Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News

26th June 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks followed suit to the mixed performance stateside where the major indices reversed Monday's price action and tech rebounded as Nvidia snapped its losing streak, while markets continue to await fresh catalysts. ASX 200 was pressured with sentiment not helped by a hot monthly CPI print which saw both Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley call for a 25bps hike at the next RBA meeting in August. Nikkei 225 outperforms following recent currency weakness and with tech names boosted after Nvidia's rebound. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were mixed with the former kept afloat above the 18,000 level, while the mainland was subdued despite another firm liquidity injection by the PBoC with sentiment clouded by tech and trade-related frictions as OpenAI was reportedly taking steps to block China access to its AI tools.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -0.89% at 18,163, CAC 40: -0.58% at 7,662, PSI: -0.36% at 6,567, FTSE 100: -0.41% at 8,248, IBEX 35: -0.48% at 11,119, FTSE MIB: -0.38% at 33,707, SMI: -0.65% at 12,078, Euro Stoxx 50: -0.33% at 4,935.

SECTORS: Healthcare 0.91%, Energy 0.49%, Consumer Disc 0.41%, IT 0.41%, Utilities 0.29%, Materials 0.10%, Telecoms -0.48%, Consumer Stpl -0.57%, Financials -0.69%, Industrials -1.49%.

FTSE 100

Deliveroo (ROO LN) - Doordash (DASH) recently expressed interest in taking over Deliveroo, via Reuters citing sources; approach was made in May but talks ended after a disagreement on valuation. (Newswires)

Sainsbury's (SBRY LN) - Moody's has placed the rating of Sainsbury's Bank on review for downgrade. (Moody's) Note, NatWest (NWG LN) last week entered into an agreement to purchase the retail banking assets and liabilities of Sainsbury's Bank.

OTHER UK COMPANIES

Hipgnosis (SONG LN) - Blackstone has revised its offer and declared it final, offering USD 1.31/shr in cash valuing the Co. at circa. USD 1.58bln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

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

DAX

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Volkswagen is to invest an initial USD 1bln in Rivian (RIVN), as part of a new, equally controlled JV to share EV architecture and software. The potential investment could rise to as much as USD 5bln by 2026 if certain milestones are achieved. The transaction could result in an unplanned cash outflow of up to EUR 2bln for Volkswagen in the current FY. Volkswagen expects FY24 net cash flow to range between EUR 2.5-4.5bln. Volkswagen will further its software-defined-vehicles plans via the JV, and transition to a pure zonal architecture. Each company will continue to separately operate their respective vehicle businesses. Rivian's stock jumped higher by 50% in extended trading, adding around USD 6bln to its market cap. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

CAC

LVMH (MV FP) - Co. has acquired L'Epee 1839, a luxury Swiss watchmaker. (Newswires)

Vinci (DG FP) - Completed the acquisition of 50.01% of Edinburgh airport for GBP 1.27bln. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Aena (AENA SM) - Upwardly revises 2024 passenger traffic growth forecast to 8.3% above 2023 levels, traffic is performing better than expected thanks to strong and steady demand. Reasons for this are, currently, limited to 2024 and should not be mimetically transferred to the rest of the strategic planning period. (Newswires)

BioMerieux (BIM IM) - Co. has received US FDA special 510(k) clearance and for Biofire Spotfire respiratory/sore throat panel mini. (Newswires)

Delivery Names - FedEx (FDX): shares gained 13.9% in extended trading after the freight and logistics company reported a profit beat, issued constructive guidance, and it said it was will carry out an assessment of its freight trucking business (which generated revenues of USD 2.3bln in the quarter). It will also cut costs by USD 2.2bln, and carry out share buybacks. Bloomberg said the update was evidence that CEO Raj Subramaniam's execution of its transformation plan was proceeding well; Reuters said that the update helped investors dismiss concerns that the trends that drove a 10% gain in FedEx shares over the last year were diminishing. Q4 adj. EPS 5.41 (exp. 5.35), Q4 revenue USD 22.10bln (exp. 22.07bln). It returned USD 3.8bln to shareholders through repurchases and dividends during FY24, and expects to repurchase USD 2.5bln of common stock in FY25. Management sees FY25 adj. EPS between USD 20.00-22.00 (exp. 20.85), FY25 revenue growth of low-to-mid single-digits, and FY25 capex of USD 5.20bln (exp. 5.55bln). (Newswires)

EDPR (EDPR PL) - Secures 133MW of solar capacity within Europe. (Newswires)

Iberdrola (IBE SM) - Issued a green bond for CHF 335mln. (Newswires)

Iren (IREN IM) - Chairman says they do not expect to find a new CEO until the current board expires next year, decision will be up to the shareholders. (Newswires)

Tech Names - DigiTimes reports that Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang is reportedly concerned about the company's business development, with slow data centre expansion possibly impacting chip sales. (DigiTimes)

UCB (UCB BB) - Briviact has been approved in Japan for the treatment of focal onset seizures. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Zurich Insurance (ZURN SW) - AIG (AIG) it to sell the global individual personal travel business to Zurich, for USD 600mln. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

Zealand Pharma. (ZEAL DC) - Completion of an upsized equity offering of 8.35mln new ordinary shares, raising gross proceeds of DKK 7bln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.39% at 5,469, NDX +1.16% at 19,701, DJI -0.76% at 39,112, RUT -0.42% at 2,022.

SECTORS: Real Estate -1.41%, Materials -1.28%, Utilities -0.98%, Industrials -0.84%, Financials -0.83%, Consumer Staples -0.65%, Health -0.31%, Consumer Discretionary -0.28%, Energy +0.14%, Technology +1.79%, Communication Services +1.85%.

SoftBank (SFTBY) - SoftBank Group plans to launch a Japan-focused AI medical service in partnership with Tempus AI, aimed at analysing personal medical data, including genetics, Nikkei reports. The venture will be capitalise with JPY 30bln yen, and aims to begin operations within 1-2 years.

26 Jun 2024 - 06:50- Fixed IncomeData- Source: Newsquawk