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
(danilo.masoni@thomsonreuters.com) and Stefano Rebaudo (stefano.rebaudo@thomsonreuters.com) in
Milan.
OPENING SNAPSHOT: UNCERTAIN START, RESULTS LIFT TESCO, DIALOG (0721 GMT)
European shares were off to an uncertain start today with main benchmarks moving in and out
positive territory.
The STOXX 600 managed to gain some footing and was last up 0.2% on the day, helped
by well-received updates from UK's biggest supermarket chain Tesco and German chipmaker
Dialog Semiconductor, both up around 4%.
Shares in Italian payments firm Nexi drop 5.7% after company’s top shareholder
Mercury placed a 13.4% stake at a discount, a day after it announced a merger with rival SIA.
Banks were also a weak spot after a big rally yesterday on U.S. stimulus expectations.
Here's your opening snapshot:
(Danilo Masoni)
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ON OUR RADAR: CHIPS, TESCO AND TECH SPACE (0650 GMT)
The confusion around timing of possible fiscal stimulus in the U.S. following Trump's
remarks overnight will likely translate into a muted open in Europe with futures last trading
between a fall of 0.2% and a gain of 0.1%.
On the corporate news front, investors will have to digest some first earnings reports,
namely from Britain's biggest supermarket chain Tesco and German chip maker Dialog
Semiconductor. Both shares are seen rising in early deals,
Tesco reported a 15.6% fall in core profit, with a jump in sales due to the COVID-19
pandemic more than outweighed by higher costs and losses at Tesco Bank. Traders said results
overall look solid and there should be some relief today given the shares had been weak ahead of
their release.
Dialog looked more upbeat after lifted its Q3 revenue guidance to about $386 million,
compared to the previous $340-380 million range. Its shares are seen rising 3% at
the open, possibly providing a positive boost for peers like sensor specialist AMS.
More generally the tech space will be in focus after a panel of U.S. lawmakers detailed late
yesterday market abuses by Alphabet's Google, Apple, Amazon.com and
Facebook, urging for strict reform. The panel recommended structural separations but
stopped short of saying a specific company should be broken up.
Shares in LSE could come under pressure after The Times reported that UK Finance
Minister Rishi Sunak plans to take on new powers to block companies from listing on the London
Stock Exchange on national security grounds.
Eyes also on aerospace stocks after Boeing cut its rolling 20-year forecast for
airplane demand, sending its shares lower as the COVID-19 pandemic lays waste to deliveries over
the next few years.
Among other single stock movers, Nexi could suffer after its top shareholder
Mercury said it was selling a 13.4% stake, a day after the Italian payments group announced a
merger with rival SIA.
Management reshuffle at Tour operator TUI which named Sebastian Ebel as
its new finance chief, replacing Birgit Conix.
In M&A, German car parts maker Continental plans to sell some of its automotive
operations, including parts of powertrain arm Vitesco Technologies and rubber unit Contitech,
its CEO told daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
MORNING CALL: EDGING LOWER ON STIMULUS CONFUSION (0548 GMT)
Trump has called off economic aid package talks with Democrats until after the election and
the decision, which came on Twitter after European markets closed, is set to weigh.
He later urged aid for airlines, small business and Americans, adding to the confusion.
Anyhow, euro STOXX 50 are down 0.3%, having lost as much as 0.9% from yesterday's
close, but remain well within recent trading ranges..
Asian stocks brushed off Wall Street's weaker finish, with MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan last up 0.4%.
(Danilo Masoni)
*****
Tesco (TSCO)
