Feb 19 ,2025
Synopsis:
European indices ended firmly lower Wednesday. Construction/materials, retail, chemicals and basic resources decline in cyclicals-led selloff; utilities the sole exception to the weaker trend. Follows positive close on Tuesday.
Tariffs remain a headline focus after Trump flagged at least 25% rate on auto, pharma and chip imports with formal announcement coming 2-Apr. Trump also offered first remarks after US-Russia meeting on Tuesday. Said he was much more confident a deal could be reached and would probably meet Putin for face-to-face talks before the end of the month. Criticized Ukraine President Zelensky's response to talks.
On macro data front, UK inflation data in focus after elevated wage growth update on Tuesday. Headline CPI beat expectations +3.0% y/y vs consensus +2.8% and prior +2.5%, but services prices weaker-than-forecast. BoE rate cut bets fell to 50 bps on the year after data. Meanwhile, ECB rate cut expectations also easing after ECB Executive board member Schnabel said risks to inflation skewed somewhat to the upside, warned domestic inflation and wage growth still elevated.
Busy morning for earnings with HSBC Holdings (HSBA.LN) kicking off the session, reporting FY earnings and announcing the intention to initiate a share buyback of up to $2B. Also in the UK, BAE Systems (BA.LN) reported FY earnings and proposed a final dividend of 20.6p, taking the total dividend for 2024 to 33.0p vs consensus 32.2p, whilst Glencore (GLEN.LN) reported preliminary FY earnings and announced a 'top-up' buyback of $1.0B. In the DACHs region, Straumann Holding (STMN.SW), SoftwareONE Holding (SWON.SW), Temenos (TEMN.SW) and MTU Aero Engines (MTX.GR) reported FY/Q4 earnings. In France, Nexans (NEX.FP) and Bic (BB.FP) reported end-of-year numbers, whilst SES (SESG.FP) issued a market update ahead of its Full Year 2024 financial results announcement on 26-Feb. In the Netherlands, ASR Nederland (ASRNL.NA), Royal Vopak (VPK.NA) and Philips (PHIA.NA) released their Q4/FY earnings report, with the latter keeping dividend unchanged y/y and issuing guidance for 2025. In the Nordics, Castellum AB (CAST.SS) and ALK-Abello (ALK.B.DC) are amongst others in the region to update investors with their latest numbers. In Syndicates, holder Rossini placed ~10.5M shares in Recordati (REC.IM) at €55.70/each. On M&A newsflow, BP (BP.LN) is reportedly weighing sale of its lubricants unit valued at ~$10B, amid reports of activist Elliott stake.
Looking ahead to tomorrow's EU econ-calendar, notable releases will include, amongst others, Germany Jan PPI, Italy Dec construction output, Eurozone Feb flash consumer confidence, Dec construction output and Switzerland Jan trade balance (and watch export data).
Digest:
Sectors - STOXX Europe 600:
Outperformers:
Utilities +0.72%, Health Care (0.06%), Food & Beverage (0.41%), Oil & Gas (0.41%), Technology (0.44%), Telecom (0.52%), Media (0.55%)
Underperformers:
Construct & Mtls (2.68%), Retail (2.40%), Chemicals (2.33%), Basic Resources (2.30%), Insurance (1.88%), Travel & Leisure (1.85%), Autos & Parts (1.38%), Ind Goods & Svcs (1.26%), Banks (1.09%), Real Estate (1.07%), Persnl & HHold Goods (1.01%), Financial Svcs (0.96%)
Macro:
Central banks:
EU:
UK:
Germany:
Can Germany rise to lead Europe with strength? -- Spectator
France:
New pension battle in France threatens fresh crisis for Emmanuel Macron -- Independent
Company news:
Notable Gainers
+16.7% TRCS.LN (Tracsis £4.25, +0.60) -- contract
+10.4% NEX.FP (Nexans €105.60, +9.95) -- FY earnings
+7.9% EVS.BB (EVS Broadcast Equipment €36.10, +2.65) -- FY earnings
+6.4% ZEHN.SW (Zehnder Group CHF52.60, +3.20) -- Kepler Cheuvreux upgrade
+5.6% ALK.B.DC (ALK-Abello DKK162.90, +8.60) -- FY earnings
+5.1% ALSN.SW (ALSO Holding CHF268.50, +13.00) -- EU clears ALSO Holding's acquisition of Westcoast's businesses
