RDSA.L Share News (RDSA)

* European stocks end at 6-week high as autos jump * Trump agrees with EU to work to lower trade barriers * Big results day: BAT, AstraZeneca, Airbus rise after updates * ECB leaves rates unchanged as expected * Nasdaq opens lower as Facebook leads tech selloff LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equitymarkets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Kit Rees. Reach her onMessenger to share your thoughts on market moves: kit.rees.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net CLOSING SNAPSHOT: STOXX TURNS POSITIVE FOR THE YEAR (1645 GMT) Despite the heavy fall in Facebook shares on the other side of the pond, relief that theTrump-Juncker meeting on trade averted the worst has helped European shares keep on gainingtoday with a late drop in the euro lifting the STOXX 600 to six-week highs at the close. As a result, the pan-European benchmark has returned to a slight gain for the year,up 0.3 percent from the end of December 2017. Here's your snapshot (year-to-date moves are in the white-background column). (Danilo Masoni) ***** STAYING CONSTRUCTIVE ON EUROPEAN EQUITIES (1546 GMT) Columbia Threadneedle Investments has published its latest asset allocation update and itkept its rather positive view on European stocks, despite in common currency terms, returns havelagged other markets so far this year. It believes that recent economic weakness in the region is transitory and expect solidearnings growth and a weaker euro to provide a welcome tailwind. "Current economic forecasts of 2.3 percent growth in Europe this year should comfortablytranslate to 10 percent corporate earnings growth for 2018 (and we currently expect 2019earnings growth of 8 percent)," said Columbia Threadneedle's Toby Nangle, Head of Multi-AssetEMEA, and Maya Bhandari, Portfolio Manager. "The latest positive turn in earnings revision ratios is seen to be encouraging in thiscontext, and valuations are cheaper. Few companies outside Germany (and to a degree, France) arereporting wage pressures, notwithstanding top-down data showing wages rising at the fastest pacesince 2011," they add. To conclude, they made no changes to their asset allocation portfolios, which continue tofavour European equities – a position held for much of the period since January 2015. (Danilo Masoni) ***** BOLT-ON M&A, NOT BUYBACKS TO DRIVE INSURERS (1344 GMT) Mario Draghi's media conference has ended with little change on European stocks, so let'sdeviate from markets and take a look at the insurance sector where UBS analysts believe thatwhile buybacks will drive shares less and less, bolt-on M&A could instead boost EPS. "We believe M&A and de-levering will rise up the agenda given the need for many insurers to'buy growth', and to keep leverage at manageable levels given potential for bond yields to riseand/or equity markets to fall," says UBS, adding that share buy-backs will contribute less andless upside. UBS found that, of the 150 transactions they analysed over the past 15 years, more than 50percent didn't create value for the acquiring company in terms of share price performance. But being disciplined is, of course, important. UBS favours stocks including Allianz,Prudential, Direct Line, Swiss Life, Ageas, Aviva, NN Group, Tryg, Baloise and Lancashire, whichhave strong balance sheets, strong capital generation and dividend sustainability. (Kit Rees) ***** POST-ECB SNAPSHOT: "FLAT AS A PANCAKE" (1214 GMT) As widely anticipated the ECB delivered no surprises and Euro zone equities remained well within their daily trading range, tracking a similarly steady euro. After the policy decision, Viraj Patel, FX & Global Macro Strategist at ING, tweeted: "Ifyou're looking for volatility then you won't find it in $EURUSD. Flat as a pancake. May needsome 'magic' from Draghi to spark life into the cross. 30 mins or so away from the ECB chief" Draghi's presser starts at 1230 GMT. (Danilo Masoni) ***** ECB EXPECTATIONS: NOT HUGE (1107 GMT) Yes, we've got an ECB rate decision today. Hard to believe given all of the trade stuff andearnings going on, which might be just as well given that investors aren't expecting anyfireworks at this one. "The only potential drama today comes from economists betting on what color tie ECBPresident Draghi will wear at the press conference," Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS GlobalWealth Management, says. The ECB is widely expected to keep rates on hold, given that it said last month that it haddecided to end its 2.6 trillion euro ($3.0 trillion) bond buying scheme by the end of the year, "We should expect the ECB to deliberately talk down the prospect of rate hikes until QE iswell out of the way. This makes a rate increase unlikely until mid-2019," Dario Perkins,managing director, global macro at TS Lombard, says. Meanwhile European stocks are holding on to gains, driven by autos and earnings. (Kit Rees) ***** TRUMP-JUNCKER DEAL. TIPPING POINT OR TEMPORARY RELIEF? (0959 GMT) World stocks have hit four month highs after Trump and Juncker agreed to launch negotiationsto cut other trade barriers, easing the threat of a transatlantic trade war. Although the positive market reaction, especially in Europe, is tangible, investors appearto be undecided over whether this is a big breakthrough or just a temporary relief, especiallyas the deal looks to be quite bad for China and that autos were left out of the statement https://goo.gl/Rj4LX7. Here are a few views: * Deutsche Bank: "It's worth noting that trade in vehicles and car parts was left out of thestatement... Signs of a compromise are clearly more significant for now in markets with thethreat of an all-out trade war receding. That said DB's Alan Ruskin made the point last nightthat caution is still warranted, most obviously on what this might mean for US-China traderelations where problems are more deep-seated." * Rabobank strategist Michael Every: "So Mr Juncker went to Washington - and he got a deal.Areally big deal. One that looks to be a huge win for the US, a reasonable achievement forEurope, and a disaster for China." * UniCredit: "Investor confidence may still be limited because the automotive sector remainsexcluded from the agreement for the time being. In principle, market participants now have theopportunity to lower their assessment of the risk of an economic slowdown caused by the tradingconflict." * Quilter Investors fund manager Sacha Chorley: "The Trump–Juncker meeting was a potentialtippingpoint that could have prompted the fledgling trade war to spiral into something more damaging.Thankfully, we seem to have been rescued from the brink and there will now be plenty of optimismthat the US-EU confrontation will cool off." (Danilo Masoni) ***** OPENING SNAPSHOT: AUTOS REV HIGHER AS U.S.-EU TRADE TENSIONS EASE (0733 GMT) European shares have opened higher, thanks to strong gains for autos stocks as the U.S. andEU make progress in dialling down trade tensions, while results have boosted shares in Airbus,Smith & Nephew and British American Tobacco. Here's your opening snapshot: (Kit Rees) ***** ON THE RADAR AHEAD OF THE EUROPEAN OPEN (0639 GMT) Thawing U.S.-EU trade tensions are set to propel European stocks, with futures for theexporter-heavy DAX up 1.2 percent. The trade breakthrough comes on a very busy earnings day for Europe, with big hittersincluding Shell, Airbus, Diageo, AstraZeneca, Roche, AB InBev and Schneider Electric all givingupdates. Of note are Daimler's results in which its Q2 profit dropped 30 percent. This follows theall-too-familiar pattern seen at peers GM, Fiat and Ford where the trade tensions between theU.S. and China have resulted in them cutting forecasts (Daimler did so last month). Facebook's tumble in after-hours trading could put a dampener on tech stocks today, sothat's another area to watch. Here are some more headlines: Shell launches $25 bln buyback plan, Q2 profits misses Diageo's sales up despite currency headwind Smith & Nephew sticks to full-year view as established markets recover New drugs help as AstraZeneca battles through generic losses French oil major Total's Q2 profits jump on new record output Spain's DIA risks guidance as core profit keeps falling Anglo American confirms Quellaveco copper project, H1 earnings rise Relx maintains revenue growth trajectory, reiterates outlook Spain's Repsol Q2 adjusted net profit rises 23 percent y/y Puma lifts sales target after solid second quarter Austria's Verbund beats Q2 profit helped by good water supply Dutch telco KPN beats estimates with slight rise in core profit French retailer Casino to sell 15 pct of Mercialys, keeps goals Schroders posts 8 pct rise in H1 pretax profit, assets up UK caterer Compass posts lower margins on UK challenges Russia's Polymetal says Q2 revenue up 13 pct y/y Britain's Sky reports 9 percent rise in core earnings Virgin Money reports 10 pct rise in H1 profit AccorHotels drops plan to buy minority stake in Air France-KLM German consumer morale slips heading into August (Kit Rees) ***** EUROPEAN EARNINGS: BUSY, BUSY, BUSY (0604 GMT) European stocks futures have opened higher on what is a very busy earnings day. Autos aredefinitely going to be in focus following Daimler's results, in which the carmaker'ssecond-quarter profit tumbled 30 percent, citing tariffs as one of the contributing factors. This follows a pattern seen in results from General Motors, Fiat and Ford. Here are key earnings-related headlines so far this morning: Daimler Q2 profit hit by WLTP emissions, clouding outlook AB InBev gets World Cup boost to beat expectations Schneider Electric raises FY outlook again; sees growth across businesses, regions Roche raises 2018 outlook as new drugs gain traction Deutsche Boerse Q2 net profit up 19 pct on higher volatility Airbus Q2 core profit doubles after A350 cost improvements Nestle expects better H2 after quarterly growth beats poll Spain's Bankia posts 36 pct rise in Q2 profit on lower provisions Nokia posts weak profits, sees 5G boost later in 2018 Telecoms group Orange Q2 core operating profits rise 3 percent Spain's Telefonica H1 core profit down 0.9 percent French reinsurer Scor's net profit hit by U.S. tax reform in Q2 Valeo cuts 2018 profit outlook, blaming new emissions tests France's Ingenico cuts core profit outlook on Iran exit, currency headwinds Suez sells 20 pct of U.S. water business for $601 mln, H1 earnings robust France's Klepierre raises guidance on strong leasing activity Sika reports better-than-expected H1 profit Essilor keeps financial targets, says Luxottica deal on track Covestro ups profit guidance on strong plastics demand Equinor Q2 adj operating income lags forecast due Norway maintenance (Kit Rees) ***** OPENING CALL: EUROPEAN SHARES SET TO RALLY (0533 GMT) Good morning. European shares are expected to open higher, according to financialspreadbetters, after the European Union offered trade concessions in talks with U.S. PresidentDonald Trump. Spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE to open 0.1 percent higher, Germany's DAX to climb 0.7percent and France's CAC to gain 0.4 percent. The thawing in trade tensions helped Wall Street rise, though we're seeing signs of pain intech stocks after Facebook's shares tumbled in extended trade after it warned about slowinggrowth and climbing expenses. Asian shares were lacklustre, however, with worries over the impact of trade frictions ongrowth weighing on China and Hong Kong stocks. (Kit Rees) (Reporting by Kit Rees and Danilo Masoni)