Feb 21 ,2025
Synopsis
European indcies are set to open mixed as Asian equities trade mostly higher Friday. Very strong gains in Hong Kong following Alibaba's earnings beat overnight although gains relatively narrow, mainland China indexes also notably higher. Japan's Nikkei higher, Topix is flat. Australia lower again. South Korea, Taiwan and Southeast Asia all mixed. India lower.
US equities were down in Thursday trading, but ended off worst levels. Major indices now largely lower WTD though S&P near flat, coming off Wednesday's record close
ECB hawk Schnabel signaled a potential shift in monetary policy, suggesting the central bank is nearing the end of its rate-cutting cycle due to rising inflation risks and easing borrowing costs.
Friday sees, in central banks, Belgium central bank's Wunsch speech at 11:00CET in connection with presentation of the 2024 Annual Report. ECB's Lane speech at 15:30CET at the FIW-Research Conf.
Economic: Eurozone, France, Germany, UK flash manufacturing/services PMIs, France Feb business confidence, Italy Jan final CPI, UK Jan retail sales, Feb consumer confidence - GfK, industrial trends orders - CBI, Ireland Jan PPI
Earnings reports so far this morning included: DFDS.DC, SYNSAM.SS, EKTA.BSS, SIKA.SW, NKT.DC, BRNL.NA, AI.FP
UK/Ireland earnings update today will include: Standard Chartered (STAN.LN), Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.LN), Kingspan (KRX.ID)
Politics/Macro/World News
Top company news
Earnings/updates
SIKA.SW (Sika Group) -- reports FY EPS CHF7.76 vs FactSet CHF7.79 [22 est, CHF7.13-9.00]
ATE.FP (Alten) -- reports FY net income €186.4M vs FactSet €240.7M [7 est, €221.8-252M]
GTT.FP (Gaztransport & Technigaz) -- reports FY net income €347.8M vs FactSet €322.5M [6 est, €306-346M]
NK.FP (Imerys) -- reports FY EPS €3.10 vs FactSet €2.98 [4 est, €2.54-3.25]
TKTT.FP (Tarkett) -- reports FY EPS (€0.95) vs year-ago €0.31
CANTA.SS (Cantargia) -- reports Q4 EPS (SEK0.21) vs year-ago (SEK0.40)
MOL.HB (MOL Hungarian Oil & Gas) -- reports Q4 EPS Ft14.00 vs FactSet Ft78.05 [2 est, Ft74.07-82.04]
4FZ.GR (Orbia Advance Corp SAB de CV) -- Orbia Advance Corp SAB de CV guides FY25 EBITDA $1.25B
4FZ.GR (Orbia Advance Corp SAB de CV) -- Orbia Advance Corp SAB de CV reports Q4 Majority net income ($62M) vs year-ago ($71M)
COFA.FP (Coface) -- reports FY net income €261.1M vs FactSet €259.6M [4 est, €252.3-268.2M]
ALLN.SW (Allreal Holding) -- reports FY net income (ex-revaluation gains) CHF122.7M vs FactSet CHF137.4M [4 est, CHF121.8-165.0M]
AMPLI.FP (Amplitude Surgical) -- reports H1 revenue €51.5M, +5% vs year-ago €49.1M
M&A
UCG.IM (UniCredit) -- launches voluntary public exchange offer for all ordinary shares of Banco BPM
HOOK (Hookipa Pharma) -- Hookipa Pharma's board has determined that it does not intend to make an offer for Poolbeg
BAMI.IM (Banco BPM) -- announces acceptance commitments received from Anima's top management for a total number of shares equal to ~1.5%
PINE.LN (Pinewood Technologies Group) -- agreed terms to acquire 90.9% of Seez for a total consideration of $42M
TKTT.FP (Tarkett) -- Participation to file public buy-out offer, followed by squeeze-out, on remaining shares
ABLI.SS (Abliva) -- Pharming Group notes control of shares corresponding to 92.7% of Abliva; extends acceptance period to 6-Mar from prior 20-Feb
Healthcare
ILMN (Illumina) -- trading lower; move follows Roche sequencing event
SAN.FP (Sanofi) -- FDA grants orphan drug designation to rilzabrutinib for autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA)
ROG.SW (Roche Holding) -- Roche unveils a new class of next-generation sequencing with its novel sequencing by expansion technology
IVA.FP (Inventiva) -- doses first patient in Phase 1 trial evaluating safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of lanifibranor
OSE.FP (OSE Immunotherapeutics) -- presents preclinical data on combination of anti-IL-7 receptor Lusvertikimab in chronic colitis in oral presentation at 20th Congress of ECCO
Other
SU.FP (Schneider Electric) -- releases FY 2024 sustainability report update
ABDN.LN (abrdn Plc) -- abrdn in advanced talks with Citic to launch asset management joint venture in China - Reuters
GTT.FP (Gaztransport & Technigaz) -- receives order from HD Hyundai Heavy Industries for tank design of 12 large LNG-fuelled container ships
TGS.NO (TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co.) -- TGS Awarded 4D Streamer Acquisition Contract in the Barents Sea
BELA.GA (Jumbo) -- Group proposes an extraordinary dividend of €0.4667/share (gross) before taking into account treasury shares
PINE.LN (Pinewood Technologies Group) -- offers up to 11.3M new ordinary shares to fund acquisition of Seez, through Jefferies and Joh. Berenberg
PINE.LN (Pinewood Technologies Group) -- Pinewood announces a conditional retail offer of new Ordinary Shares via RetailBook
Regional Gaming Revenues - Massachusetts January 2025
Willis Lease Finance exercises options for 30 CFM LEAP engines
Key rating changes
Upgrades
BIRG.ID (Bank of Ireland Group) -- to outperform from underperform at RBC Capital Markets
REP.SM (Repsol) -- to equal-weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley
(KBX.GR) Knorr-Bremse -- to outperform from neutral at BNP Paribas Exane
(REP.SM) Repsol -- to equal-weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley
Downgrades
AIR.FP (Airbus SE) -- to hold from buy at Jefferies
BETCO.SS (Better Collective) -- to hold from buy at Jefferies
(CRE.LN) Conduit Holdings -- to sector perform from outperform at RBC Capital Markets
Initiations
LAND.SW (Landis+Gyr Group) -- hold at Berenberg
KEMPOWR.FH (Kempower) -- buy at Pareto
Data
Nikkei +0.26% to 38776.94
Hang Seng +3.32% to 23325.84
Shanghai Composite +0.83% to 3378.66
S&P futures (3.5) vs prior close of 6136.5
€-$ (0.0011) or (0.10%) to 1.0493
$-¥ +0.85 or +0.57% to 150.48
€-¥ +0.72 or +0.46% to 157.86
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