LIVE MARKETS-Broad gains but no break for travel & leisure

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@thomsonreuters.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com) and Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London.

BROAD GAINS BUT NO BREAK FOR TRAVEL & LEISURE (0825 GMT)

Stocks are still up, but gains not as strong as what we had expected ahead of the open. All major sectors are gaining this morning, but the poor travel & leisure index is still not able to catch a break.

Compass has spoiled the party falling 12% after the world's biggest catering firm warned the virus could hit profits sharply.

On the bright side, Air France and Accor shares were up after France's fiscal response last night.

As expected UK pub, cinema and restaurant stocks are taking a hit with Cineworld and Whitbread leading the losses.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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ON OUR RADAR: PANDORA, DIXONS CARPHONE, UK PUBS & RESTAURANTS (0755 GMT)

We're still in positive territory and all's well at this point with bourses seen gaining 4% to 5% at market open. There are bunch of corporate updates and, unsurprisingly, almost all of them are related to coronavirus.

Jeweller Pandora has withdrawn its financial outlook citing the coronavirus outbreak. VW said the spread of the virus made it impossible to give an outlook for 2020.

Mobile phone retailer Dixons Carphone to axe 2,900 jobs as it plans to close all UK standalone Carphone Warehouse stores.

UK government's recommendation to avoid pubs, clubs, restaurants, cinemas and theatres could hit Whitbread, Marston's, Cineworld, JD Weatherspoon and Mitchells & Butlers.

In some good coronavirus news, Pfizer inked a deal with Germany's BioNTech to co-develop a potential vaccine for the coronavirus using BioNTech's mRNA-based drug development platform.

Meanwhile, short-selling bans have been imposed in several European countries. A tad too late? Hedge fund behemoth Bridgewater roughly had $15 billion in bets against companies on the continent and in Great Britain.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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TUESDAY LOOKS BRIGHT AFTER YET ANOTHER BLACK MONDAY (0715 GMT)

Stock futures point to a decent open for European stocks with 2% to 3% gains across the board as governments impose movement restrictions to contain the spread of the virus and promise billions of dollars to protect the economy.

French President Macron is imposing a lockdown today and has said the government will protect companies from the risk of collapsing.

That kind of response is likely to stabilize fragile markets, ain't it?

"We believe that these measures will help the French economy to rebound quicker after the deep recession now implied by Covid-19 and reach the third quarter with a limited number of large bankruptcies and hence an unemployment rate far below what a recession of that magnitude could have caused," ING economists say.

(Warning: We've have seen several early morning rallies recently which disappeared in thin air by lunch time)

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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FINGERS CROSSED: EUROPE SEEN 2% TO 3% HIGHER (0651 GMT)

European stocks are seen heading for a steady open with 2% to 3% gains after some extreme moves in the last few days as investors believe there will be more fiscal response in the coming days as the fast-spreading virus is seen bringing the world economy to a grinding halt.

"Central banks have done their best, but in the absence of significant fiscal measures from politicians across the world, it is difficult to see where markets might find a possible base in the medium term," Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK says.

Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 75 points higher at 5,226, Frankfurt's DAX to open 91 points higher at 8,834 and Paris' CAC to open 46 points higher at 3,927.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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