Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 29th July 2024

29th July 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks traded mostly higher as the region resumed the momentum following last Friday's gains on Wall St heading into a pivotal week of risk events, while markets also shrugged off the rising Israel-Hezbollah tensions. ASX 200 was led higher by early outperformance in tech and telecoms, while all sectors traded in the green. Nikkei 225 outperformed and gapped above 38,000 at the open as markets second-guessed whether the BoJ will hike rates. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. were somewhat varied as the former conformed to the improved global risk sentiment, while the mainland index lagged after stalling just shy of the 2,900 level and failed to benefit from improved industrial profits.

Country Garden Holdings (2007 HK) - Lawyer said they expect to publish an offshore debt restructuring proposal in October 2024 and expect sanction of scheme arrangement in early 2025, while the liquidation hearing in HK court was adjourned to 20th January 2025. (Newswires)

Xpeng (9868 HK/ XPEV) CEO said the Co. is to launch a Robotaxi Model in 2026

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: +0.68% at 18,423, FTSE 100: +1.21% at 8,286, CAC 40: +1.22% at 7,518, Euro Stoxx 50: +1.03% at 4,861, AEX: +0.90% at 907, IBEX 35: +0.18% at 11,166, FTSE MIB: +0.12% at 33,812, SMI: +1.11% at 12,240, PSI: -0.73% at 6,670.

SECTORS: Industrials 1.42%, Consumer Disc 1.17%, IT 1.17%, Healthcare 0.88%, Utilities 0.63%, Materials 0.60%, Financials 0.58%, Energy 0.53%, Consumer Stpl 0.50%, Telecoms 0.17%

FTSE 100

Anglo American (AAL LN) - Shareholder Ninety One (1.5% stake) said the Co. should shutter and abandon its fertilizer mine in North Yorkshire as it will not provide a desirable return on investment, whilst the project will also struggle to find buyers. (CityAM/Times)

Mining Names - Teck Resources (TECK) is reportedly drawing M&A attention from the biggest miners in a rush for copper, according to Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

UK Firms - UK Chancellor Reeves is to accuse the former Conservative government on Monday of committing to billions of pounds of spending that has not been properly budgeted for, according to Reuters. The Telegraph reports that Reeves will attempt to fill the "black hole" by selling off land and building sites, whilst also banning the use of non-essential consultants. CityAM notes that the Treasury has refused to deny rumours it is planning to hike capital gains tax today. (Reuters/CityAM). UK ports are to demand compensation if post-Brexit trade barriers with the EU are reduced after they were forced to spend millions of pounds building border-control facilities, according to FT. Separately, Trade between the UK and Germany is starting to recover from the post-Brexit decline, according to FT citing official figures. which showed that the UK was Germany's ninth-largest trading partner during most of H1. (FT)

Vodafone (VOD LN) - CEO Della Valle has remarked that the Labour party will fail to attain its manifesto commitment of nationwide 5G if their merger with CK Hutchinson’s (0001 HK) Three UK is blocked. (Guardian) The deal is currently under an in-depth investigation by the CMA, over pricing concerns.

OTHER UK COMPANIES

IDS (IDS LN) - Czech billionaire Kretinsky’s GBP 3.6bln bid for Royal Mail is under threat as city investors accounting for over a fifth of IDS plan to vote against the offer in September. (Mail on Sunday/CityAM)

Ocado (OCDO LN) - CEO Steiner said he does not currently want to sell their remaining stake in the online JV with **M&S (MKS LN). (FT)

BROKER MOVES

Drax (DRX LN) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

DAX

Merck (MRK GY) - Q2 Results (EUR): Net sales 5.352bln (exp. 5.248bln). EBITDA 1.509bln (exp. 1.398bln). Raised guidance; now sees FY net sales of 20.7-22.1bln (exp. 21.29bln), EBITDA expected to grow around 5.8-6.4bln for FY (exp. 5.991bln). (Newswires) Shares seen opening +2%.

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Stabilus (STM GY) - Q3 (EUR): Revenue 350.7mln (exp. 447mln). Sees FY revenue 1.3-1.35bln (exp. 1.484bln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Evotec (EVT GY) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Hugo Boss (BOSS GY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel

CAC

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Euronext (ENX FP) - CEO said a combination with “any large exchange in Europe” could result in “a lot of synergies”, adding that they are monitoring situations and are ready to “strike or jump on any situation that becomes actionable”. (FT)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

European firms - European firms and governments are pushing back against Brussels' plan to screen private companies' investments in China, according to SCMP. (SCMP) Separately, Brussels is drawing up a two-step strategy to deal with a Trump presidency. (FT)

Heineken (HEIA NA) - H1 (EUR): Revenue 17.823bln (prev. 17.436bln Y/Y). Operating Profit 1.542bln (prev. 1.939bln). Total beer volume 118.2mhl (Co. exp. 120.4mhl). Reported a EUR 874mln impairment on investment in CR Beer. Co. said, "Reflecting our confidence in delivery and commitment to invest behind growth and in future-proofing our business, we update our full-year outlook to grow operating profit (beia) organically in the range of 4% to 8%." (Heineken IR)

Philips (PHIA NA) - Q2 (EUR): Revenue 4.5bln (exp. 4.448bln). Adj. EBITA Margin 11.1% (exp. 9.7%). Operating Income 816mln (exp. 662mln). Co. still sees FY FCF between 900-1.1bln. (Newswires)

Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) - Cautious mention in Bloomberg; notes that under CEO Carlos Tavares, Stellantis is struggling to sell Jeeps despite high SUV demand. Poor sales of Jeeps, declining Ram pickup performance, and limited Chrysler models have led to a significant drop in earnings, and a 40% stock decline since March. Tavares’s focus on profit margins resulted in high prices and increased inventory, contributing to these issues. (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Roche (ROG SW) - CEO Schinecker said their first obesity drug will arrive on the market “significantly faster than people are expecting”, perhaps as soon as 2028. Separately, CEO says they could have around seven drugs from the 2023 acquisition of Carnot. (FT)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Sandoz (SDZ SW) initiated with Overweight at Barclays

SCANDINAVIA

Saab (SAABB SS) - CEO Johansson said Europe needs to significantly increase financial backing for the industry, remarking that the EUR 1.5bln outlined by the European Commission needs to instead be in the region of EUR 100bln. (FT)

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +1.1% at 5,459, NDX +1% at 19,024, DJIA +1.6% at 40,589, RUT +1.7% at 2,260

SECTORS: Energy +0.36%, Health +0.57%, Consumer Staples +0.89%, Communication Services +0.91%, Utilities +0.99%, Technology +1.09%, Consumer Discretionary +1.17%, Financials +1.49%, Real Estate +1.67%, Materials +1.68%, Industrials +1.72%.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) - Abbott Laboratories has been ordered to pay USD 495mln in compensation and damages after a jury found that the company failed to warn about the risk of a bowel disease associated with its Similac formula for premature infants, WSJ reports. Following the verdict, Abbott's shares dropped by approximately 5% in extended-hours trading. Abbott has stated that it disagrees with the verdict. (Newswires)

Apple (AAPL) - Co's AI features will arrive later than expected, with sources suggesting Apple Intelligence is to arrive as part of software updates in October, giving developers more time to fix bugs. Testing will be available as soon as this week via iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 betas. (Bloomberg)

Crypto - US Republican presidential candidate Trump said he wants crypto to be mined and made in America, while he will create a strategic national Bitcoin stockpile if elected and it will be his policy to keep 100% of all Bitcoin the US holds in the future if he is elected. (Newswires)

29 Jul 2024 - 06:47- Rumour- Source: Newsquawk