Intertek Group Share News (ITRK)

* Fed cuts rates
* European stocks stage bounce back
* G7 statement disappoints
* Virus-hit travel and mining stocks boost rally
* Qiagen jumps 20% after Thermo Fisher's $12 billion bid
* Wall Street makes timid gains

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters
stocks reporters. You can share your thoughts with Thyagaraju Adinarayan
(thyagaraju.adinarayan@tr.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@tr.com), Julien Ponthus
(julien.ponthus@tr.com) in London.

ITALY'S BAD DATA, WAIT... IT IS WORSE (1609 GMT)
Italy's PMI data showed a contraction in February but things are likely already much worse
as the data was collected until Feb 21, meaning it excludes the impact of the outbreak of the
coronavirus in the country in the last week of the month.
"Macro indicators to asses the size of such shock will become available from the end of this
month. However, as Italy is likely to face both supply and demand shocks, we expect the
recession in industry to intensify in 1H20," writes Loredana Maria Federico, chief Italian
economist at UniCredit Bank in Milan.
Italy's business lobby Confindustria also said today it believed the coronavirus outbreak
would strongly impact growth in the first half of 2020 and drag the country into recession.

The virus is hitting Italy where it hurts the most: Lombardy and Veneto, which are the two
regions with the highest number of coronavirus cases, together account for more than 30% of the
Italian GDP and around 40% of Italy’s total exports, Unicredit says.
(Joice Alves)
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FED RATE CUT: BOY DID THAT DE-ESCALATE QUICKLY! (1526 GMT)
That Fed cut did take the market by surprise and triggered an intense but very short-lived
spike on the STOXX 600!
About 20 minutes after the announcement, European shares are off their sessions highs and
getting back very close to where they were.
Seems both the G7 and the Fed didn't quite have in store what was required to bolster
sentiment.
Here's the STOXX 600:

(Julien Ponthus)
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EXPECTING ANOTHER 2008? HERE ARE SOME SHORTS IN THE MEANTIME(1447 GMT)
What this week's rebound shows for sure is that even if covid-19 triggered a weekly sell-off
worthy of the 2008 financial crisis, most investors believe we're actually not quite there yet.
So before bearish investors jump the gun and start trading "a systemic global crisis", it
might be wise to aim for "targeted shorts on those equities most exposed to the virus", writes
Simon Black, head of investment management at Dolfin.
Here's his list:

(Julien Ponthus)
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FIGHT CANCELLATIONS, HOW BAD CAN IT GET?(1321 GMT)
With demand for flights taking a huge hit, European airlines are in the centre of the
coronavirus whirlwind.
Since the coronavirus spread to Europe, British Airways and Iberia owner International
Consolidated Airlines, Ryanair and Easyjet cancelled hundreds of
flights.
The question is how bad it could get for airlines?
Analysts at HSBC expect further consolidation in the sector, have cut estimates
significantly for 2020 and assume weaker balance sheets.
"Our base cases now imply EBIT cuts ranging from 87% at Air France-KLM to 23% at
Ryanair and Wizz," writes Andrew Lobbenberg, an analyst at HSBC.
Yet the bank is keeping a buy-rate for most airlines (see below) saying notably that they
should benefit from lower hedged fuel costs.
"We see this as a crisis, yet we remain constructive for the industry," Lobbenberg adds.
(Joice Alves)
*****

G7 STATEMENT DISAPPOINTS (1315 GMT)
The statement from the G7 Finance Ministers sent U.S. stock futures into negative territory
and cut some gains in Europe.
There just wasn't much in the statement to boost sentiment and that's probably the cause for
the disappointment.
Some excerpts:
"(We are) closely monitoring the spread of the coronavirus disease"
"We reaffirm our commitment to use all appropriate policy tools to achieve strong,
sustainable growth and safeguard against downside risks"
"G7 finance ministers are ready to take actions, including fiscal measures where
appropriate, to aid in the response to the virus and support the economy during this phase."

(Thyagaraju Adinaraya)
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CORONAVIRUS OVERREACTION? LIKELY, DB SURVEY FINDS (1203 GMT)
Looking at the state of markets, it does seem that the consensus view is that investors and
robots jumped the gun a tad last week when pricing the scale of the economic damage about to be
unleashed by covid-19.
A tad because in Europe at least, the current rebound is nowhere near compensating the worst
weekly losses since 2008.
A Deutsche Bank survey of over 600 participants yesterday did find that the mood on the
trading floor was indeed to view last week as an overreaction.
The poll showed 47% of respondents strongly or slightly agreed that "financial markets
overreacted to covid-19 last week".


There was also some kind of optimism with 62% believing that the "Western World" would be
back to normal by the end of Q2. That would open the way to a V-ish recovery shape rather than a
brutal U or L if it takes much longer for the epidemic to peak.



