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BUZZ-Top of the Street: Capital goods, European insurance, Schneider Electric, Bouygues

A round-up of notable broker activity this morning from Europe's top-ranked* analysts:

** Capital (Other OTC: CGHC - news) goods: BAML feels that the opportunity for investors in 2019 lies in the cyclical end of the sector

** The broker upgrades ABB (LSE: 0NX2.L - news) and Sandvik (LSE: 0HC0.L - news) to "buy", downgrades Wartsila to "underperform"

** European Insurance: JP Morgan sees the insurance sector as strongly positioned, but with credit backdrop deteriorating

** The broker upgrades Storebrand (LSE: 0NO0.L - news) and Swiss Life (IOB: 0QMG.IL - news) to "over-weight"; downgrades Mapfre (LSE: 0NQ2.L - news) and Unipol (Dusseldorf: 18319160.DU - news) Gruppo to "neutral"

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** Schneider Electric (EUREX: SND1.EX - news) : Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) cuts co to "sell", believing slowing industrial activity poses several challenges for the stock

** Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) cuts Bouygues (LSE: 0HAN.L - news) to "neutral" believing co's construction businesses are passing their operating peak in the near term

** Electrocomponents (LSE: ECM.L - news) : Jefferies raises rating to "buy", saying that co's valuation offers attractive risk/reward; UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) also upgrades to "buy" saying co's accelerated market share gains can sustain positive organic growth

** GS ups Prysmian (EUREX: 3056144.EX - news) to "buy" expecting a material improvement in industry fundamentals in Transmission in 2019/20

** Kion: GS cuts rating to "sell" seeing cyclical challenges in industrial trucks sector and margin pressures in lower growth environment

** GS downgrades Geberit (IOB: 0QQ2.IL - news) to "sell" with 11% downside, saying it is more cautious on construction growth and cost inflation

INITIATIONS AND REINSTATEMENTS

** GS reinstates SSE Plc (LSE: SSE.L - news) at "buy", saying that upcoming renewable auctions could unlock significant value

(*Analyst rankings from Thomson Reuters StarMine. Scale is from 1-star to 5-star with 5 being best. Analysts ranked on earnings accuracy as well as relative performance of recommendations over trailing 12-month & 24-month periods.)