Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 7th December 2023

7th December 2023

ASIA

Asia-Pac stocks declined following the weak handover from Wall St where risk sentiment soured after more soft labour data, while participants also digested mixed Chinese trade figures which showed the first expansion in China’s exports since April although imports surprisingly contracted. ASX 200 (-0.1%) was subdued amid notable underperformance in energy following the recent drop in oil prices to multi-month lows and with mixed trade data from both Australia and its largest trading partner. Nikkei 255 (-1.8%) was the worst hit and slipped back beneath the 33,000 level amid headwinds from a firmer currency and higher yields. Hang Seng (-1.2%) and Shanghai Comp. (-0.2%) were somewhat varied with the mainland choppy after mixed Chinese trade data in which exports expanded but the surprise contraction in imports suggested weaker domestic demand, while the Hong Kong benchmark suffered after Moody’s revised its credit outlook for the special administrative region to negative.

Nissan (7201 JT) - Says its systems were subject to a cyber incident in Australia and New Zealand. (Newswires)

Woodside (WDS AT) / Santos (STO AT) - AFR notes rumours that Woodside and Santos may consider merging, although Cos have declined to comment. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX +0.75% at 16,656.44, FTSE 100 +0.34% at 7,515.38, CAC 40 +0.66% at 7,435.99, Euro Stoxx 50 +0.70% at 4,483.75, IBEX 35 +0.19% at 10,258.10, FTSE MIB +0.81% at 30,326.29, SMI +0.30% at 10,997.80.

SECTORS: Industrials 1.12%, Consumer Disc 1.12%, Materials 1.06%, Financials 1.01%, IT 0.89%, Utilities 0.69%, Telecoms 0.59%, Healthcare -0.33%, Consumer Stpl -0.56%, Energy -1.25%

FTSE 100

Airliners - The Serious Fraud Officer has launched a criminal investigation into suspected fraud at a UK-based aircraft part supplier, AOG. The Co. has supplied Ryanair (RYA ID), American Airlines (AAL), and Delta (DAL), amongst others.

Ex-Dividends - Next (NXT LN) & JD (JD/ LN) will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend payout. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

THG (THG LN) - Activist investor Kelso Group has stepped up its campaign by urging THG to confirm break-up plans and outline proposals for a demerger of its three divisions, via The Times. (The Times)

BROKER MOVES

IAG (IAG LN) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

Kingspan (KGP LN) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

Vodafone (VOD LN) downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BNP Paribas

DAX

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Deutsche Lufthansa (LHA GY) downgraded to Underweight from Overweight at JP Morgan

CAC

Danone (BN FP) - Enters exclusive negotiations for the sale of Michel Et Augustin; closing expected in the next coming months and subject to conditions. (Newswires)

Renault (RNO FP) - Seeks to cut production cost per vehicle by 30% for ICE vehicles and 50% for EV by 2027. (Newswires)

Sanofi (SAN FP) - Announces that R&D will lead to a 50% increase in the number of Phase 3 studies between 2023 and 2025, creating the greatest pipeline momentum in Sanofi's history. Separately, Sarclisa® (isatuximab) Phase 3 trial met primary endpoint of progression free survival in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma not eligible for transplant. Elsewhere, CEO said that during the earnings announcement he should have done a better job of explaining that almost all of the increase in R&D investment is on development. (Newswires/FT)

Thales (HO FP) - Thales Alenia space and PT Len Industri signs multi-satellite pact to provide radar and optical imagery. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Ipsen (IPN FP) - Provides new mid-term outlook. Targets FY23-27 total-sales average growth of at least 7% a year. In other news, confirms US FDA grants priority review for NDA for elafibranor for the treatment of rare cholestatic liver disease. PDUFA target date for June 10th. (Newswires)

Saint Gobain (SGO FP) - Has reached an agreement with SOPREMA for the sale of a majority stake in its polyisocyanurate insulation (PIR) activity in the United Kingdom under the Celotex brand. (Saint Gobain)

BROKER MOVES

Air France (AF FP) downgraded to Underweight from Overweight at JP Morgan

Worldline (WLN FP) downgraded to Underperform from Hold at Jefferies

PAN EUROPE

Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) - Sees to void California vehicle emissions deal with rival automakers. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Adyen (ADYEN NA) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

SMI

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

ams-Osram (AMS SW) - Announces preliminary results of exercise period in fully underwritten rights issue with 99% take-up rights; successfully sells remaining shares following its rights issue, securing EUR 808mln gross proceeds from rights issue. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Sika (SIKA SW) upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan

The Swatch Group (UHR SW) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

Boliden (BOL SS) downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Rockwool (ROCKB DC) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan

SSAB (SSABA SS) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley

SEB (SEBA SS) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Keefe Bruyette

Telia (TELIA SS) upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BNP Paribas

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.39% at 4,549, NDX -0.56% at 15,788, DJI -0.19% at 36,054, RUT -0.21% at 1,852.

SECTORS: Utilities +1.38%, Industrials +0.47%, Health +0.06%, Consumer Discretionary -0.04%, Materials -0.16%, Consumer Staples -0.22%, Real Estate -0.34%, Communication Services -0.47%, Financials -0.5%, Technology -0.93%, Energy -1.64%.

AMD (AMD) - Forecasts AI accelerator market of USD 400bln by 2027; launches mi300x accelerators, the highest performing chip. Says its new chip has equal training performance to the Nvidia (NVDA) H100 chip; AMDs new chip has 2.4x memory of the H100 and 1.6 times memory bandwidth of the H100. Microsoft (MSFT) says it is to have previews of AMD-based services available today. (Newswires)

Chevron (CVX) - Announces USD 16bln 2024 capex budget with upstream spending expected at about USD 14bln and downstream spending expected around USD 1.5bln. (Newswires)

GameStop Corp (GME) - Q3 2023 (USD): EPS -0.01 (exp. -0.08), Revenue 1.08bln (exp. 1.18bln). (Newswires) Shares seen -5.7% in after-hours trade

07 Dec 2023 - 06:51- Exclusive- Source: Newsquawk