Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 23rd May 2024

23rd May 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mixed after the negative performance of cash markets stateside and with US futures boosted after hours owing to Nvidia's earnings which also helped some semiconductor names in Asia. ASX 200 was dragged lower by underperformance in the mining sector after recent declines in underlying metal prices and with industry giant BHP pressured after Anglo American rejected its latest proposal and gave it another 7 days to make an improved offer. Nikkei 225 was underpinned and reclaimed the 39,000 status with the index helped by recent currency weakness and as tech stocks were inspired by Nvidia's strong earnings report. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were subdued amid ongoing frictions after the USTR posted details of the proposed tariffs on Chinese imports and China took countermeasures against a dozen US firms.

TSMC (2330 TT) - Co. said it sees 2024 semiconductor business including memory chips reaching USD 650bln and dedicated foundry business reaching USD 150bln. Co. sees more than 10% semiconductor industry growth this year excluding memory chips, adds sees foundry business growing 15%-20% this year. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -0.24% at 18,621.11, FTSE 100: -0.56% at 8,368.95, CAC 40: -0.61% at 8,092.11, Euro Stoxx 50: -0.47% at 5,023.15, AEX: -0.11% at 910.52, IBEX 35: -0.06% at 11,328.50, FTSE MIB: -0.41% at 34,460.52, SMI: -0.43% at 11,955.41.

SECTORS: IT 0.53%, Healthcare 0.04%, Industrials 0.02%, Telecoms -0.02%, Consumer Stpl -0.07%, Utilities -0.10%, Financials -0.44%, Materials -0.87%, Consumer Disc -1.29%, Energy -1.32%

FTSE 100

Anglo American (AAL LN) - BHP (BHP AT) will stand firm on the structure and value of its latest takeover proposal for Anglo American, according to Reuters sources. Separately, South32 (S32 AT) CEO said the Co. is open to buying Anglo American's manganese assets. (Newswires)

BP (BP/ LN) – Co. has paused discussions with Venezuela on the development of a gas project on the maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago following the expiration of US license to Venezuela in April, via Reuters citing sources. (Reuters)

Glencore (GLEN LN) - Co. and Rusal extend aluminium supply contract into 2025, according to Reuters. (Newswires)

Ex-Dividend - Whitbread (WTB LN), Diploma (DPLM LN), DCC (DCC LN), Imperial Brands (IMB LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend pay-outs. (dividenddata)

NatWest (NWG LN) – The UK government's plans to launch a mass sale of the Co’s shares have been put to question, after the earlier-than-expected general election announcement, via City AM citing Treasury sources. (City AM).

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) - Co. faces a class action in Papua New Guinea court in relation to a long-shuttered copper mine that it offloaded in 2016 and was at the centre of a decade-long civil war, according to WSJ. (WSJ)

UK Stocks - UK PM Sunak confirmed reports that he will call for a general election on July 4th. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL/ LN) – Co. rejected a GBP 4.67bln private-equity takeover approach from the likes of CVC Capital Partners and a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, according to the FT. HL said it “unanimously rejected” the bid as it “substantially undervalues” the Co. The consortium said it was considering a possible revised offer, according to Reuters. (FT/Reuters)

BROKER MOVES

DAX

BMW (BMW GY) – BMW I Ventures announced an investment in SIMR of approx. USD 20mln; a cloud simulation Co. (Newswires)

Deutsche Telekom (DTE GY) - T-Mobile (TMUS) said it's adjusting prices to react to rising costs, according to a post on X. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP) – Awarded space weather spacecraft mission vigil, which will provide more accurate warning of impending solar storms. (Newswires)

Capgemini (CAP FP) – Co. and Schneider Electric (SU FP) collaborate to help companies achieve their energy optimisation. (Newswires)

Sanofi (SAN FP) - New results from the Rilzabrutinib phase 2 study reveal the potential to be the first advanced oral treatment for moderate-to-severe Asthma. Data shows Rilzabrutinib led to a numerical reduction in loss of Asthma control events and improvement in symptoms; data was well-tolerated with no new safety signals observed. Results encourage further development and advancement into a phase 3 programme. (Newswires)

Vivendi (VIV FP) – Canal+ wins exclusive rights to the French “Top 14” Championship until 2031/32 season. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Lagardere (MMB FP) – Board authorises signature of prelim MoU to continue talks with LVMH (MC FP) on the sale of Paris Match magazine. Non-binding MoU provides for the sale of the magazine based on an EV of EUR 120mln. Any sale could be completed by the end of September. (Newswires)

Soitec (SOI FP) – FY (EUR): Revenue 978mln (exp. 977mln), EBITDA 332mln (prev. 391mln Y/Y), Net Profit 178mln (prev. 233mln Y/Y). Confirms FY25 outlook. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Chip Names - NVIDIA (NVDA) shares rose 6.1% after hours after earnings topped forecasts and Co. announced a 10-for-1 stock split. The 262% Y/Y surge in revenue was driven by the high demand for Nvidia's AI data centre graphics processing units (GPUs). (Newswires) Separately, China has reportedly asked automakers to use 25% local chips by 2025, according to FT. (FT)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

ABB (ABBN SW) – Appoints Giampiero Frisio as the new President of its electrification business. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

Julius Baer (BAER SW) – Q1 (CHF): AUM 471bln +10% Y/Y, CET1 Ratio 15.3% (vs end-2023 14.6%), Net inflows 1bln. (Newswires)

Galenica (GALN SW) – Q1 (CHF): Sales 1.25bln, +4.8% Y/Y. On track with sales growth and confirms FY outlook. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Nestle (NESN SW) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

SCANDINAVIA

Telenor (TEL NO) – Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer is appointed new President and CEO of Co. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.27% at 5,306, NDX -0.05% at 18,705, DJIA -0.51% at 39,671, RUT -0.79% at 2,081.

SECTORS: Energy -1.84%, Utilities -1.18%, Materials -0.99%, Real Estate -0.86%, Consumer Discretionary -0.85%, Financials -0.5%, Consumer Staples -0.26%, Communication Services -0.26%, Technology +0.07%, Industrials +0.15%, Health +0.21%.

Boeing (BA) - Co's plane deliveries to China have been delayed in recent weeks due to Chinese review of batteries used in cockpit voice recorder, according to Reuters sources. (Newswires)

NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) - Q1 2025 (USD): Adj. EPS 6.12 (exp. 5.57), Revenue 26.04bln (exp. 24.57bln); announces ten-for-one forward stock split and cash dividend raised 150% to USD 0.01/shr on a post-split basis. COMMENTARY: 'Poised for our next wave of growth'. Trading is expected to commence on a split-adjusted basis at market open on Monday, June 10th. Data centre growth was fuelled by strong and accelerating demand for generative AI training and inference on the Hopper platform. The Blackwell platform is in full production. GUIDANCE: Q2 revenue 28bln +/- 2% (exp. 26.8bln). Q2 GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be 74.8-75.5%. KEY METRICS: Data centre revenue 22.6bln (exp. 21.13bln). Professional Visualization revenue 427mln (exp. 479.1mln). Adj. gross margin 78.9% (exp. 77%). Adj. operating income 18.06bln (exp. 16.46bln). The executive said large-scale cloud providers made up more than 40% of first-quarter data centre revenue, company will see 'a lot of Blackwell revenue' this year. (Newswires/NVDA IR) Shares rose 6.1% after the market.

Tesla (TSLA) - Co. pushes suppliers to produce parts outside of China and Taiwan, according to Nikkei. (Nikkei)

23 May 2024 - 06:52- Exclusive- Source: Newsquawk