Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 3rd April 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks mostly tumbled in the aftermath of the 'Liberation Day' tariff announcements in which US President Trump unveiled reciprocal tariffs which were mostly set at around half of the rate that individual countries were charging the US with the actual baseline at 10%, while he also announced 25% auto tariffs. ASX 200 declined with the index dragged lower by underperformance in tech and energy, while there were comments from Australian PM Albanese who said they will not impose reciprocal tariffs and will continue to make the case for these unjustified tariffs to be removed from exporters. Nikkei 225 suffered heavy losses with the index firmly beneath the 35,000 level after the US announced 24% tariffs for Japan, while notable losses were seen in the financial sector and automakers were also hit by the 25% auto tariffs. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were pressured after US President Trump imposed a 34% tariff on China, on top of the existing 20% tariffs, for a total 54% tariff rate which saw the Hong Kong benchmark conform to the broad selling in the Asia-Pac region although the mainland initially showed some resilience with downside somewhat cushioned after stronger-than-expected Chinese Caixin Services PMI data.

China Tariffs - Trump signed an Executive Order ending duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value goods from China and Hong Kong, effective May 2nd. Goods valued at or under USD 800 will now be subject to duties, with postal items facing a 30% duty or USD 25/item, increasing to USD 50 after June 1st.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -0.64% at 22,390, FTSE 100: -0.34% at 8,605, CAC 40: -0.22% at 7,859, Euro Stoxx 50: -0.36% at 5,301, AEX: -0.41% at 902, IBEX 35: +0.23% at 13,351, FTSE MIB: -0.31% at 38,436, SMI: -0.79% at 12,589, PSI: +0.11% at 6,958

SECTORS: Utilities 0.24%, Consumer Disc -0.08%, Financials -0.21%, Consumer Stpl -0.30%, Materials -0.39%, IT -0.49%, Industrials -0.69%, Energy -0.72%, Telecoms -0.93%, Healthcare -1.81%

FTSE 100

BP (BP/ LN) – FT reports that today the Co. will announce that production has started on a new gas field in Trinidad. (FT)

BAE Systems (BA/ LN) - Awarded USD 70mln contract for future Virgina payload module missile tubes. (Newswires)

Ex-dividends - Barratt Redrow (BTRW LN), InterContinental Hotels (IHG LN), Mondi (MNDI LN), IMI (IMI LN), Rentokil (RTO LN), Phoenix (PHNX LN), Smiths (SMIN LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payouts. (dividenddata)

Hikma (HIK LN) - Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA's liraglutide 6 mg/1 ml injections available as of April 2. (Newswires)

Rio Tinto (RIO LN) - Co. is investing about AUD 150mln to buy 100 locally built rail cars. (Newswires)

Rolls Royce (RR/ LN) - Co. is in talks with the UK Government regarding taxpayer support to help fund the development of a GBP 3bln engine for narrow-body projects, according to the FT, (FT)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Alphawave (AWE LN) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

Antofagasta (ANTO LN) initiated with Buy at Berenberg

Travis Perkins (TPK LN) upgraded to Buy from Add at Peel Hunt

DAX

Volkswagen (VOW GY) - Co. plans to add an 'Import Fee' to the stickers on its cars impacted by the 25% US vehicle tariff and has temporarily halted rail shipments of vehicles from Mexico, according to WSJ. (WSJ)

Siemens (SIE GY) - Co. confirms it is to acquire Dotmatics for USD 5.1bln. (Newswires) Siemens Healthineers (SHL GY) and Siemens Energy (ENR GY) both down 2-5%

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Hugo Boss (BOSS GY) - Frasers (FRAS LN) furthers investment in Hugo Boss to 19.2%. (Newswires)

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Altus Renewables places order with Nordex Group for 40 MW in Germany. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Leg Immobilien (LEG GY) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

CAC

Alcohol Names - Sales of French wine/spirits are expected to fall by a minimum of 20% in the US after the Trump tariff measures, according to FEVS (French wine/spirit export body). (Newswires)

Sanofi (SAN FP) - Rilzabrutinib granted orphan drug designation in the US for two rare diseases with no approved medicines. FDA decision date set for Aug 29. 2025. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Euronext (ENX FP) - Publishes dividend payment schedule for 2025; to distribute 50% of 2025 net profit which amounts to EUR 292.8mln. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Trade - Trump announces 10% baseline tariff and reciprocal tariffs on "worst offenders"; retains Mexico/Canada fentanyl/immigration tariffs. China will face a tariff of 34%, the EU a tariff of 20%, India 26%, whereas the UK will face a 10% tariff. Regarding China, CNBC's Javers says the White House Press secretary said the 34% China tariffs are on top of the 20% tariffs already announced on China, bringing the total to 54%. On autos, a 25% tariff will be imposed on all foreign-made cars sold into the US. Reuters analysis notes that US President Trump's 25% auto tariffs will extend to nearly USD 600bln worth of auto parts and computer imports.

Tariff Impact - Wedbush said that the Trump tariff announcement was "worse than the worst case scenario" for Wall Street; Wedbush said tech stocks like Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA) will face "major pressure" on the announcement, as the worries about demand destruction and supply chains. Meanwhile, Citi estimates the tariff announcements will drive a 9% negative impact to Apple's (AAPL) total gross margins as a result of the 34% reciprocal tariff rate, given it has 90% of its manufacturing in China (Citi kept AAPL at a Buy rating, with a USD 275 PT).

ACS (ACS SM) - To propose capital increase of up to EUR 600mln. (Newswires)

China-exposed Stocks - Chinese Caixin Composite PMI (Mar) 51.8 (Prev. 51.5). Chinese Caixin Services PMI (Mar) 51.9 vs. Exp. 51.5 (Prev. 51.4). (Newswires)

DSM-Firmenich (DSFIR NA) - Completed shareholding in Andre Pectin to 90.5%; financial details undisclosed. (Newswires)

EU Tariffs - European Commission President Von der Leyen says we are prepared to respond and are preparing further counter measures on US tariffs if negotiations fail. She said EU have always been ready to negotiate with the US and are ready to respond. She said "we are preparing further packages of measures to protect our interests." (Newswires)

MFE (MFEA IM) - Germany's BaFin sets bid price on Prosiebensat 1 Media (PSM GY) at EUR 5.74 per share. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Holcim (HOLN SW) - Acquired Compania Minera Luren to expand in Latin America. (Newswires)

Novartis (NOVN SW) - Novartis received FDA accelerated approval for Vanrafia (atrasentan) to reduce proteinuria in adults with primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy at risk of rapid progression. The approval is based on Phase III ALIGN study.

Roche (ROG SW) - 'Musette' trial did not meet primary endpoint of showing additional benefit from higher dosage in MS drug Ocrevus

Sika (SIKA SW) - Expands presence in Ecuador with a new plant. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX +0.67% at 5,671, NDX +0.75% at 19,582, DJI +0.56% at 42,225, RUT +1.65% at 2,045

SECTORS: Consumer Staples -0.18%, Communication Services -0.14%, Energy +0.07%, Utilities +0.44%, Real Estate +0.47%, Technology +0.56%, Health +0.63%, Materials +0.79%, Financials +0.89%, Industrials +0.93%, Consumer Discretionary +2.02%.

Amazon (AMZN) - Co. said to be making a bid to buy TikTok in the US, according to NYT. (NYT)

ByteDance - The White House is close to approving a deal for US investors, including Blackstone (BX) and Andreessen Horowitz, to acquire TikTok’s US unit from ByteDance before an April 5 deadline, FT reports. ByteDance would retain just under 20%, while Oracle (ORCL) would secure TikTok’s US data as part of the deal. The deal’s structure and algorithm control remain unresolved. The report also adds that Amazon Jeff Bezos’s Amazon (AMZN) made an eleventh-hour bid, but existing investors remained the frontrunners. Meanwhile, the WSJ reports that AppLovin (APP) has bid for TikTok and discussed backing from Steve Wynn, joining other suitors ahead of the April 5th deadline to sell or shut down the app. (FT)

Google (GOOG) - Co. in advanced talks to rent Nvidia (NVDA) AI servers from CoreWeave (CRWV), via The Information. (The Information)

Meta (META) - CEO Zuckerberg lobbies Trump to avoid Meta antitrust trial, WSJ reports. (WSJ)

03 Apr 2025 - 06:54- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk