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, Danilo Masoni and Stefano
Rebaudo (stefano.rebaudo@thomsonreuters.com) in Milan.
ON THE RADAR: Q3 TASTERS FOR BREAKFAST (0629 GMT)
The Q3 earnings season started yesterday in the U.S. with heavyweights JP Morgan and
Citigroup but that's not to say there isn't anything going on this side of the pound.
On a first glimpse, it looks quite encouraging on the tech front with ASML Holding, the
semiconductor equipment maker, reporting better-than expected earnings and expecting double
digit growth in 2021.
Dutch mapping and navigation company TomTom also beat analysts’ expectations, helped by
growth in its automotive business.
While talks about new lockdowns are spreading, European food-ordering firm Just Eat
Takeaway.com said it had received 46% more orders in the third quarter than a year earlier, as a
surge in online orders due to coronavirus social distancing measures continued.
Talking about the impact of social restrictions, British education group Pearson said it was
on course to hit market expectations after demand for online learning helped soften the impact
from cancelled tests and closed schools due to COVID-19.
In the UK, online fashion retailer ASOS benefited from strong demand during the COVID-19
pandemic and reported a quadrupling in full-year profit.
Outside the earnings season, there's been also quite of news in terms of management
reshuffles in the banking sector with UniCredit naming economist Pier Carlo Padoan as director
and saying it would appoint the former Treasury chief as chairman when it renews the board next
spring.
The choice of Padoan, 70, a parliamentarian for the ruling centre-left PD party, comes as
consolidation sweeps through Europe's battered banking sector, piling pressure on CEO Jean
Pierre Mustier to drop his "no M&A" mantra.
In Switzerland, Credit Suisse is hiring former head of investment banking at Bank of America
Corp Christian Meissner.
In France, French daily Le Figaro reported that L'Oreal is set to name deputy Chief
Executive Officer Nicolas Hieronimus as its new chief, replacing long-time boss Jean-Paul Agon.
One very long corporate saga seems about to end in Italy with Atlantia entering exclusive
talks with state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) over the sale of the group's motorway
assets.
In ECM news, German plastics group Covestro raised 447 million euros in a capital increase
to finance the purchase of Dutch peer DSM's Resins and Functional Materials business
Also Liberty Global has been successful in its 6.8 billion Swiss franc attempt to buy
Switzerland's Sunrise Communications after the all-cash offer was accepted by nearly 82% of the
target's shareholders.
(Julien Ponthus)
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MORNING CALL: NOT MUCH TO LOOK FORWARD TO (0532 GMT)
European futures are trading just slightly in positive territory but it clearly doesn't look
like a rebound from yesterday's fall is in the making.
Disappointments on the vaccine front, fading hopes of a swift U.S. fiscal stimulus, a weak
reception of JP Morgan and Citigroup's Q3 results combined with an underwhelming welcome to
Apple's next-generation iPhone 12 aren't quite the ingredients needed for a risk-on breakfast
cocktail to say the least.
If you add lingering no-deal Brexit fears with the angst about possible new regional and
even national lockdowns across Europe, there's no wonder the mood isn't upbeat.
(Julien Ponthus)
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