Oct 03 ,2024
Synopsis:
European equity markets finished lower, around session's worst levels. Autos, basic resources and tech the biggest decliners; energy, retail and defensives relative outperformers. Follows mixed close on Wednesday. US equities mostly lower in fairly choppy Thursday midday trading. Treasuries weaker with curve flattening. Dollar index up 0.3% with sterling weakness the story in FX on dovish BoE comments. Gold flat. Bitcoin futures down 0.4%. WTI crude up 4.0% after Biden said targeting Iran oil assets under consideration.
Flurry of dovish central bank comments not providing much support for risk appetite. Dovish-leaning comments from BoJ officials and Japan PM Ishiba has weighed on Japanese yen and supportive for equity markets. ECB officials increasingly backing an October rate cut, including longstanding hawk Schnabel, who warned about growth risks. BoE Governor Bailey said it could get a bit more aggressive on rate cuts if good news on inflation continues. Comments weigh on sterling. Recall that sterling has been an outperformer amid expectations that the BoE will be less aggressive on rates versus the ECB and Fed. Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari and Atlanta Fed President Bostic scheduled to speak.
On the data front, Eurozone composite PMI revised up, though still showing slight contraction and at seven-month low. Final UK reading at three-month low but above 50.0 threshold. Swiss CPI misses in Sept, supporting expectations for further SNB rate cuts. Industry data showed UK job market is tightening amid uncertainty over taxes and workers' rights. Note, UK supermarket giant J Sainsbury plc (SBRY.LN) warned risk of tax rises hurting sales and TotalEnergies (TTE.FP) warns it will curb UK investment over windfall tax. Update from Zoopla shows UK house sales rising at the fastest rate in three years. Elsewhere, France's state auditor said government must cut 100K civil service jobs to save the economy.
In M&A news, Tate & Lyle (TATE.LN) expects CP Kelco transaction to be accretive to adjusted EPS, including cost synergies only, in the second full financial year following completion, and strongly accretive thereafter. Telecom Italia (TIT.IM) receives non-binding offer for Sparkle for an enterprise value of €700M. In an interview for an event organized by Bloomberg in Milan, Italy's Finance Minister Giorgetti said Government intends to sell another stake in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.IM) by end of the year. Stellantis (STLAM.IM) CEO Carlos Tavares dismisses rumors of Stellantis-Renault (RNO.FP) merger as 'pure speculation'. Stora Enso (STERV.FH) announced intention to sell 12% of forest assets in Sweden.
In other corporate news, out of France, Air Liquide (AI.FP) issued pre-Q3 sales update; Bouygues' Bouygues Telecom (EN.FP) confirmed its 2024 guidance. Air France-KLM (AF.FP) announced cost-cutting measures at Dutch arm KLM to counter rising equipment, staffing and airport fees. In the DACH region, Zurich Insurance Group (ZURN.SW) on track to exceed all current targets. Sika (SIKA.SW) holds CMD today where CEO Thomas Hasler highlights how higher requirements for durability and circularity are changing the industry. In the UK, Tesco plc (TSCO.LN) reported H1 Adj EPS 14.5p vs StreetAccount 13.1p and provided guidance; British Land Co. (BLND.LN) provided H1 trading update.
Digest:
Sectors - STOXX Europe 600:
Outperformers:
Oil & Gas+0.27%, Retail (0.39%), Banks (0.64%), Travel & Leisure (0.65%), Health Care (0.85%), Personal Care Drug and Grocery Stores (0.86%), Telecom (0.91%), Ind Goods & Svcs (0.92%)
Underperformers:
Autos & Parts (2.07%), Construct & Mtls (1.97%), Basic Resources (1.68%), Real Estate (1.49%), Media (1.15%), Insurance (1.13%), Chemicals (1.09%), Consumer Products and Services (1.07%), Financial Svcs (1.03%), Utilities (0.99%), Food, Beverage and Tobacco (0.96%)
Macro:
Central Banks:
Bank of England could become 'more aggressive' on rate cuts, Bailey says (Reuters )
Euro set for worst streak in five months on ECB rate-cut bets (Bloomberg )
ECB's Schnabel signals shift on inflation, boosting rate-cut expectations (Reuters, Bloomberg)
BIS officials warned central banks may need "forceful" rate hikes in era of supply shocks (FT)
Economy:
UK:
France:
Peripheral markets:
Company news:
Notable Gainers
+8.3% GFRD.LN (Galliford Try Holdings £3.25, +0.25) -- FY earnings; up to £10M share buyback program
+7.7% NVM.GR (Novem Group €6.46, +0.46) -- potential delisting acquisition offer for shares from entity affiliated with main shareholder and potential delisting
+5.0% NANO.LN (Nanoco Group £0.13, +0.01) -- conclusions of a strategic review: Intention to return surplus cash to shareholders
+4.8% PCELL.SS (PowerCell Sweden SEK40.00, +1.82) -- partners with Australian aviation company for concept study on VTOL aircraft; includes order of SEK 7M
+4.1% STERV.FH (Stora Enso €11.87, +0.47) -- to sell parts of its forest assets in Sweden
+4.0% BIOVIC.B.SS (Biovica International SEK2.58, +0.10) -- results exercise of subscription options of series two 3B
+2.6% TSCO.LN (Tesco plc £3.64, +0.09) -- H1 earnings
+2.3% VOW.NO (Vow ASA NOK3.10, +0.07) -- option to deliver equipment to unnamed second cruise newbuild has been confirmed as firm order
+1.6% TIT.IM (Telecom Italia €0.25, -0.00) -- receives non-binding offer for Sparkle for an enterprise value of €700M
+0.9% MDG1.GR (Medigene €2.14, +0.02) -- to present poster at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT)
+0.9% SSE.LN (Scottish and Southern Energy £18.91, +0.17) -- trading update
Notable Decliners
-10.8% VP.LN (Vp Plc £5.80, -0.70) -- acquires majority interest in Charleville Hire and Platform Ltd for initial cash consideration of €12.1M plus max deferred and earn out payment of €21.7M
-6.6% ALMCP.FP (McPhy Energy €1.94, -0.14) -- cancelled Central Europe green hydrogen project due to the withdrawal of the off-take
-4.7% EN.FP (Bouygues €28.68, -1.43) -- confirms its 2024 guidance and reiterates its 2026 free cash flow target
-4.0% STLAM.IM (Stellantis €11.91, -0.50) -- CEO Carlos Tavares dismisses rumors of Stellantis-Renault merger as 'pure speculation' - Reuters
-2.8% BMPS.IM (Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena €4.79, -0.14) -- Italy to sell further stake in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena by end of the year -- Bloomberg
-2.3% LXS.GR (Lanxess €28.60, -0.68) -- to sell Urethane Systems business to UBE Corporation for enterprise value of €460M (¥73.6B)
EU companies reporting tomorrow:
Earnings: JD Wetherspoon (JDW.LN), Emeis (EMEIS.FP), Bonduelle (BON.FP)
Trading Update: flatexDEGIRO (FTK.GR)
Traffic: Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS.NO)
Data:
Economics:
Sep Services PMI
UK 52.4 vs preliminary 52.8
Eurozone 51.4 vs preliminary 50.5
Germany 50.6 vs preliminary 50.6
France 49.6 vs preliminary 48.3
Italy 50.5 vs consensus 51.0 and prior 51.4
Spain 57.0 vs consensus 54.0 and prior 54.6
Sweden 49.1 vs consensus 50.8 and prior revised 52.4 from 52.9
Switzerland Sep CPI +0.8% y/y vs consensus +1.1% and prior +1.1%; (0.3%) m/m vs consensus (0.1%) and prior 0.0%
Markets:
WTI Crude (Nov 24): +$2.74 or +3.91% to $72.84
€-$ (0.0027) or (0.24%) to 1.1020
£-$ (0.0156) or (1.18%) to 1.3110
€-£ +0.0080 to 0.8406
S&P 500 (0.09%)
Performance year-to-date
FTSE 100: +7.10%
DAX: +13.51%
CAC: (0.87%)
MIB: +9.29%
Stoxx 600: +7.79%
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