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Boliden (BOL SS) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

Epiroc (EPIA SS) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs

Sagax (SAGAB SS) initiated with Buy at SEB

Vestas Wind Systems (VWS DC) initiated with Outperform at RBC

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.63% at 5,149; NDX +0.99% at 17,985, DJI +0.2% at 38,790, RUT -0.72% at 2,025.

SECTORS: Communication Services +2.95%, Consumer Staples +0.82%, Consumer Discretionary +0.62%, Technology +0.51%, Financials +0.5%, Utilities +0.46%, Energy +0.43%, Materials +0.17%, Industrials +0.17%, Real Estate -0.02%, Health -0.02%.

Disney (DIS) - Trian Management sends a letter to Disney (DIS) shareholders outlining the need for change, saying it believes the Co. needs new independent directors. Trian says Disney's (DIS) purported cost savings do not appear to be hitting the company's bottom line, adds Trian has been a net buyer of Disney stock over the last 12 months, and Disney is one of the largest positions in Trian's portfolio. (Newswires)

Mastercard (MA) - Announced pact with Alibaba's (9988 HK) Alipay to expand cross-border remittance. (Newswires)

NVIDIA (NVDA) - Announces Omniverse Cloud APIs to power wave of industrial digital twin software tools and announces Drive Thor. Launches generative AI microservices for developers to create and deploy generative AI copilots across NVIDIA CUDA GPU installed base and it introduces software to help developers sell their AI models. Healthcare launches generative AI microservices to advance drug discovery, medtech and digital health. Microsoft (MSFT) and NVIDIA announce major integrations to accelerate generative AI for Enterprises Everywhere, while Microsoft Azure is to adopt NVIDIA Grace Blackwell super chip to accelerate customer and first-party AI offerings. Announces Earth Climate digital twin with Taiwan's Weather Administration among the first to adopt new Earth-2 cloud APIs. Blackwell platform arrives to power a new era of computing; Introduces Blackwell B200 AI chip. (Newswires)

TSMC (2330 TT) and Synopsys (SNPS) - Have integrated NVIDIA (NVDA) cuLitho with their software, manufacturing processes and systems. (Newswires)

19 Mar 2024 - 06:51- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk