LIVE MARKETS-STOXX in the red, banks in the black

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters
stocks reporters and anchored today by Julien Ponthus. Reach him on Messenger to share your
thoughts on market moves: julien.ponthus.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

STOXX IN THE RED, BANKS IN THE BLACK (0843 GMT)

As expected, the open was not particularly inspiring. About half an hour into trading, the
STOXX 600 is down 0.25% with most regional bourses slightly in the red.

Most sectors are in negative territory with the exception of banks, which are up nearly
0.1%.

Granted, European lenders are 2019 laggards with a YTD rise of less than 9% against 24% for
the STOXX 600 - so this ain't exactly playing catch-up.

There aren't really any wild moves either among individual stocks, though shares in
EssilorLuxottica are down 2% after the company said it had discovered fraudulent activity at a
plant in Thailand.

Here are Europe's benchmarks at 0843 GMT:

(Julien Ponthus)

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NO SPARKS EXPECTED AT THE OPEN (0742 GMT)

European futures are trading just slightly in the red, pointing to a roughly negative to
flat open after last week’s record highs. No sign so far that the bullishness which has propped
up Asian bourses overnight will spill over here.

It’s very quiet on the corporate front with a few exceptions, notably EssilorLuxottica which
said it discovered fraudulent financial activity at a plant in Thailand.

In Germany, Daimler’s CEO told Bild am Sonntag that his group was targeting a reduction in
personnel costs by 1.4 billion euros by end-2022 and Lufthansa failed to avert a planned cabin
crew strike at Germanwings.

Also, AstraZeneca and Merck & Co got a drug approved for the treatment of pancreatic cancer
in the U.S.

(Julien Ponthus)

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(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Joice Alves, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)