LIVE MARKETS-Another nail in the STOXX vs S&P trade

* European stocks open higher: STOXX hits record high

* AMS dips despite Q4 beat, share sale for Osram takeover in focus

* Central bankers: Lagarde, Carney and Powell expected

* TUI surges on coronavirus fears respite 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 Thyagaraju Adinarayan (thyagaraju.adinarayan@tr.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@tr.com), Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@tr.com) in London and Danilo Masoni (danilo.masoni@tr.com) in Milan.

ANOTHER NAIL IN THE STOXX VS S&P TRADE (1135 GMT)

It's a call that European equity strategists need to make every year: Will the STOXX 600 finally outperform the S&P 500?

For 2020, a lot of hope was put into the European economy bottoming out and the continent's blue chips finding their way out of corporate recession in Q4.

On the former point, the chart below which shows the euro zone surprise index falling down just as it jumps in the U.S. pours a bucket of ice on expectations of a catch up.

Adding that with the dollar expected to beat the euro for the foreseeable future, U.S. stocks should get lots of FX wind in their sails.

On the point of European earnings both propping up shares prices and encouraging some rerating versus richer U.S. PE ratios, it's not looking good either.

Expectations for STOXX 600 Q4 earnings have slid from over 5% in November to a meagre 1.2%, which is below the 2.3% awaited for the S&P.

Here's how the ever-elusive STOXX versus S&P catch-up is going so far this year:

(Julien Ponthus and Ritvik Carvalho)

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THE CHINA VIRUS HASN'T SCARED THE CROWD (1100 GMT)

Stock markets in Europe and the U.S. have more than recovered from the initial drop caused by China's new virus outbreak.

What's more surprising is that worries over its damage to economic activity hasn't even changed style/stock positioning, Citi says.

"In fact, crowded stocks, mainly in the defensive part of the market, continue to positively perform which is likely to continue until we reach a turning point in the crisis," analysts at the U.S. investment bank say.

"From a sector perspective, Luxury Goods, Airlines, Autos and IT were expected to suffer in reaction however... we haven't yet seen this play out from a crowding perspective; the only industry which has seen crowding decrease is the autos industry," they add.

(Danilo Masoni)

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BETTER CHANCE NEXT TIME! DAX JUST 1.2 PTS FROM RECORD (1013 GMT)

There was an opportunity for the DAX to snatch a new record by surfing on this morning's market upswing which saw the STOXX 600 hit a life high yet again.

But it was not meant to be: the German blue chip index fell short by the smallest of margins.

Frankfurt reached 13,638.86 points versus its January 22 record of 13,640.06.

Now with this morning's burst of enthusiasm fizzling out to just a more modest, yet comfortable rise, it seems DAX watchers will have to wait some more to catch another benchmark.

(Julien Ponthus)

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"WORST PRE-MARKET CALLS EVER!" #HEARDINTHENEWSROOM (0921 GMT)

There are mornings when stocks open roughly the way you expect them to and then there are days like today!

There was a broad assumption across brokers for instance that sensor specialist ams AG would surge at the open after an upbeat Q4. Well it did go up very briefly but soon enough, it was falling deep into negative territory. The update on the rights issue to help finance its Osram takeover may have given some investors cold feet, a trader noted.

Take Daimler! There's was quite a consensus across morning calls that it would open just slightly in negative territory after slashing its dividend in another profit warning.

But the car maker made it to the top of Germany's DAX with a 1.7% rise before falling back down again to the bottom of the German blue chip index.

Another funny one was TUI. While it did report strong demand for holidays that would help it offset the impact of the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX, no one expected the European travel company to surge over 10% to claim the top of the STOXX 600. People were actually looking at a 1-2% tick upwards at it happened and in these time of coronavirus epidemic, it's not a given to take big bets on the sector.

Here's AMS first hour of trading, followed by that of Daimler:

(Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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OPENING SNAPSHOT: STOXX AT RECORD, TUI TAKES OFF (0824 GMT)

European stocks notched fresh record high levels with clear risk-on moves across the board as investors once again took comfort from stimulus measures even as death toll from coronavirus crossed 1,000.

China/coronavirus plays, such as travel & leisure index, autos and miners are the top gainers. Among travel companies, Tui's blow-out 2019 results are driving the European travel company's shares 10% higher. The move also boosts easyJet.

Once again, the highly volatile NMC is at the bottom of the STOXX 600 index after soaring yesterday on buyout approaches from private equity firms KKR and GK Investment.

Deutsche Telekom and Delivery Hero were other significant movers as expected on news we highlighted in the previous blog.

Here's your opening snapshot:

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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CARS IN REVERSE GEAR, TECH SHINES, BRITISH RETAILERS MIXED (0750 GMT)

European stocks are seen opening sharply higher at record high levels, following gains in Asia and the United States overnight, as Chinese stimulus measures are helping investors keep up their risk appetite even as the country reported its 1000th death from coronavirus.

Stock futures are rising between 0.6% to 0.9% amid a downpour of corporate headlines.

Autos in focus after Daimler axes its dividend as 2019 profits more than halved, sending its shares 1% lower in premarket trade. French tyremaker Michelin meanwhile forecast slightly lower profits in 2020 even without the impact of the coronavirus crisis in China.

AMS, which supplies sensors to Apple iPhone, is seen rising 5% to 7% reported fourth-quarter revenues above its own forecast and the upbeat results are likely to boost shares of peers Dialog Semi, Infineon and STMicro among others.

In telcos, Deutsche Telekom is rising 3% in premarket trade after sources say that U.S. judge is expected to rule in favor of merger of Sprint, T-Mobile.

In the UK, retailer Ocado shares could rise between 1% and 2%, traders say, after it forecast 15%-20% revenue growth for 2020, offsetting worries about a 27% drop in 2019 earnings.

High street retailer JD Sports in the spotlight after Britain's competition watchdog said the company's takeover of rival Footasylum could leave shoppers worse off.

Other potential stock moves flagged by traders: Metro seen 2% higher after it reached a deal to sell its hypermarkets business; TUI seen up 1% to 2% as strong demand for holidays helps 2019 earnings, offsetting impact from 737 MAX groundings; Delivery Hero seen slightly lower on profit-taking after solid 2019 results.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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RECORD HIGH OPEN FOR EUROPE? (0630 GMT)

European stocks seem to be gearing-up to test fresh record highs in a V-shaped rebound driven by central bank liquidity, even as China reported its 1000th death from coronavirus.

Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 40 points higher at 7,487, Frankfurt's DAX to open 92 points higher at 13,586, and Paris' CAC to open 31 points higher at 6,046.

"One of the enormous dilemmas for investors is whether the impact of the coronavirus will be enough to derail the global economy and usher in another round of Fed + easing," AxiCorp's chief market strategist Stephen Innes says.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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