Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 18th December 2024

ASIA

APAC stocks eventually traded mixed after the earlier upward bias somewhat abated, with sentiment cautious following the negative lead from Wall Street with eyes turning to the FOMC announcement and Chair Powell's presser. ASX 200 is currently flat as the upside in Real Estate, Tech, and Healthcare offset losses in Financials. Nikkei 225 was subdued but with ranges narrow in the run-up to Thursday's BoJ as expectations lean towards a hold. Meanwhile, Nissan shares surged 22% amid several source reports suggesting a potential merger with Honda, whose shares fell 3%. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp saw positive trade with Chinese markets outperforming despite quiet newsflow but sentiment buoyed ahead of the PBoC's LPR setting on Friday.

Honda Motor (7267 JT)/Nissan (7201 JT) - Cos to begin merger talks amid EV competition, according to Nikkei. Honda and Nissan are considering operating under a holding company, and soon will sign a memorandum of understanding. Their respective stakes in the new entity, as well as other details, will be decided later. "They also look to eventually bring Mitsubishi Motors, in which Nissan is the top shareholder with a 24% stake, under the holding company. This would create one of the world's largest auto groups, with combined sales among the three Japanese players topping 8 million vehicles." (Nikkei) Honda Motor reiterates exploring various possibilities with Nissan (7201 JT/NSANY) and Honda notes reported content not released by Co. (Newswires)

Foxconn (2317 TT) - Reportedly approached Nissan (7201 JT) to take a controlling stake, according to Bloomberg.

Indian stocks - Indian Stock Exchanges to reportedly talk about keeping the market open on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, during the Union Budget, according to CNBC-TV18 citing sources

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: FTSE 100 -0.81% at 8,195, CAC 40 +0.12% at 7,366, IBEX 35 -1.62% at 11,588, PSI -0.80% at 6,312, FTSE MIB -1.22% at 34,315, DAX -0.30% at 20,254, Euro Stoxx 50 -0.13% at 4,940, SMI +0.28% at 11,735.

SECTORS: IT 0.65%, Consumer Disc 0.28%, Healthcare 0.11%, Consumer Stpl -0.19%, Industrials -0.34%, Materials -0.38%, Utilities -0.45%, Financials -0.95%, Telecoms -1.03%, Energy -1.37%

FTSE 100

AstraZeneca (AZN LN) - Executives reportedly expect to see an “evident” revenue hit in China in the wake of the arrest of its China head Wang and other senior executives, according to FT citing sources. (FT)

Shell (SHEL LN) - Shell's (SHEL LN) unit in Suriname to submit drilling plan for offshore block 65 for environmental approval. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

Canal+ (CAN LN) initiated with Overweight at Barclays

DAX

MTU Aero (MTX GY) - Appointed new Dr Bussmann as CEO. (Newswires)

Volkswagen (VOW3 GY) - Co. and unions reportedly expect either to strike a deal or end negotiation round in early hours of Wednesday, according to Reuters citing sources. (Reuters)

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

Ceconomy (CEC GY) - FY (EUR): Net Income -39mln (prev. +75mln Y/Y), Revenue 22.4bln (prev. 22.2bln Y/Y). Guides initial FY25 Adj. EBIT "clear improvement". (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

CAC

CAC 40 - Bureau Veritas (BVI FP) replaces Vivendi (VIV FP) in the CAC 40. (Newswires)

Credit Agricole (ACA FP) - Co. to name Olivier Gavalda as CEO, according to Les Echos. (Les Echos)

Vinci (DG FP) - Nov passenger traffic +8.8% Y/Y. (Newswires)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

ADP (ADP FP) - Nov Traffic 27.5mln passengers, +10.1% Y/Y. (Newswires)

Eutelsat (ETL FP) - Co. selected Airbus (AIR FP) Defence and Space to build Oneweb low earth orbit constellation extension. (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

Ubisoft (UBI FP) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel

Vivendi (VIV FP) resumed with Overweight at Barclays

PAN EUROPE

Banco BPM (BAMI IM) - Co. approved on Tuesday filing requests with market regulator consob as defence against Unicredit (UCG IM) bid, according to Reuters sources. (Reuters)

Fugro (FUR NA) - Announced a new EUR 400mln financing. (Newswires)

IMCD (IMCD NA) - To acquire the life science business of YCAM in South Korea; terms undisclosed. (Newswires)

Puig (PUIG SM) - Announces extension of its strategic partnership with Charlotte Tilbury MBE, which will retain a minority stake in Tilbury Limited between until the end of 2030. (Newswires)

Stellantis (STLAM IM/STLAP FP) - Europe chief when asked about the previous 1mln vehicle output target, notes if market responds they will meet all figures we have in mind; does not want to make promises he can't keep. (Newswires)

Postal - Italian tax police search nine courier companies in a tax investigation, which includes Amazon (AMZN); SDA is part of Poste Italiane (PST IM), GLS is a subsidiary of IDS (IDS LN). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

SMI

Roche (ROG SW) - Roche transforms mass spectrometry diagnostics with launch of cobas Mass Spec solution. (Roche)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

VAT (VACN SW) initiated with Neutral at Goldman Sachs

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -0.39% at 6,051, NDX -0.43% at 22,001, DJI -0.61% at 43,450, RUT -1.18% at 2,334.

SECTORS: Consumer Discretionary +0.28%, Health -0.05%, Consumer Staples -0.12%, Utilities -0.38%, Technology -0.40%, Materials -0.48%, Real Estate -0.53%, Communication Services -0.60%, Financials -0.69%, Energy -0.76%, Industrials -0.90%.

Boeing (BA) - Says it has resumed production of 767 and 777/777X airplanes that were halted by strike

Mastercard (MA) - Announces USD 12bln buyback and raises quarterly dividend to USD 0.76/shr (prev. 0.66)

18 Dec 2024 - 06:43- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk