Newsquawk Daily European Equity Opening News - 28th January 2025

ASIA

APAC stocks were mixed amid holiday-thinned conditions on Chinese New Year's Eve and after the recent US tech sell-off. ASX 200 traded rangebound on return from the long weekend as gains in the consumer, healthcare, telecoms and financial sectors offset the losses in real estate, utilities, tech and miners, while improved Business surveys did little to spur demand. Nikkei 225 extended on the recent selling but was off worst levels amid a weaker currency and softer Services PPI data. Hang Seng kept afloat but with upside capped amid the absence of mainland participants and Stock Connect flows, while markets in Hong Kong closed early ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations.

EUROPEAN CLOSES

CLOSES: DAX: -0.54% at 21,280, FTSE 100: +0.02% at 8,504, CAC 40: -0.27% at 7,907, Euro Stoxx 50: -0.57% at 5,190, AEX: -0.72% at 895, IBEX 35: +0.27% at 12,015, FTSE MIB: -0.03% at 36,191, SMI: +1.14% at 12,417, PSI: -0.57% at 6,466.

FTSE 100

AstraZeneca (AZN LN), Daiichi Sankyo (DSNKY) - ENHERTU, developed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo, has been approved in the US for treating HR-positive, HER2-low or HER2-ultralow breast cancer in patients who have progressed on endocrine therapies.

BAE Systems (BA/ LN) – UK Government awards GBP 285mln Royal Navy contract to BAE Systems. (Newswires)

Glencore (GLEN LN) - A JV between Glencore and Indonesia's PT Chandra Asri Pacific is said to be seeking a USD 1bln sustainability-linked syndicated loan. (Bloomberg)

UK Retail - UK BRC Shop Price Index YY (Jan) -0.7% (Prev. -1.0%) “Price cuts and deflation may not last much longer as retailers will soon feel the full impact of £7 billion of new costs announced at the last Budget.", according to BRC CEO. Adds that "this month's figures also showed early signs of what is to come, with month on month food prices rising at their fastest pace since April last year". (Yahoo Finance / Newswires)

UK Rent – According to Rightmove data, advertised rent outside of London has fallen on a quarterly basis for the first time since 2019, mainly due to a fall in demand from tenants. (Newswires)

OTHER UK COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

DAX

SAP (SAP GY) – Q4 (EUR): Adj. EBIT 2.44bln (exp. 2.25bln), Revenue 9.38bln (exp. 9.26bln), Net Income 1.62bln (prev. 1.30bln Y/Y). Cloud Revenue 4.71bln (exp. 4.66bln). Raises FY25 Operating Profit Outlook to 10.3-10.6bln (prev. guided 10.2bln). Expects current cloud backlog growth to slightly decelerate in 2025; anticipates accelerating cloud rev. growth. Sees FY Cloud Revenue 21.6-21.9bln (prev. 17.14bln in 2024). CEO said, “Our strong position in data and business AI gives us additional confidence that we will accelerate revenue growth through 2027”. Forms extended Board comprised of senior leaders across the company, including newly appointed CTO, Co-CROs and CMO. (Newswires) Shares +2% in pre-market trade SAP GY holds a 15% weighting in the DAX 40, making it the largest co. in the index.

Sartorius (SRT3 GY) – FY (EUR): Revenue 3.38bln (exp. 3.36bln). Outlook: Underlying EBITDA, should increase over-proportionately compared to sales revenue. (Newswires)

Siemens Energy (ENR GY) - Prelim Q1 2025 (EUR): Revenue 8.942bln (exp. 8.453bln), profit 463mln. Order intake 13.668bln (exp. 12.756bln). Expects to exceed current FCF pre-tax guidance for FY25 of up to 1bln. (Newswires) Shares +8.7% in pre-market trade

OTHER GERMAN COMPANIES

DHL (DHL GY) – German Trade Union Verdi says it will hold a one day strike on Tuesday at DHL, affecting several areas within Germany. (Newswires)

Freenet (FNTN GY) – Co. appointed Robin John Andes Harries as new CEO, effective 1 August. (Newswires)

Wacker Chemie (WCH GY) – FY (EUR): Net Income 265mln (prev. 327mln Y/Y), Revenue 5.72bln (exp. 5.8bln). (Newswires) Shares +2.7% in pre-market trade

BROKER MOVES

CAC

Airbus (AIR FP)- Co. sees continued growth in helicopter sales in 2024; delivered 361 helicopters in 2024. Elsewhere, Airbus, Cathay Pacific Airways has initiated a bidding process for new widebody aircraft, seeking proposals from Airbus and Boeing (BA) for a multibillion-dollar deal, Bloomberg reports. (Newswires / Bloomberg)

LVMH (MC FP) - LVMH is selling its minority stake in Stella McCartney back to the brand's founder after over five years of collaboration, amid a downturn in high-end goods, Bloomberg reports. The deal's terms were not disclosed, but McCartney will continue advising LVMH. (Bloomberg)

Renault (RNO FP) - Co. and Geely nearing Brazil EV cooperation deal, via Les Echos. (Les Echos)

OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES

Getlink (GET FP) – FY (EUR): Revenue 1.61bln (exp. 1.59bln) (Newswires)

Sartorius Stedim Biotech (DIM FP) – FY (EUR): EBITDA 779mln (exp. 766mln), Revenue 2.78bln (exp. 2.77bln). (Newswires)

BROKER MOVES

PAN EUROPE

Banco BPM (BAMI IM) – Announced partial demerger of leasing loan portfolio; transferred 350mln NPL and UTP loan portfolio. (Newswires)

Enel (ENEL IM) - Co. KKR (KKR) reportedly among potential bidders for UK's Cubico, according to sources cited by Reuters. (Newswires)

Energy Stocks - Trump reiterated "drill baby drill" and said he will give fast approval to anyone building a plant for electric generation. (Newswires) Oil traders expect OPEC+ to stick with its current supply policy at a review meeting next week, resisting pressure from US President Trump to open the taps and bring down crude prices, according to a survey by Bloomberg. (Newswires)

Luxury Stocks - Estée Lauder (EL) is said to review portfolio of brands, according to Bloomberg citing sources. To work with Evercore on review of brands. Portfolio review may not lead to brand sales. (Newswires)

ING (INGA NA) – Co. to sell its business in Russia to Global Development JSC; transaction exp. to be closed in Q3’25. Expects negative P&L impact of EUR 0.7bln post-tax. Estimated book loss of EUR 0.4bln to impact CET ratio of 5bps. Estimated negative impact of EUR 0.3bln recycling currency translation adjustment through P&L. (Newswires)

Trump Tariffs - US President Trump said he wants universal tariffs much larger than 2.5% and has a tariff level in mind but had not set it yet, which followed an earlier report in FT that Treasury Secretary Bessent is pushing for a gradual 2.5% universal tariffs plan in which the 2.5% levy would move higher by the same amount each month. (Newswires/FT) US President Trump stated that tariffs will be placed on computer chips in the near future and he will place tariffs on producers of pharmaceuticals, while he added that steel and other industries will be considered for tariffs and tariffs will also be placed on aluminium and copper. Furthermore, he said if you want to stop placing the tariffs, companies need to build plants in the US and it is good that companies in China have come up with a faster method of artificial intelligence whereby Chinese startup DeepSeek should be a wake-up call. (Newswires)

Tech Stocks - NVIDIA (NVDA) shares closed lower by almost 17%, wiping near USD 600bln in market cap in the largest single day valuation drop ever in US history.

BROKER MOVES

Randstad (RAND NA) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

SMI

Roche (ROG SW) - Roche’s Itovebi demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful overall survival benefit in a certain type of HR-positive advanced breast cancer. (Roche)

Swatch Group AG (UHR SW) - Cautious mention in Bloomberg, which said that despite the broader luxury goods rebound, Swatch has struggled in 2025, with its stock barely recovering from its 28% fall in 2024. Analysts point to Swatch's heavy reliance on the Chinese market and its focus on entry-level products.

UBS (UBSG SW) – UBS is nearing a deal with Indian wealth firm, 360 One, aiming for a growth boost, via Bloomberg. (Bloomberg)

OTHER SWISS COMPANIES

BROKER MOVES

SCANDINAVIA

BROKER MOVES

US

CLOSES: SPX -1.46% at 6,012, NDX -2.97% at 21,127, DJIA +0.65% at 44,714, RUT -1.03% at 2,284

SECTORS: Technology -5.58%, Utilities -2.33%, Industrials -1.32%, Communication Services -0.81%, Energy -0.74%, Materials +0.07%, Consumer Discretionary +0.3%, Real Estate +1%, Financials +1.14%, Health +2.19%, Consumer Staples +2.85%.

DeepSeek, OpenAI - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised DeepSeek's affordable R1 AI model as "impressive," highlighting its low-cost efficiency. However, he reaffirmed OpenAI's focus on high-compute strategies.

ByteDance, Microsoft (MSFT) - Microsoft is reportedly in discussions to acquire TikTok, according to President Trump, who anticipates a competitive bidding process, the BBC reports. It follows pressure on TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell its US operations over national security concerns.

Coca-Cola (KO) - Coca-Cola recalled drinks in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands over elevated chlorate levels, BBC reports. Some UK imports were affected, though risks are reportedly low. Investigations continue.

Microsoft (MSFT) - US President Trump said they will have a lot of people bidding on TikTok and don't want China involved in TikTok, while he confirmed Microsoft is in talks on TikTok and said he would like a bidding war over TikTok. (Newswires)

Nucor (NUE) - Q4 EPS 1.22 (exp. 0.63), Q4 revenue USD 7.08bln (exp. 6.73bln). Exec said that while steel demand softened throughout 2024, market conditions are starting to improve, and should gain momentum into 2025. Exec added that the US economy is still on the front end of several steel-intensive megatrends. Sees Q1 earnings in the steel mills and steel products segments to be similar to Q4; earnings in the raw materials segment seen down in Q1 vs Q4; sees higher corporate, administrative and tax impacts in Q1 vs Q4, which may result in lower net earnings overall.

Nvidia (NVDA) - Co, in statement about DeepSeek, says inference requires significant numbers of its GPUs. "DeepSeek is an excellent AI advancement and a perfect example of Test Time Scaling. DeepSeek’s work illustrates how new models can be created using that technique, leveraging widely-available models and compute that is fully export control compliant. Inference requires significant numbers of NVIDIA GPUs and high-performance networking. We now have three scaling laws: pre-training and post-training, which continue, and new test-time scaling.” (Newswires) 

28 Jan 2025 - 06:56- Research Sheet- Source: Newsquawk