(Julien Ponthus)
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SHAME YOU'RE NOT CALLED DAVE... (1108 GMT)
Sunday, March 8 is international women's day - an occasion to celebrate women's social,
economic, cultural and political achievements.
Yet looking at Morningstar's latest findings, you could be forgiven for thinking the past
two decades went by in a blink and without much of a trace in the asset management industry. The
investment research house found that at the end of 2000, 14% of fund managers were women. And at
the end of 2019, still only 14% of fund managers were women.
With its global database of funds registered in 56 countries Morningstar determined the
gender of more than 25,000 fund managers. There are some bright-ish spots, mostly in smaller
markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain, where more than 20% of fund managers are women
(that's still 80% men).
But some of the largest financial centers remain below the global average: In the United
Kingdom just 13% of fund managers are female, and in the United States just 11%. A recent
analysis showing that more funds are run by managers called "David" or "Dave" in the UK than by
women.
So why the lack of progress? There is no performance difference linked to one's set of
chromosomes, found Morningstar, but likely rather "a complicated combination of structural
barriers and implicit biases."

(Karin Strohecker)
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ESG: TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON "E"? (1017 GMT)
ESG investing has been a hot topic for a couple of years and there is often a misconception
that stocks with high-exposure to renewable energy producers make it to the top of the list.
Well, it might be because there is too much emphasis on the "E" (environmental).
Credit Suisse's analysis shows the top holdings in Europe, at least the top 15, are not
utilities or renewable energy producers.
ESG-focused investors' top five choices in Europe are SAP, Allianz,
Roche, ASML and Nestle. (Check the list below from Credit Suisse)
"Our analysis of the top holdings across the 100+ ESG-related funds in this report shows
that renewable or climate change-related companies hardly appear among these top holdings,"
Credit Suisse says.
"While a lot of ESG-focused investors may own renewable companies, they on average do not
appear to have a strong enough stance towards them as they don't feature often in their top
holdings."




(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)
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OPENING SNAPSHOT: BETS ON HOW LONG THIS RALLY COULD GO? (0823 GMT)
Hours, days, weeks? Write to me at thyagaraju.adinarayan@tr.com
Europe is open and is going strong at the moment (fingers crossed) with all the STOXX 600
sub-sectors trading comfortably in positive territory ahead of the G7 statement.
Hopes from the meeting to address calls for concrete or detailed government spending or
coordinated central bank rate cuts are however unlikely to be fulfilled, according to a G7
official.
Qiagen is topping the chart after Thermo Fisher launched a $12 billion acquisition
bid for the German genetic testing company.
Aggreko is the second biggest riser after the company said it sticks to its 2020
targets as preparations for Tokyo Olympics are "progressing well". The news temporarily cools
investors' worries that Olympics might be cancelled due to coronavirus.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)
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LOGITECH, INTERTEK ISSUE CORONA WARNINGS; GREGGS FOR BREAKFAST
Futures point to more than 1% gain for most of the European bourses, a far cry from a
rate-cut-hope rally in Wall Street last night, as economists question how effective would
monetary easing be in addressing the impact of coronavirus.
But that hasn't stopped U.S. President Trump from asking for one: "(The Fed) Should ease and
cut rate big". Market is also awaiting an update from G7 countries on their pledge to work
together to mitigate the damage to their economies from the fast-spreading epidemic.
Meanwhile, almost every single earnings update in Europe has a mention of coronavirus in it
and some have warned on a potential impact.
Swiss computer mice and keyboards maker Logitech and UK's Intertek warned
of supply problems from the coronavirus outbreak in China.
Robert Walters and Beiersdorf highlighted coronavirus concerns, but were
not precise about the impact form the virus. The British hiring firm's shares are seen falling
sharply down on uncertain outlook.
We're unlikely to see a major reaction in others given the steep sell-off in stock markets
over the last ten days.
Greggs shares for once could likely disappoint with muted reaction after the British baker
said it saw a significant slowdown in February due to widespread storms.
Other potential moves: Wirecard negative read-across from Visa warning;
semis on watch after Microchip Tech has withdrew prior guidance; HelloFresh seen
jumping after it confirmed better-than-expected 2019 results and forecast strong growth in 2020

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)
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A RISE, BUT NOTHING CLOSE TO WALL STREET'S (0649 GMT)
Yes, we're staring at small gains at the open, but nothing close to Wall Street's 5% jump
last night as investors expect central banks to come to the rescue as coronavirus fears heighten
across the world.
Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 67 points higher at 6,722,
Frankfurt's DAX to open 120 points higher at 12,010 and Paris' CAC to open 91 points higher at
5,401.
"It is still unclear how effective monetary and (the promise of) fiscal stimulus can be in
addressing the impact of coronavirus, hence the limited follow-through in Asia and Europe," says
Ian Williams, economics & strategy research analyst at Peel Hunt.
It's also Super Tuesday where a group of states hold primary elections on the same day.
If it goes well for Bernie Sanders, RBC Capital says it is "likely to unsettle stocks".

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)
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(Reporting by Joice Alves, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)