Firstgroup Share News (FGP)

* STOXX 600 edges down
* Buoyant PMIs fail to lift sentiment
* Allfunds IPO shines
* Bitcoin slump

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of equity markets brought to you by Reuters
reporters.

A BRIGHTENING OUTLOOK FOR EUROPEAN STOCKS (1241 GMT)
Lyxor Asset Management upgraded its stance on European equities to "overweight", saying that
the stocks will benefit from activity rebounding in Q2 and Q3 and strong corporate earnings.
The rebound will also be fuelled by the U.S. economy, which Jeanne Asseraf-Bitton, global
head of market research at Lyxor Asset Management, says will be "the engine of world growth.
"While support from fiscal stimulus and from the macro background remains modest, strong
corporate profits and a yield curve entirely controlled by the ECB will be powerful drivers for
European equities in the months ahead,” she said.
PMI data earlier today showed the euro zone recovery accelerated in April, with the service
sector making a surprise return to growth.

(Elizabeth Howcroft)
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EUROPEAN BANKS Q1: WHAT TO EXPECT (1237 GMT)
More than a dozen of European banks are reporting their Q1 earnings next week (see the
table), and overall the sector is expected to see strong results.
Banks, together with cyclicals and energy, will deliver the bulk of the earnings growth in
the quarter, Barclays says.
In the UK, Jefferies has a buy rate on Barclays, Natwest, Lloyds and Standard Chartered,
with NatWest expected to benefit the most from earnings surprise this quarter.
The key growth areas to look at include mortgages and capital markets related income.
"We expect earnings characteristics to continue to major on credit cost and capital markets
surprise as well as business mix shift to mortgages," Jefferies analysts say.
In France, the U.S. analysts expect good results from SocGen, BNP Paribas and Credit
Agricole, which all have a buy rate.
SocGen - reporting on May 6 - will fare better than peers on the recovery and surprise
themes, Jefferies says.
Overall, despite higher growth rates this year, banks will only return to pre-pandemic EPS
levels next year, Barclays says.

Banks reporting next week Date (April)
(Refinitiv, Jefferies)
Swedbank 27
UBS Group 27
b 27
Lloyds 28
Deutsche Bank 28
Banco Santander 28
Danske Bank 28
NatWest 29
Standard Chartered 29
Nordea Bank 29
DNB 29
BNP Paribas 30
Banco de Sabadell 30
Barclays 30
Banco Bilbao 30
Powszechna Kasa 30
Oszczednosci Bank Polski

(Joice Alves)
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THE U.S. CONSUMPTION BOOM AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT (1206 GMT)
With some of Wall Street's biggest names anticipating a pause in the U.S. stock markets'
rally, Goldman Sachs recommends boosting allocation to consumer discretionary sector,
upgrading it to "overweight" from "neutral", as it expects pent up savings to drive strong
consumer spending in the near term.
"Our economists estimate that 'excess' household savings will total around $2.3 trillion
(10% of GDP) by mid-year and that 22% of this amount ($500 billion) will be spent by 2H 2022,"
Goldman analysts believe.
Risks are present however due to rising input costs that could pressure margins and due to
Amazon's large weight.
The consumer discretionary sector has underperformed the S&P 500 since positive vaccine
announcements in November, mainly due to Amazon, GS point out.


(Medha Singh)


BITCOIN'S BUSY YEAR (1025 GMT)
With Bitcoin trading below $50,000 after investors got spooked by Biden's tax plans, we
thought it was time for quick a recap of key developments so far in 2021.
Here you go:
Less than 10 days ago, bitcoin hit its latest all-time high of $64,895.22.
Gains so far this year have been fuelled by growing acceptance among major U.S. companies
and financial firms, with the cryptocurrency sector as a whole hitting an all-time peak of $2
trillion in market cap earlier this month.

(Elizabeth Howcroft)
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IPOs: "NOT MUCH HOT MONEY IN THE MARKET" (0932 GMT)
It's a rather counterintuitive take with Allfunds shares surging 18% for their Amsterdam
debut, but a source who worked on the deal believes the hype around IPOs has faded a little.
"I think it's fair to say there's not much hot money in the market at the moment", he told
us, adding that the Allfunds IPO was priced accordingly.
"A view was taken that we weren't going to push pricing more than is natural, and that is
reflected in the range which elicited a very positive reaction from investors", he explained,
stressing the mood is quite different from just a few weeks ago.
"I think earlier on the year, you had some big tier 1 long-only investors who were literally
scared of missing out on deals. You don't get that anymore".
Looking into the next big IPO coming, Synlab in Frankfurt, it also look that dealmakers made
their peace with the current mood. The pharma company set a price range of 18–23 euros per
share, setting the deal size at up to 1.032 billion euros and the company valuation at 4-5
billion euros.
"I think there's an acceptance it's lower than the initial indications they could have had
four or five weeks ago," the source added.

(Abhinav Ramnarayan with Julien Ponthus)
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NO BUYERS FOR THE UK RETAIL SURPRISE (0837 GMT)
UK retail sales data surprised to the upside, with volumes jumping by 5.4% in March from
February, compared to the Reuters poll forecast of 1.5%.
Even though non-essential retailers in England only re-opened on April 12, the data shows a
boost from people getting ready to go out again, e.g. online clothing sales.
There was also a rise in mobility equipment sales as older people prepared to leave their
homes after their vaccinations.
But there was next to no market reaction, even with stellar PMIs coming in, suggesting that
the UK's economic recovery is to a large extent priced in.
"The financial market reaction has been surprisingly muted with sterling barely changed and
FTSE 100 futures declining by roughly 0.2% since the announcement (perhaps in the belief that it
may encourage earlier action from the BOE)," said Paul Jackson, Global Head of Asset Allocation
Research at Invesco.
But Alastair George, Chief Investment Strategist at Edison Group said that the UK's
"re-opening" theme has further to run and would benefit retail, entertainment and leisure venues
over the summer.
(Elizabeth Howcroft)
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OPENING SNAPSHOT: WHEN TAXES SPOIL THE VIBE (0806 GMT)
European bourses edged slightly lower and were on course for their first weekly decline in
eight weeks as the mood in global markets turned sour after U.S. President Biden said he plans
to raise taxes on the wealthiest to fund the huge COVID-19 spending.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index is down 0.1%, with the financial service sector
leading the losses, down 0.4%.
But not everything is negative. Strong Q1 results supporting shares at Dometic Group
, SEB and Daimler AG.
PMI data showed that German factories continued to churn out goods at a near-record pace in
April, while in France, business activity expanded more strongly than forecast in April

On the IPO front, Spain's fund distribution firm Allfunds jumped over 13% in its
debut on Euronext Amsterdam. It had priced its IPO at 11.50 euros per share, giving it a
valuation of about 7.2 billion euros.
Among Britain's mid caps, shares of transport operator First Group jumped as much as
19% after it agreed to sell two businesses to private equity firm EQT.
Worth mentioning that strong sales in Q1 did little to help jacket maker Moncler
stocks, which are falling around 6%.

(Joice Alves)
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WILL PMIS AND EARNINGS LIFT SENTIMENT? (0536 GMT)
European futures are losing roughly 0.3% at the moment and it seems Biden's tax plans have
eroded sentiment across global markets.
The fact that bitcoin is trading below the $50,000 bar is also contributing to the risk-off
mood but that being said, there are plenty of earnings and indicators in the pipeline to shape
the trading session going further.
PMIs, both in the euro zone and in the UK will no doubt have a big role to play.
It's also a big IPO day for the European market with Spanish fund distribution firm Allfunds
making its stock market debut on Euronext Amsterdam.

(Julien Ponthus)
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