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 Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com)
and Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London and Danilo Masoni and Stefano
Rebaudo (stefano.rebaudo@thomsonreuters.com) in Milan.
OPENING SNAPSHOT: DASSAULT TAKES OFF, ARM DEAL READ-ACROSS (0740 GMT)
French fighter jet maker Dassault Aviation is clearly the star of the morning trading, up 8%
after Greece said its armed forces would purchase 18 Rafale jets.
There are no fireworks for AstraZeneca (+1) after it said its COVID-19 vaccine trial would
resume. The sector is actually the worst performing in Europe and that comes after Donald Trump
signed an executive order to lower U.S. drug prices.
Analysts estimate that more than 60% of global pharmaceuticals profits are generated in the
United States due to the high drug prices in the country.
But the travel and leisure sector does seem to be experiencing a big high on vaccine hopes
and is rising 1.2% with airlines stocks rising strongly notably. BA owner ICAG is up 7.4% and
EasyJet 2.8%.
On the other hand there's a nice read-across of Nvidia $40 billion agreement to acquire Arm
from SoftBank with STMicro up 2.5%, Dialog up 1.3% and ASM international up 1.8%.
Still in M&A news, Credit Suisse is up 2.5% after new speculation on a possible tie-up with
UBS (+1.8%).
(Julien Ponthus)
*****
ON THE RADAR: M&A IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 (0645 GMT)
Of course, news over the weekend that AstraZeneca had resumed clinical trials of its
COVID-19 vaccine is giving a major boost to morale and there's more on that front with Pfizer
and BioNTech proposing to expand their vaccine trial to about 44,000 participants.
Switzerland's Molecular Partners also completed initial manufacturing runs for an antiviral
drug against COVID-19 but the recent surge in M&A activity is saying a lot about corporate
confidence in moving forward.
Nvidia Corp's $40 billion agreement to acquire Arm from SoftBank is a big move for the
industry many and groups will need to respond in some way.
The consolidation of European bourses is also underway with Euronext confirming a
non-binding offer to the London Stock Exchange Group to buy Borsa Italiana.
Elsewhere, EP Global Commerce, an acquisition vehicle owned by Czech and Slovak investors,
is launching a takeover offer for shares in German wholesaler Metro with the aim of raising its
investment in the company above 30%.
In France, Veolia is seeking to address fears about its offer for its rival Suez by pledging
it will not lead to job losses.
There's also some action on the front with Polish commerce platform Allegro planning to
raise around $266.54 million in what is expected to be the biggest debut on the Warsaw bourse
for years.
(Julien Ponthus)
******
MORNING CALL: THAT VACCINE THING DOING ITS THING AGAIN (0540 GMT)
Here we go again: European futures are trading in the black after a positive session in Asia
where renewed hopes of a coronavirus vaccine have beefed up sentiment.
It's not the first time nor will it be the last that investors cling to the prospect of a
vaccine clearing the way out of the pandemic and so much will happen in the meantime.
Brexit, the U.S. election you name it!
It must be said that M&A is also playing its part in infusing some optimism with notably
Nvidia set to buy UK-based chip designer Arm from Japan's SoftBank Group for as much as $40
billion.
Anyhow, London, Paris and Frankfurt are seen opening up but quite modestly, between 0.2% and
0.4%, while Wall Street futures are much more bullish and trading above 1%.
(Julien Ponthus)
*****