Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 26th February 2024

26th February 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks were mostly subdued amid a lack of fresh catalysts ahead of month-end and this week's key data releases including the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, while weekend macro newsflow was light and dominated by geopolitical commentary. ASX 200 finished flat after failing to sustain its early gains with price action indecisive amid a slew of earnings. Nikkei 225 outperformed on its return from the long weekend and extended on record levels. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. marginally declined with weakness seen in Hong Kong consumer stocks, while the mainland was also pressured amid ongoing frictions after China's MOFCOM slammed the latest USTR report on China's WTO compliance.

Alibaba (9988 HK) - Co. affiliate Ant outbids Citadel Securities for Credit Suisse's China unit. (Newswires)

Japanese Stocks - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) has raised stakes in five major Japanese trading houses to about 9%, it was learned on Saturday. (Nippon)

TSMC (2330 TT/TSM) - Japan intends to provide roughly JPY 730bln in subsidies for TSMC's second Kumamoto plant, according to Nikkei. (Nikkei)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: +0.28% at 17,419.33, FTSE 100: +0.28% at 7,706.28, CAC 40: +0.70% at 7,966.68, Euro Stoxx 50: +0.35% at 4,872.25, IBEX 35: -0.08% at 10,130.60, FTSE MIB: +1.03% at 32,688.00, SMI: +0.95% at 11,494.90.

SECTORS: Consumer Disc 0.72%, Healthcare 0.67%, Materials 0.57%, Financials 0.53%, Industrials 0.49%, Consumer Stpl 0.35%, Telecoms 0.02%, Energy -0.03%, Utilities -0.16%, IT -0.31%

FTSE 100

AstraZeneca (AZN LN) - Fasenra phase III EGPA trial met the primary endpoint. (Newswires) Separately, MANDARA Phase III data published in New England Journal of Medicine show remission is an achievable goal in eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) with FASENRA. (businesswire)

Next (NXT LN) - Co. is said to have hired administrators regarding a deal to purchase some of The Body Shop's assets, according to Sky News sources. Next has reportedly been monitoring the body shop "for some time". Sky News suggests "One obstacle to any deal with The Body Shop may lie in the fact that its brand and intellectual property (IP) assets are not part of the administration process." (Sky News)

Retail Names - Hopes of a reversal in the UK's "tourist tax" in the upcoming budget are "diminishing" after the financial secretary to the Treasury warned of the complexities of such a move, according to The Times. (Times) Note, it was previously reported via the Guardian that the "tourist tax" had been a reason for the slide in Watches of Switzerland (WOSG LN) shares in January.

OTHER UK COMPANIES

FirstGroup (FGP LN)/Transport Names - Peer Go-Ahead's CEO has denied reports that it could be up for sale after a report via the Times that Canadian pension fund OPTrust is looking to offload public transport interests including Go-Ahead. (CityAM)

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Fresenius (FRE GY) - Co. has received US FDA NDA Supplemental 22 approval for Intralipid 30%. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Lufthansa (LHA GY) - Co. said it remains interested in a “quick agreement” with union Verdi regarding ground crew wage negotiations. Follows Verdi saying it is seeking a meeting sooner than the agreed mid-March for a deal; however, the prerequisite for this is a significantly improved offer from Lufthansa before hand. (Newswires) -2.0% in pre-market trade.

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP) - United Airlines (UAL) is in advanced talks to acquire additional Airbus SE A321neo aircraft to replace delayed Boeing 737 Max 10 orders, Bloomberg reported. Negotiations involve lessors and Airbus to secure production slots amid uncertainties - some of the slots have been freed up after JetBlue Airways (JBLU) and Spirit Airlines (SAVE) postponed A320-series deliveries. (Bloomberg)

Mercedes-Benz Group (MBG GY) – High ranking Co. executives reportedly held a mandaroty anti-union meeting this week at its Alabama plant, according to Bloomberg citing the union. CEO of Mercedes-Benz US International warned unionisation would lead to work stoppages, costly dues, and obstacles to conflict resolution. (Bloomberg)

Saint-Gobain (SGO FP) - Co. has entered a definitive agreement to buy CSR (CSR AT) at AUD 9/shr after the offer was made last Wednesday. (Bloomberg)

Sanofi (SAN FP) - Press Release: Phase 2 results demonstrate that rilzabrutinib rapidly reduced itch severity and significantly improved disease activity in adults with chronic spontaneous urticaria. (Sanofi)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Scor (SCOR FP) – S&P downgraded rating one notch to “A-1” from “A-1+”; outlook stable. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Auto Names - General Motors (GM) is seeking to pair up with luxury brands for a new European push, according to Bloomberg. (Newswires)

Ferrovial (FER SM) - Heathrow airport has denied its plans for a third runway have been shelved following delays. (CityAM) Reminder, late-2023 Co. announced plans to sell its 25% stake in Heathrow though "tag-along" conditions for other shareholders mean there is not certain this will occur.

Fincantieri (FCT IM)/ Defence Names - CEO notes of increasing demand for warships. (Newswires)

Post NL (PNL NA) - Q4 (EUR): Revenue 889mln (exp. 889mln), EPS 0.101 (exp. 0.11), Operating Income 72mln. FY dividend of 0.09/shr (exp. 0.098/shr). Parcel volumes +0.9% in Q4, continued strong growth from international customers. FY24 guidance: assumes domestic parcel volume to grow by 2-4%, in-line with market growth. (Newswires)

Ryanair (RYA ID) - Co. is demanding compensation from Boeing (BA) for the deteriorating situation over aircraft deliveries, delays which have resulted in the Co. lowering its passenger forecasts and warn of potential cancellations. (FT)

Telecom Names - EU Commissioner Breton is reportedly to announce new subsidies for telecoms and plans for the bloc to allow more mergers, via Politico Playbook citing a speech draft. Measures include: cross-border consolidation incentivisation, supporting a faster network rollout, no “magic number” regarding historic opposition by the bloc on 4-3 mergers. (Politico) Breton is due to speak at the MWC Barcelona event from 09:50GMT onwards.

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Roche (ROG SW) - New England Journal of Medicine publishes Phase III data showing Xolair significantly reduced allergic reactions across multiple foods in people with food allergies. (Roche)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Orion B (ORNBV FH) downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.03% at 5,088, NDX -0.37% at 17,937, DJIA +0.16% at 39,131, RUT +0.14% at 2,016.

SECTORS: Utilities +0.71%, Materials +0.58%, Industrials +0.5%, Health +0.45%, Financials +0.33%, Consumer Staples +0.3%, Real Estate +0.1%, Communication Services -0.21%, Technology -0.27%, Consumer Discretionary -0.34%, Energy -0.58%.

Ford (F) - Co. is said to have halted shipments of the F-150 Lightening 2024 model amid an undisclosed quality issue, according to Reuters. (Reuters)

Intel (INTC) - Intel announced its future Intel® Xeon® processor with built-in AI acceleration, code-named Granite Rapids-D, and highlighted first-call validation with key partners. Intel also announced its new Edge Platform, a modular, open software platform enabling enterprises to develop, deploy, run, secure, and manage edge and AI applications at scale with cloud-like simplicity. Separately, Intel Corporation disclosed two major updates to drive footprint, power and total cost of ownership (TCO) savings across 5G core networks: the preview of its Intel® Xeon® next-gen processors, code-named Sierra Forest, with up to 288 Efficient-cores (E-cores), and the commercial availability of the Intel® Infrastructure Power Manager (IPM) software for 5G core. (Intel)

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) - Moody's says the hack against UnitedHealth Group is credit negative. (Newswires)

26 Feb 2024 - 06:49- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk