Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 4th January 2024

4th January 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks traded lower across the board as the risk aversion continued to seep from Wall Street despite the lack of a clear catalyst. ASX 200 was the relative outperformer, with losses cushioned by the energy sector following the rise in crude prices. Nikkei 225 returned from its long break and caught up with the losses in the region seen yesterday, although the downside was limited amid the recent weakening in the JPY. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were both lower but the former saw shallower losses due to gains in oil majors, whilst the latter failed to benefit from the improvement in Chinese Caixin Services PMI, although the release suggested domestic and foreign demand remain insufficient.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX -1.38% at 16,479.92, FTSE 100 -0.51% at 7,650.30, CAC 40 -1.58% at 7,380.06, Euro Stoxx 50 -1.43% at 4,432.75, IBEX 35 -1.26% at 10,038.10, FTSE MIB -1.39% at 30,013.92, SMI +0.23% at 11,136.10.

SECTORS: Healthcare 1.14%, Consumer Stpl 0.64%, Energy 0.40%, Telecoms 0.24%, Utilities -0.32%, Financials -1.06%, Industrials -1.82%, Consumer Disc -2.01%, Materials -2.10%, IT -2.11%

FTSE 100

Ex-Dividends - F&C Investment Trust (FCIT LN), Auto Trader (AUTO LN), Experian (EXPN LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payout. (Newswires)

Vodafone (VOD LN) - Labour shadow ministers are putting pressure on the government over a potential GBP 18bln merger deal between Vodafone and CK Hutchinson's (0001 HK) Three in the UK, via The Times. (The Times)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Man Group (EMG LN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Panmure Gordon

DAX

BMW (BMW GY) - BMW of North America reports that BMW sold 362,244 vehicles in 2023, setting a new annual record for the brand in the US; sales of EVs nearly tripled in 2023, now accounting for 12.5% of total sales. Q4 US vehicle sales +6% Y/Y to 107.9k. (Newswires)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Evotec AG (EVT GY) - Announces CEO transition with Dr Werner Lanthaler to step down and Mario Polywka, former COO, to step in as interim CEO. Confirms FY23 adj. EBITDA EUR 70-90mln and Revenue EUR 765-805mln. In other news, Evotec and Owkin enter an AI-powered strategic partnership to accelerate therapeutics pipeline in oncology and I&I. (Newswires) Shares seen -7% in pre-market trade

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Receives an order for 106 MW from Spain. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Rational (RAA GY) initiated with Overweight at Barclays

Sartorius (SRT GY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

Wacker Chemie (WCH GY) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel Nicolaus

CAC

Alstom (ALO FP) - Signs contract with the Royal Commission of AlUla, Saudi Arabia for the Tramway in KSA worth EUR 500mln. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Casino (CO FP) - Fairness opinion for existing shareholders on the Casino Group's financial restructuring project, report concludes the restructuring is fair to shareholders. After the plans implementation, value of 100 shares would be around EUR 5, according to an independent expert. Kretinsky-led consortium would own/control 53.7% of share capital, with current shareholders diluted to around 0.3%. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Safran (SAF FP) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein

Worldline (WLN FP) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

PAN EUROPE

Auto Names - Italian government intends to offer as much as EUR 13.7k to low income households which exchange Euro 2 vehicles for EVs, via FT citing a concept note. (FT) Euro 2 vehicles had an implementation date of 1996 and have CO emission standards of 2.2g/km and 1.0g/km for petrol and diesel respectively.

Defence Names/Leonardo (LDO IM) - CEO Cingolani says the EU should streamlines its defence industry and that defence should be looked at from a global perspective, rather than nations trying to form their own champions. (FT)

Gas Names - Italy regulated household gas prices down 6.7% M/M in December (vs down 1.3% M/M in Nov), down 29.9% in 2023, according to ARERA. (ARERA)

Telefonica (TEF SM) - Says it has reached an agreement with unions to lay off up to 3,421 employees in Spain. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Endesa (ELE SM) upgraded to Buy from Hold at SocGen

Grifols (GRF SM) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

Generali (G IM) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley

Leonardo (LDO IM) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Bernstein

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Geberit (GEBN SW) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs

Zurich Insurance (ZURN SW) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

SCANDINAVIA

Equinor (EQNR NO) - And BP (BP/ LN) have terminated their power agreement with the State of New York for 1.3 GW wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean, due to economic circumstances that made the Empire Wind 2 project being unviable, via Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

Maersk (MAERSKB DC) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.80% at 4,704, NDX -1.06% at 16,368, DJIA -0.76% at 37,430, RUT -2.66% at 1,959.

SECTORS: Energy +1.52%, Utilities +0.39%, Communication Services +0.1%, Health -0.14%, Consumer Staples -0.71%, Financials -0.81%, Technology -1.02%, Materials -1.11%, Industrials -1.51%, Consumer Discretionary -1.88%, Real Estate -2.35%.

Ford (F) - 2024 F-150 Lightning Pro prices raised by USD 5,000 to USD 54,995 and 2024 F-150 lightning XLT 311A lifted by USD 10,000 to USD 64,995. 2024 F-150 Lightning Platinum prices decreased by USD 7,000 to USD 84,995. (Newswires)

Intel (INTC) - Says Sandra L. Rivera will cease to be the head of Intel's Data Center and AI Group, effective as of December 31, 2023. (Newswires)

04 Jan 2024 - 06:51- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk