Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 8th October 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks were ultimately mixed after the negative lead from Wall St amid firmer yields and higher oil prices, while geopolitical concerns lingered as participants braced for Israel's response to Iran and China's NDRC press conference was met with disappointment. ASX 200 slightly weakened amid losses in the commodity-related sectors but with downside limited by the improvement in consumer and business surveys. Nikkei 225 retreated amid a firmer currency while the data was varied as Household Spending topped forecast and Labour Cash earnings slowed. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp diverged in which the Hong Kong benchmark suffered heavy losses as it took a back seat to the return of mainland bourses, while price action was volatile for the mainland index with a double-digit percentage gain seen at the open on return from the National Day Golden Week holiday. However, the index nearly gave back all of its gains after the NDRC press conference was met with disappointment with very little new announced regarding stimulus, although mainland stocks then caught a second wind again but are well off their opening highs.

Foxconn (2317 TT) - Co. said it is building the world's largest manufacturing facility for NVIDIA's (NVDA) GB200. (Newswires)

LG Electronics (066570 KS) - Prelim. Q3 (KRW) oper. profit 751bln (exp. 1.0tln), rev. 22.18tln (exp. 22.27tln). (Newswires)

LG Energy Solution (373220 KS) - Prelim. Q3 (KRW) oper. profit 448bln (exp. 438bln). (Newswires)

Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) - Prelim. Q3 (KRW) oper. profit 9.1tln (exp. 10.3tln), rev. 79tln (exp. 82.2tln). Co. said its hip business' earnings fall vs Q2 due to one-off cost. Demand for servers, HBM solid. Memory business affected by inventory adjustment from some mobile chip customers and Chinese memory chip makers' legacy product supply increase. HBM3E supplies to a major customer delayed. Flagship smartphone sales improve. Co. apologises for missing earnings expectations. (Newswires)

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: Euro Stoxx 50 +0.29% at 4,931, DAX -0.14% at 19,012, CAC 40 +0.46% at 7,510, FTSE 100 +0.28% at 8,304, SMI +0.03% at 11,951, FTSE MIB +0.66% at 33,791, IBEX 35 +0.49% at 11,655, AEX +0.11% at 908.

SECTORS: Energy 1.14%, Consumer Disc 0.91%, Healthcare 0.83%, Financials 0.35%, Telecoms 0.21%, Industrials 0.00%, Materials -0.09%, Consumer Stpl -0.17%, Utilities -0.51%, IT -0.78%

FTSE 100

BP (BP/ LN) / TechnipFMC plc (FTI) - TechnipFMC secured a substantial iEPCI contract from BP for the Kaskida development in the Gulf of Mexico, valued between USD 250-500mln. The contract encompasses the design and installation of subsea production systems, including 20k psi subsea trees, manifolds, umbilicals, risers, and flowlines.

Smith & Nephew (SN/ LN) – Moody’s affirms Co.; outlook stable. (Newswires)

Schroders (SDR LN) – Co. has called for early pension access for first-time buyers, according to the FT. (FT)

UK Retail - UK BRC Total Sales YY (Sep) 2.0% (Prev. 1.0%). UK BRC Retail Sales YY (Sep) 1.7% (Prev. 0.8%). (Newswires)

UK Stocks - UK borrowing costs climb as Chancellor Reeves walks 'a tightrope' over spending plans, while the gap between yields on gilts and German bonds has reached its widest in more than a year, according to FT. (FT)

UK Spending – UK homes are to be offered payments to cut their electricity use all year round, according to the FT. A move which would help Britain’s network cope with more wind and solar power. (FT)

UK Pensions – The UK Government plans to extend collective pension schemes, where members would participate in pooled plans and be offered target returns, via the FT. (FT)

Unilever (ULVR LN) - Executive said it is spending EUR 150mln to revamp the European homecare supply chain and raise European homecare promotion and R&D spending by 40%; H1 European homecare unit's sales rose almost 13%. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

Continental (CON GY) - Reportedly tapping Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan for car parts spinoff, according to Bloomberg. (Newswires) Shares +2% in pre-market trade

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Nordex (NDX1 GY) - Received 500 MW orders from Canada. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Vinci (DG FP) – Has reached an agreement for the acquisition of RH Marine and Bakker Sliedrecht in the Netherlands. It has an annual revenue of about EUR 160mln in 2023 generated by 620 employees. Transaction exp. to close before the end of the year. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Bouygues (EN FP) - Co's Colas has won a contract worth EUR 61.6mln to build a bus transit line in Lyon. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Alcohol names / Pernod Ricard (RI FP) / Remy Cointreau (RCO FP) - China announces provisional anti-dumping measures on EU brandy; from Oct 11th, importers shall provide security deposits to Chinese customs, according to MOFCOM. (Newswires)

ArcelorMittal (MT NA) – ArcelorMittal’s Mexico unit to restart production of long products at Lazaro Cardenas plan on Oct 16; marks a full restart at the plant. (Newswires)

China-exposed Stocks - The NDRC expressed confidence in economic stability but announced no new major stimulus measures. Mainland stocks initially surged but pulled back as expectations for more aggressive economic support faded.

EV Names - Rivian (RIVN) facing a shortage of copper wire components for EV motors and production woes tied to the shortage of copper components. (Newswires)

Ferrovial (FER SM) – To cancel 10mln treasury shares with a nominal value of EUR 0.01 each. (Newswires)

Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) - S&P says Stellantis (STLAM IM) outlook has been revised to negative on the 2024 profitability slump; Affirmed at "BBB+/A-2". UAW said if Stellantis reopens the Belvidere assembly, members will be back to work soon and the cost to the Co. will be minimal. Elsewhere, UAW said members at Denver PDC voted by 97% to authorise international UAW to call a strike if the union cannot reach a settlement with the Co. (Newswires)

UniCredit (UCG IM) – A filing shows that Goldman Sachs has derivatives position worth 6.7% stake in UniCredit. (Newswires)

OMV (OMV AV) - "Oil production and liftings in Libya were negatively affected since early August 2024 due to growing security concerns. We expect the two months' production limitations and lifting stops in Libya to have a negative impact on the clean operating result of more than EUR 200mln." (OMV)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Holcim (HOLN SW) – Acquired Ox Engineered Products; transaction exp. to close in Q4’24. (Newswires)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

VAT (VACN SW) - VAT expects its Q3’ 24 sales figures to fall short of low point of Q3 guidance of CHF 235-255mln communicated when releasing its Q2 and H1 results mid-July 2024. VAT estimates this one-off, negative impact in Q3 to be in range of CHF 20-25mln. Overall market environment for Q4 2024 and 2025 remains positive and order backlog for Q4 execution has developed in line with forecasts. This shortfall is due to technical issues from new ERP solution implementation in Switzerland that started in August 2024. Root causes of this have been identified and major ones have been resolved; remaining ones are expected to be resolved during Q4 2024 with all missing Q3 revenues being recognized by end of year. (VAT)

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.96% at 5,969, NDX -1.17% at 19,801, DJIA -0.94% at 41,954, RUT -0.89% at 2,193.

SECTORS: Energy +0.35%, Materials -0.17%, Industrials -0.29%, Health -0.49%, Technology -0.68%, Real Estate -0.73%, Consumer Staples -1.1%, Financials -1.24%, Consumer Discretionary -1.92%, Communication Services -1.97%, Utilities -2.32%.

Alphabet (GOOGL) - A US federal judge ruled that Google must permit rival app developers to offer their applications on its Play Store for three years, following a case brought by Epic Games. Google said it plans to appeal a court ruling in its legal dispute with Epic Games. Alphabet's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs said these changes would harm consumer privacy, security, and reduce competition. Google intends to request a pause on the changes during the appeal. (Newswires)

Bank of America (BAC), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) - Berkshire continued sales of its stake on Bank of America, selling around 9.5mln worth about USD 383mln in multiple transactions between October 3-7th, with sale prices ranging from USD 39.2505-40.054/shr. Since mid-July, Berkshire has sold over USD 10bln worth of BAC stock; the sales takes Berkshire's total holdings in the bank to around 784.55mln shares, a 10.1% ownership worth around USD 31.4bln. (Newswires)

08 Oct 2024 - 06:53- Geopolitical- Source: Newsquawk