Last checked at 
* European shares edge higher
* Earnings in focus this week
* U.S. stocks futures slightly lower
April 26 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of
markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your
thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com
MKTNG MSTRPCS (MARKETING MASTERPIECES) (1205 GMT)
One of Britain's largest fund managers Standard Life
Aberdeen is planning to drop the vowels and change its
name to Abrdn, pronounced Aberdeen.
The move, which has prompted a string of jokes on social
media, is not a late April Fools' Day prank but "part of a
modern, agile, digitally-enabled brand" strategy.
"Standard Life Aberdeen needed to sort out its branding, but
the new Abrdn name will likely leave investors feeling dazed and
confused," notes AJ Bell analyst Laith Khalaf.
And a Twitter user writes: "To think someone’s been paid
(likely a lot of money) to come up with #abrdn, is it 1st April
again?".
This is not the first time well-known companies launch
controversial rebranding strategies.
In 2018, Weight Watchers announced it was slimming its name
to WW, which to the world means World War but the company linked
the two letters to "Wellness that works", in an effort to target
general health and reduce focus on losing weight.
In 2001, Royal Mail spent 500,000 pounds to change its name
to "Consignia", a name criticised for meaning nothing to the
public. But after 17 months it changed it back to Royal Mail.
At the time, Patricia Hewitt, then minister responsible for
trade and industry, told parliament: "Few will mourn the passing
of the name Consignia, and I will not be one of them."
PWC briefly changed the name of its consulting arm in 2002
to "Monday". The new name cost $110 million and lasted 51 days
before being unceremoniously ditched by new owner IBM, which
preferred to use its own brand for the business.
As SLA's rebranding roll-out will begin in the summer, there
is plenty of time for the company to reconsider, if it wants to.
"Which will last longer, the European Super League or the
name Abrdn?" another Twitter user says.
SLA declined to comment on the jokes or on whether it would
reconsider the strategy if "stakeholder" feedback was negative.
(Joice Alves)
*****
AFTER 2020 DISASTER, DIVIDENDS MAKING A COMEBACK (1101 GMT)
Europe saw an unprecedented level of dividend cancellation
last year with the STOXX 600 alone witnessing 236 payout cuts.
But 2021 is going to be a much different story.
JPMorgan highlights how the dividend factor is performing
much better this year both in the U.S. (+12% return YTD) and
Europe and it expects dividends will keep recovering.
"Dividends will have a tailwind from strong earnings
delivery, and will benefit from relatively subdued payout
ratios," analysts at the U.S. bank says.
"Historically, the relationship between the two (earnings
and dividends) has been a close one," they note.
In this JPM chart you see MSCI Europe 12-month forward EPS
estimates spiking higher from last year's lows, suggesting there
may be scope for DPS growth to catch up.
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
SELL IN MAY? IT MIGHT NOT WORK FOR MINERS (1033 GMT)
The old ‘sell in May and go away’ adage seems to have been
working for miners for decades. But this time we should be more
careful as otherwise, we could miss a buying opportunity.
Mining equities tend to underperform in May “based on our
seasonality analysis if share price returns over the past 25
years,” Citi analysts say in a research note.
But “we would be adding to dip this time around,” they add.
Here are the reasons, according to Citi:
* strong commodity price tailwind with strategists expecting
a
copper supercycle potentially playing out through the summer;
* undemanding sector valuations despite a rally in
commodities and
mining equities in April;
* May seasonality effect did not work in two of the last
three
years.
The chart below shows the miners stock index
outperforming the Stoxx 600 index.
(Stefano Rebaudo)
*****
VACCINE: EUROPE'S DOING BETTER, WORRIES ON EM (1016 GMT)
Things got a lot better recently in Europe, with most
vaccine trajectories getting closer to government targets,
getting hopes up about the economic recovery in the area.
But it's not all about the so-called developed world as
emerging market (EM) is lagging, according to a global
vaccination tracker from UBS.
The gap between emerging and developed market (DM) "is now
the widest since the vaccine rollout began," UBS says.
The bank uses 7 day rolling average vaccination rates to
project the share of the population fully vaccinated by 2021.
"India's slowdown is particularly disconcerting (from 36.7%
to 24.5%) given record numbers of virus cases," it adds.
"While Indian caseloads are so high, there will be concerns
about the unevenness of the global recovery and the ability of
variants to escape," analysts at Deutsche Banks say.
The DM vaccination pace slowed to 93.1% of the population,
mainly due to a slowdown in the U.S. from very high levels.
The EU27 is posting another increase, with strength in
Germany and Italy offsetting slowing in France and Spain.
(Stefano Rebaudo)
*****
MKTNG MSTRPCS (MARKETING MASTERPIECES) (0947 GMT)
One of Britain's largest fund managers Standard Life
Aberdeen is planning to drop the vowels and change its
name to Abrdn, pronounced Aberdeen.
The move, which has prompted a string of jokes on social
media, is not a late April's fool joke but "part of a modern,
agile, digitally-enabled brand" strategy.
"Standard Life Aberdeen needed to sort out its branding, but
the new Abrdn name will likely leave investors feeling dazed and
confused," notes AJ Bell analyst Laith Khalaf.
And a Twitter user writes: "To think someone’s been paid
(likely a lot of money) to come up with #abrdn, is it 1st April
again?".
This is not the first time well-known companies launch
controversial rebranding strategies.
In 2018, Weight Watchers announced it was slimming its name
to WW, which to the world means World War but the company linked
the two letters to "Wellness that works", in an effort to target
general health and reduce focus on losing weight.
In 2001, Royal Mail changed its name and spent 17 months
trading as "Consignia", a name criticised for meaning nothing to
the public.
PWC briefly changed the name of its consulting arm in 2002
to "Monday". The new name lasted 51 days before being
unceremoniously ditched by new owner IBM.
As Aberdeen's rebranding roll-out will begin in the summer,
there is plenty of time for the company to reconsider, if they
want to.
"Which will last longer, the European Super League or the
name Abrdn?" another Twitter user says.
(Joice Alves)
*****
STOXX HOVERING AROUND PARITY (0754 GMT)
There's not much action at the European cash market open
this morning as investors look undecided about what direction to
take before big macro events and earnings later in the week.
As a result the STOXX 600 regional benchmark index
has kept hovering around parity in early deals and last managed
to edge up just 0.2% on the day.
Under the flattish surface, however, M&A and Q1 updates are
helping make things a bit more lively.
A strong trading update sent UK engineering company IMI
rising 7% to the top of the STOXX, while break-up plans
lifted food ingredients maker Tate & Lyle up over 6%.
Worries about losing business with top customer Apple
continued to weigh on Austrian sensor specialist AMS,
sending its shares down 3.5%.
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
QUIET START, BIG WEEK (0702 GMT)
There will be plenty to chew on this week, with the Fed
meeting featuring as main attraction alongside top-tier macro
data and earnings reports from almost 300 U.S. and European
firms.
While Canada's hawkish surprise last week has put markets on
high alert for signs the U.S. central bank might be considering
tapering of bond purchases, most reckon it will stick for now
with its ultra-easy policy stance.
That will be crucial for market sentiment which is torn
between buoyant macro data and company results in much of the
developed world and the explosion in COVID-19 cases across India
and the rest of Asia.
So while the dollar has slipped to an eight-week low, equity
investors seem content to stay on the sidelines with both
European and U.S. futures trading around flat. Both indexes fell
last week, snapping a multi-week winning streak.
Eyes today are on Germany's IFO survey which comes on the
heels of robust manufacturing figures; later this week, expect
Q1 GDP releases in the euro zone, Germany and the United States.
Bond yields are inching higher meanwhile; German Bunds may
feel the heat from opinion polls showing the Greens overtaking
Merkel's conservative bloc before September elections.
On the corporate radar, the main event is Telsa's earnings
report with expectations of a 72% increase in revenue.
In Europe, Philips shares could rise 2% after a hefty jump
in quarterly profits, while steelmaker SSAB's Q1 profit beat
means it could open 1% to 5% higher. On the M&A front, Nestle is
in talks to buy nutritional supplement maker The Bountiful
Company.
Key developments that should provide more direction to
markets on Monday:
* BIS, BOE and ECB conference on the post-pandemic
spillover; CB’s
Fabio Panetta to speak
* German IFO
* Kazakhstan central bank meeting
* U.S. durable goods
* U.S. 2 year and 5 year note auctions
* U.S. earnings: Tesla
* European earnings: Galp, Philips, Kuhne and Nagel
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
EUROPEAN SHARES SEEN FLAT AS BUSY WEEK STARTS (0625 GMT)
European shares are seen opening little changed today as
investors prepare for a busy week that will see important data
releases, central bank meetings in the U.S. and Japan, and the
continuation of the Q1 earnings season.
Futures on the EuroSTOXX50, FTSE and DAX indices were last
trading between flat and a rise of 0.05%, whereas U.S. futures
were just above parity.
Over in Asia, optimism about the economic recovery sent
shares higher, more than offsetting concerns about potential
higher U.S. taxes on capital gains.
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
