Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 19th May 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly subdued following the US sovereign rating downgrade by Moody's which spurred a mild 'sell America' impulse, while participants also digested mixed Chinese activity data. ASX 200 declined with underperformance in the commodity-related sectors but with the downside stemmed ahead of tomorrow's RBA rate decision in which money markets are pricing around a 99% likelihood of a 25bps cut. Nikkei 225 retreated amid currency-related headwinds while the data calendar for Japan is very light to start the week and BoJ Deputy Governor Uchida stuck to the script in which he maintained the rate hike signal should prices improve as forecast. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were lacklustre amid the glum mood across the Asia-Pac region but with the downside in the mainland limited after mixed Chinese data in which Industrial Production topped forecast but Retail Sales disappointed, while the latest House Prices continued to contract Y/Y albeit at a slightly slower than previous pace.

Chinese Data - Chinese Industrial Production topped forecasts, Retail Sales disappointed, House Prices continued to contract Y/Y. Metrics: Chinese Retail Sales YY (Apr) 5.1% vs. Exp. 5.5% (Prev. 5.9%); Industrial Output YY (Apr) 6.1% vs. Exp. 5.5% (Prev. 7.7%); Unemployment Rate Urban Area (Apr) 5.1% (Prev. 5.2%); China House Prices YY (Apr) -4.0% (Prev. -4.5%). (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: +0.23 % at 23,749, FTSE 100: +0.59 % at 8,685, CAC 40: +0.42 % at 7,887, Euro Stoxx 50: +0.33 % at 5,430, AEX: +0.20 % at 931, IBEX 35: +0.85 % at 14,049, FTSE MIB: +0.59 % at 40,656, SMI: +1.02 % at 12,338, PSI: +0.61 % at 7,236

SECTORS: Healthcare 1.18%, Telecoms 1.13%, Energy 0.94%, Utilities 0.78%, Consumer Disc 0.76%, Consumer Stpl 0.47%, Financials 0.35%, Industrials 0.08%, Materials -0.38%, IT -0.48%

FTSE 100

BT (BT/ LN) - Co. is nearing a deal to sell its 50% stake in TNT Sports stake to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), according to the FT citing sources. The piece suggests that the deal could be announced as early as next week. People close to the matter suggest that any deal struck will be significantly lower than BT's value of GBP 750mln. (FT)

UK Autos - The UK Government has said fully autonomous cars are likely to happen in H2'27, a rolling-back from earlier plans of 2026. Uber (UBER) has said that it is ready to roll out in the UK once the regulatory environment allows them to. (BBC)

UK Housing - UK House Price Rightmove MM (May) 0.6% (Prev. 1.4%); House Price Rightmove YY (May) 1.2% (Prev. 1.3%); "It’s another new price record this month, but having seen a May price record for the last five years, it appears to be driven more by seasonal factors given that new buyer demand has slowed", says a Rightmove expert. (Newswires / Rightmove)

UK-EU Trade - "Sky News understands there was a late breakthrough on the [EU-UK] deal and that you expect news on it mid-morning. Talks went well post-midnight last night", according to Sky News' Coates. (Sky News)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Next (NXT LN) resumed with Neutral at Santander

Legal & General (LGEN LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC

DAX

Lufthansa (LHA GY) - Top investor Kuehne said that the Co. should be tougher with unions, highlighting the co.’s share price. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Air France (AF FP) / Lufthansa (LHA GY) - Co's disagree over Air Europa's price and halt deal talks, via elconfidencial. (elconfidencial)

BNP Paribas (BNP FP) - Co. launches a EUR 1.084bln buyback programme, between 19th May and 20th June. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Euronext (ENX FP) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe

Euronext (ENX FP) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan

PAN EUROPE

Trade - US Treasury Secretary Bessent said countries will get a letter with a US tariff rate if they are not negotiating in good faith and he thinks that rate would be the April 2nd level. US and EU in recent days exchanged negotiating documents for the first time, outlining areas of discussion ranging from tariffs to digital trade and investment opportunities, via FT citing sources. (FT)

Ryanair (RYA ID) - FY24/25 (EUR): Adj. Net Income 1.61bln (exp. 1.61bln), Revenue 14bln (exp. 13.9bln), Customers 200.2mln (exp. 199.78mln), Load Factor 94% (exp. 93.8%). Notes too early to provide guidance this year and no visibility through to H2'26. Approves a follow-on EUR 750mln share buyback. Affirms FY25/26 passenger traffic. Exec says: Would bring Boeing (BA) to honour the agreed prices on current aircraft orders even if the EU imposes reciprocal tariffs. Summer 2025 bookings running about 1% ahead of prior year. Are cautiously optimistic that we are going to enjoy a strong summer. (Newswires)

Telecom Italia (TIT IM) - Co. clarifies media speculations; says, that the proposed amendments to bylaws will be submitted for consideration by the BoD's at the May 23 meeting. (Newswires)

UniCredit (UCG IM) / Commerzbank (CBK GY) - German Chancellor Merz says he does not expect UniCredit to make a full bid for Commerzbank at present time.

BROKER MOVES

Acciona (ANA SM) downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at RBC

SMI

UBS (UBSG SW) - Co. reportedly in talks to refund clients who suffered FX derivatives losses, according to Reuters sources; UBS' clients losses into hundreds of millions of Swiss Francs. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.70% at 5,958, NDX +0.43% at 21,428, DJI +0.78% at 42,655, RUT +0.89% at 2,113

SECTORS: Health +1.96%, Utilities +1.42%, Real Estate +1.27%, Consumer Staples +1.08%, Industrials +1.04%, Materials +0.91%, Consumer Discretionary +0.84%, Financials +0.69%, Communication Services +0.65%, Technology +0.12%, Energy -0.18%.

NVIDIA (NVDA) - CEO says NVIDIA is to partner with Foxconn (2317 TT), NSTC and TSMC (2330 TT) to build a Taiwan AI super computer Says: Fujitsu (6702 JT) and Qualcomm (QCOM) are to build custom CPUs with Nvidia GPUs. MediaTek, Marvell, Alchip, Astera Labs, Synopsys, Cadence join Nvidia NVLink ecosystem. Nvidia unveils NVLink Fusion for industry to build semi-custom AI infrastructure with Nvidia partner ecosystem. (Newswires)

Moody's on US - Moody’s lowered the US’s sovereign rating from AAA to Aa1; Outlook Revised to Stable from Negative and warned of rising government debt and a widening budget deficit. (Newswires)

US Budget - The House Budget Committee approved President Trump's tax cut bill to set up a possible vote as soon as this week. (Newswires)

19 May 2025 - 06:47- Fixed IncomeResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk