March 29 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought toyou by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Helen Reid. Reach her on Messenger toshare your thoughts on market moves: helen.reid.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net KEY EUROPEAN COMPANY HEADLINES (0638 GMT) Here's a round-up of the key headlines which have caught our eye this morning: Swiss Re weighs SoftBank partnership, shares rise Services group Sodexo cuts guidance after weak Q2 performance Facebook cuts ties to data brokers in blow to targeted ads CME Group to buy
Britain's NEX for
$5.5 billion Fate of GKN hangs in balance as investors decide on Melrose bid Teva wins reversal of
U.S. jury's
$235 mln GSK drug patent verdict
UK drinks wholesaler Conviviality close to administration
UK house price growth unexpectedly slows to 7-month low - Nationwide
UK car output falls in February as domestic demand slumps (Kit Rees) ***** EUROPEAN STOCK FUTURES MIXED (0610 GMT) As indicated by spreadbetters' calls, stock futures are mixed with Eurostoxx 50 futures up0.3 percent while FTSE and CAC 40 futures stay flat. More deal news just came through, with CME Group confirming it's reached anagreement with NEX to acquire the brokerage group. (Helen Reid) ***** BID DEADLINE FOR GKN, SOFTBANK EYES 25 PCT STAKE IN SWISS RE (0548 GMT) Lots of M&A news on the slate today. It's crunch time for GKN at 1200 GMT, when the deadlinefor shareholders to accept Melrose's 8 billion pound hostile bid for the engineering firmexpires. The result will decide a three-month battle for the company. Failure of the offer would openthe way for GKN to push ahead with an alternative deal struck with
U.S. axles and driveshaftsmaker Dana earlier this month to defend itself. Elsewhere
Japan's SoftBank was reported by Bloomberg to be eyeing up a 25 percent stake inSwiss Re, which would be worth around
$9.6 billion. Talks between the two firms over a potentialdeal to acquire a minority stake have been advancing since last month and are now centering on100 to
105 Swiss francs a share, according to the report. (Helen Reid) ***** MORNING CALL: EUROPEAN STOCKS TO OPEN SIDEWAYS (0533 GMT) Good morning and welcome to Live Markets. European stocks are likely to drift sideways today into the long weekend as tech pressuresease somewhat and liquidity thins out, despite a weaker session in
Asia. Asian shares fell overnight, weighed by tech stocks after the sell-off in
U.S. techcontinued into the close.
Japan's Nikkei rose, however, as a weaker Yen boosted exporter shares. Spreadbetters call the DAX 3 points higher at 11,944, the CAC 40 up 2 points at 5,133, andthe FTSE 100 20 points lower at 7,025. The
UK stock index's relative weakness could be down to astronger pound, boosted overnight by the latest GfK survey showing
UK consumers were at theirmost confident in 10 months in March. (Helen Reid) *****