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 Stefano Rebaudo
(stefano.rebaudo@thomsonreuters.com) in Milan.
FLASH PMIs A WAKE-UP CALL (0840 GMT)
Today's flash PMI numbers for Sept are a wake-up call that this crisis is far from over and
the excitement we saw during summer was just a temporary re-opening boost. Flash PMIs for
Eurozone came in well below expectations, mainly let down by the services sector.
Quite obviously the second wave of COVID-19 infections is denting the propects of a
sustained recovery. Surprisingly, the UK numbers were a tad better than Eurozone (stats below).
"For several weeks now there has been increasing evidence that the rebound seen in France
and Germany in the weeks after the relaxation of lockdown has started to run out of steam
already," says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
ING meanwhile says these numbers will be a "wake-up call" for governments and ECB.
"The impact of second wave related weakness does lead us to think that the recovery is under
more pressure than previously thought," ING adds.
(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)
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OPENING SNAPSHOT: DIPLOMA AND GENMAB IN FOCUS(0753 GMT)
European bourses are up for a second straight session after Monday's sharp selloff as
Britain sets new restrictions but avoids a second national lockdown.
The pan-European index is up 1% with tech stocks leading the gains with a
1.3% rise.
In terms of corporate news, shares of technical products and services provider Diploma
rise on deal to buy a U.S.-based wire and cable distributor.
But there was also big moves in negative territory with Danish biotechnology company Genmab
shares down more than 10% after the company started binding arbitration to settle two
license agreement matters with Janssen Biotech.
Meantime, Britain's blue chips and midcaps jumped 1.4% and 1.3%, in a surprise move
after PM Johnson announced new COVID-19 restrictions and told people last evening to work from
home where possible, ordered restaurants and bars to close early, but ditched a new national
lockdown.
(Joice Alves)
ON OUR RADAR: PUMA, ADIDAS, OSRAM AND UK RESTRICTIONS (0651 GMT)
In a data-heavy morning with September flash PMI figures for the EZ and the UK due to be
out, futures are pointing to an open in the black as European bourses are still trying to
recover from Monday's steep selloff.
Adidas and Puma shares take centre stage and are rising 2-3% in early Frankfurt trade after
peer Nike's strong results. While Osram shares are gaining a whopping 11% after the company and
Austrian sensor maker AMS concluded a domination agreement.
Finance firms in London including Barclays, SocGen UK staff and Lloyd's of London are
getting ready to return to work from home as the UK government asked people to do so.
Lufthansa AG plans to start making rapid COVID-19 antigen tests available to
passengers in October and is weighing the option of opening test centres at airports in the U.S.
and Canada.
In M&A, France's presidential palace asked the country's Foreign Minister to write to LVMH
advising the luxury goods company to defer its purchase of U.S. jeweller Tiffany. And Platinum
Equity no longer plans to make an offer for roadside recovery firm AA, it said.
Tesla's Frankfurt-listed shares were down 7.9% in thin volumes after its 'battery
day' led to profit taking by investors after a stellar run this year.
More readings:
BRIEF-Joules Group Says Revenue For 13 Weeks To August Ahead Of Its Expectations
BRIEF-SSP Group Sees H2 Overall Net Cash Usage Between 250 Mln Stg And 270 Mln Stg
UK's PZ Cussons posts 23% jump in first-quarter revenue
Cellnex close to buying Madrid subway's telecom firm Metrocall - Expansion
(Joice Alves)
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MORNING CALL: "HARD WINTER" AHEAD(0540 GMT)
European bourses are seen opening slightly higher this morning, mainly because they are
trying to recover from Monday's sell-off.
Indeed, there is somehow a lack of strong positive news across the region with UK's PM
saying in a prime-time televised plea that the winter will be hard.
Johnson told people on Tuesday to work from home where possible and ordered restaurants and
bars to close early to tackle a fast-spreading second wave of COVID-19, with new restrictions
lasting probably six months.
These measures have raised "the very real prospect of a whole host of businesses which may
not survive until the end of the year," writes Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK.
Financial spreadbetters at IG expect London's FTSE to open 60 points higher at 5,890,
Frankfurt's DAX to open 105 points higher at 12,700 and Paris' CAC to open 40 points higher at
4,813.
(Joice Alves)
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Diploma (DPLM)