+3.8% TGS.NO (TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. NOK111.40, +4.10) -- new multi-client 3D streamer project
+3.3% FCT.IM (Fincantieri €8.86, +0.28) -- Intesa Sanpaolo upgrade
+3.2% NEXT.NO (Next Biometrics Group NOK5.78, +0.18) -- Q4 earnings
+2.5% ANOD.B.SS (Addnode Group SEK116.00, +2.90) -- ABG Sundal Collier upgrade
+2.5% AGS.BB (Ageas €52.05, +1.25) -- BNP Paribas holds stake in Ageas of 15.07% as of 13-Feb -- notification
+2.4% DNB.NO (DNB Bank NOK249.40, +5.90) -- BofA upgrade
Notable Decliners
-22.7% NETI.B.SS (Net Insight SEK5.21, -1.54) -- Q4 earnings
-21.7% BIOT.SS (Biotage SEK106.10, -30.20) -- Q4 earnings
-11.3% PHIA.NA (Koninklijke Philips €23.60, -3.07) -- Q4 earnings; updates on Respironics Recall
-9.6% ICAD.FP (Icade €20.86, -2.20) -- FY earnings
-7.9% PHO.NO (PhotoCure NOK51.50, -4.40) -- Q4 earnings
-7.2% GLEN.LN (Glencore £3.31, -0.26) -- FY earnings
-6.9% VPK.NA (Royal Vopak €42.80, -3.12) -- Q4 earnings; starts €100M share buyback program
-6.8% REC.IM (Recordati €55.90, -4.05) -- holder Rossini places ~10.5M shares at €55.70/each
-6.4% FAG.SS (Fagerhult Group SEK49.40, -3.30) -- Q4 earnings
-6.2% CRE.LN (Conduit Holdings £4.07, -0.27) -- FY earnings
-6.1% VAIAS.FH (Vaisala €51.10, -3.30) -- Inderes downgrade
-5.5% HEI.GR (Heidelberg Materials €140.65, -8.10) -- Morgan Stanley downgrade
-4.5% TEMN.SW (Temenos CHF76.25, -3.55) -- Q4/FY earnings
-4.4% SGL.GR (SGL Carbon €4.02, -0.19) -- prelim. FY earnings; to restructure its Carbon Fibers business unit
-4.2% MTX.GR (MTU Aero Engines €331.20, -14.70) -- Q4 earnings
-3.7% EVK.GR (Evonik Industries €18.82, -0.72) -- Kepler Cheuvreux downgrade
-2.6% EFGN.SW (EFG International CHF13.98, -0.38) -- FY earnings
-1.9% TATE.LN (Tate & Lyle £5.43, -0.11) -- Berenberg downgrade
-1.7% TIT.IM (Telecom Italia €0.28, -0.00) -- Poste Italiane prepared to increase stake in Telecom Italia above 10% - Reuters
EU companies reporting tomorrow:
Earnings:
Benelux: Aegon Ltd. (AGN.NA), NN Group (NN.NA), BE Semiconductor Industries (BESI.NA), SBM Offshore (SBMO.NA), Fagron (FAGR.BB), Azelis Group (AZE.BB), Kinepolis (KIN.BB)
Denmark: Zealand Pharma (ZEAL.DC), ISS (ISS.DC), FLSmidth & Co. (FLS.DC), cBrain (CBRAIN.DC), Nilfisk Holding (NLFSK.DC), MT Hojgaard Holding (MTHH.DC)
Finland: Gofore (GOFORE.FH), Lemonsoft (LEMON.FH), Kamux (KAMUX.FH), Opmobility (OPM.FP)
France: Airbus (AIR.FP), Schneider Electric (SU.FP), Renault (RNO.FP), Accor (AC.FP), Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT.FP), Tikehau Capital (TKO.FP), Alten (ATE.FP), Coface (COFA.FP), Imerys (NK.FP), OPmobility (OPM.FP), Tarkett (TKTT.FP)
DACHs: Zurich Insurance (ZURN.SW), Cembra Money Bank (CMBN.SW), Mercedes-Benz (MBG.GR), Knorr-Bremse (KBX.GR), Krones (KRN.GR), DATAGROUP (D6H.GR), AMAG Austria Metall (AMAG.AV)
Norway: TGS (TGS.NO), Grieg Seafood (GSF.NO), AutoStore Holdings Ltd. (AUTO.NO),
Southern Europe: Repsol (REP.SM), eDreams ODIGEO (ESM), Leonardo (LDO.IM), Metlen Energy & Metals (MYTIL.GA), Corticeira Amorim (COR.PL), Novabase (NBA.PL)
Sweden: LE Lundbergforetagen (LUND.B.SS), Bure Equity (BURE.SS), Catena (CATE.SS), Viva Wine (VIVA.SS), Viaplay (VPLAY.B.SS), Viking Supply Ships (VSSAB.B.SS)
UK: Lloyds Banking (LLOY.LN), Anglo American (AAL.LN), Centrica (CNA.LN), Mondi (MNDI.LN), Hays (HAS.LN)
Data:
Economics:
UK Jan
CPI y/y +3.0% vs consensus +2.8% and prior +2.5%
Output PPI y/y +0.3% vs consensus +0.1% and prior revised to (0.1%) from +0.1%
Markets:
WTI Crude (25-Mar): +$0.84 or +1.17% to $72.69
€-$ (0.0032) or (0.31%) to 1.0413
£-$ (0.0037) or (0.29%) to 1.2577
€-£ (0.0004) to 0.8278
S&P 500 (0.04%)
Performance year-to-date:
FTSE 100: +6.60%
DAX: +12.68%
CAC: +9.89%
MIB: +12.17%
Stoxx 600: +8.76%
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