EUROPEAN EQUITIES UPDATE: Stocks rangebound in quiet trade ahead of FOMC minutes

STOXX 600: U/C

• European bourses began the session on either side of the unchanged mark, continuing the indecisive mood seen in APAC trade overnight.


• Price action has been rangebound throughout most of the morning thus far, albeit some downticks seen in recent trade.


• EZ-specific docket has been very quiet. ECB's Panetta noted that signs of weakness in the EZ economy "are more present than we were anticipating"; remarks which had little impact on price action.


• Focus will ultimately be on Trump tariffs, with the US President saying on Tuesday he will be announcing major companies in the semiconductor and automotive industries that are shifting production back to the US. Trump also said the auto tariff rate will be "in the neighbourhood of 25%", from April 2nd 2025.

Sectors: Mixed

• European sectors are mixed vs initially opening with a slight negative bias; the breadth of the market is fairly narrow.


• Energy is towards the top of the pile, with upside facilitated by gains in BP, alongside broadly firmer oil prices; BP benefits on reports that it is mulling selling its lubricants unit, worth around USD 10bln.


• Basic Resources is the slight underperformer today, with the sectors hampered by losses in Glencore after its FY results disappointed (details in the FTSE 100 section below).


• For Defense names; MTU Aero (-6.1%) and BAE Systems (-2.2%) both slip today after their earnings, despite reporting strong results.

Others: FTSE 100 -0.1%, DAX 40 +0.1%, FTSE MIB +0.7%

• The FTSE 100 is modestly lower, in what has been a busy morning for the UK thus far. On the data front, headline metrics printed above expectations; the Services figure lifted from the prior this was to a lesser degree than both markets and the BoE had forecast. Heavyweight Glencore (-5.7%) slips after it reported weaker-than-expected FY results; a USD 1bln share buyback announcement failed to lift sentiment. Sticking with miners, Antofagasta (+2.6%) benefits from a broker upgrade at JP Morgan. As for banking giant HSBC (-0.4%), shares are a little lower despite beating on profit and announcing a USD 2bln share buyback; focus may potentially be on USD 1.8bln of costs to achieve its cost reduction plan over the next two years.


• Italy's FTSE MIB is the clear outperformer today, with gains led by strength in STMicroelectronics (+5.4%) after Jefferies upgraded the co. to Buy; analysts believe that it expects growth forecasts to accelerate in H2'25 and expect the co. to receive a boost from Apple's iPhone 17 launch.

US Equity Futures: ES +0.1%, NQ +0.1%, RTY -0.1%

• Futures are mixed and trading on either side of the unchanged mark; the RTY is a little lower whilst the ES and NQ gain a touch.


• The US Day sees the release of the Fed's January meeting minutes, weekly MBA mortgage applications data, January building permits (1.46mln expected vs the prior 1.482mln) and housing starts (1.39mln expected after the prior 1.499mln). On the speakers' docket, Fed Vice Chair Jefferson (voter) will speak on household balance sheets.

19 Feb 2025 - 10:15- ForexEU Research- Source: Newsquawk