LIVE MARKETS-Closing snapshot: Europe up

* European stocks end up 0.1% after lower open * Focus on progress in U.S.-China trade talks * Compass outlook disappoints, shares tumble * S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones hit new record highs Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. Reach him on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: rm://thyagaraju.adinarayan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net CLOSING SNAPSHOT: EUROPE UP (1708 GMT) European shares managed to shake off early weakness and progressively recovered to post a small closing gain, helped by The pan-regional STOXX 600 benchmark index ended up 0.1%, scoring its third consecutive session of gains, while elsewhere among country indexes positive signs prevailed. Just after the close, Trump corroborated expectations of an initial trade deal. "We're in the final throes of a very important deal, I guess you could say one of the most important deals in trade ever. It's going very well but at the same time we want to see it go well in Hong Kong," he said. Here's your snapshot: (Danilo Masoni) ***** CONFESSIONS OF A VALUE INVESTOR (1458 GMT) Despite a comeback this year, value stocks are lagging well behind growth and their underperformance has been so profound and long-lasting that some fund managers may just give up. Azvalor, a boutique firm focusing on value investing, is transparent about its underperformance and confesses the period of poor returns has been particularly challenging. "Despite the positive returns, we have not managed to beat the market," Fernando Bernad, co-CIO at Azvalor, write in his latest quarterly update for clients. Still he says investors should not lose their faith. "Value investing achieves extraordinary returns but requires something fundamental in exchange - to maintain conviction when the market seems to contradict us," he says. And then on the so-called growth stocks he says: "The sense of security generated by these type of companies is a dangerous 'mirage' when they trade at exaggerated valuations, and the descent from such high altitudes may be a forced landing". (Danilo Masoni) ***** EUROPE'S GOT BETTER MOMENTUM (1032 GMT) With Q3 almost entirely behind us, UBS has found out that earnings momentum in Europe is better than the one in the U.S., potentially a good omen for equities on this side of the pond. "European earnings momentum is (fractionally) above the US for the first time in 31 months. This has been due to the U.S. deteriorating rather than Europe improving," analysts at the Swiss bank say. "Nonetheless, in the past for US investors to return to Europe we have needed to see Europe deliver trailing earnings in line with or above the US – we are close to that point," they add. (Danilo Masoni) ***** 2020 MARKETS HOROSCOPE: SLOW AND STEADY (1021 GMT) Three months back recession fears were gripping financial markets amid U.S. yield curve inversion and U.S.-China trade spat intensifying, fast forward to today, analysts and strategists expect 2020 to be another good year with global stocks hitting fresh record highs, profits improving (although only slightly) and there is no mention of the "R" word. One of the Wall Street's biggest banks Goldman Sachs' 2020 predictions are: * Another 10% rally for MSCI World * Profits rising (+3% for Europe, +11% for Asia and +6% for U.S.) * S&P 500 scaling a record 3400 pts, STOXX 600 record 420 pts * German bund yield at 0% "While the macro backdrop should be broadly favorable for equity markets and, in the absence of a recession, profits are likely to grow, equities already appear to be pricing in a broad economic recovery, following the rally in the past couple of months," GS strategists write in a note. What about the extended cycle? GS says this cycle is likely to last longer for economies and equity markets than many investors fear. But mirroring rest of the Wall Street's view, GS says there will be lower returns in the rest of the cycle due as there is modest headroom for valuation expansion. Part of the reason for lower returns is also the shrinking size of high growth (>8%) companies globally. GS says the share of high growth companies has fallen from 40% in 2009 to 25% today. GS predictions: (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** OPENING SNAPSHOT: EUROPE ON BACKFOOT; COMPASS DRAGS (0825 GMT) European stocks are on the backfoot this morning with travel & leisure sector taking a beating after caterer Compass Group's full-year outlook failed to impress investors, sending its shares down 7%. The pan-European STOXX 600 index is down 0.1%, largely dragged down by the travel & leisure sector's 2.4% drop. Among other movers, Faurecia's shares are rising 3% on its 2022 outlook, yes 2022! The French car parts maker is targeting record sales, profits and cash generation in 2022 as a result of its "strategy programme". Irish building materials supplier CRH scaled a fresh three-year peak after its guided full-year profit outlook above market expectations. (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** FUTURES INCH HIGHER ON TRADE HOPES (0754 GMT) Stock futures point to a slightly higher open for Europe after yesterday's solid rally as positive noise on trade from China helps bourses hold on to gains. It's very quiet on the corporate front with very few earnings updates as we approach the business end of the third quarter. Dealers expect Compass to open 1% higher after the company, which provides meals for office workers, reported strong margins. Irish building materials supplier CRH is seen rising 1%-2% after its reassuring trading update showed it was on track to beat its full-year profit obligations. Britain's Pets at Home Group is seen rising 5% on its upbeat outlook. M&A spree in Europe continues: Bloomberg reports that Europcar is drawing interest from private equity players. It comes two weeks after a Reuters report that European investment firm Eurazeo is exploring a partial or full sale of its near 30% stake in Europcar. Europcar is seen rising 5%. De La Rue is seen falling 7% on its plan to suspend dividend as its banknotes printing unit struggles with depressed margins. Headlines to digest: Fiat, PSA tell employees they will sign merger agreement in coming weeks India probe finds SKF, Schaeffler, Tata Steel units colluded on bearings prices Enel raises the bar on earnings as it pledges to spend more on clean energy Car parts maker Faurecia sees record sales and profits in 2022 Caterer Compass Group posts higher profit, warns on Europe performance Just Eat-shareholder Cat Rock urges investors to back Takeaway.com deal Pets At Home sees annual underlying pre-tax profit at top-end of market view De La Rue to suspend dividend, review operations to cut costs (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** IT'S ALL ABOUT U.S.-CHINA TRADE, AGAIN (0628 GMT) European stocks are seen extending their gains from Monday as U.S. and China "reached a consensus" on resolving a number of relevant issues, yet again raising hopes for a quick resolution to the 16-month trade spat between the world's top two economies. Elsewhere, Wall Street closed at fresh record highs led by tech stocks and Alibaba's solid Hong Kong market debut lifted sentiment in Asia. "...they (trade deal progress) do tend to create a momentum all of their own, even when they are denied, and no matter how cynical you are, it has tended to be a fool’s errand in standing in the way of any move higher," CMC Markets' Michael Hewson says. Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 16 points higher at 7,412, Frankfurt's DAX to open 28 points higher at 13,275 and Paris' CAC to open 10 points higher at 5,934. (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Joice Alves, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)