LIVE MARKETS-DB upgrades European general retail stocks

* European shares called down less than 1 pct

* Trump threatens $100 bln more in China tariffs

* Eyes on U.S. jobs report later in the session

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DB UPGRADES EUROPEAN GENERAL RETAIL STOCKS (0636 GMT)

Strategists at Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) have upgraded general retail to

overweight and downgraded food retail to benchmark, citing the

positive momentum in sterling.

Europe's general and food retail sectors have more than 25%

of sales coming from the UK, DB says, making them very sensitive

to the pound.

"While food retail has been Europe's strongest sector since

November, outperforming the market by 9%, general retail has

been the weakest, underperforming by 11% over the same period,"

the strategists note.

General retail stocks have thus not yet reflected the strong

gains sterling has been making. Though DB's FX strategists see

the pound weakening over the next six months, they say general

retail could still outperform by about 10% even under this

bearish scenario.

(Helen Reid)

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EUROPEAN STOCK FUTURES DOWN LESS THAN 1 PERCENT (0618 GMT)

Trump's fresh tariff threat against China is surely going to

weigh on sentiment and European stocks futures are all heading

south this morning. However declines are all less than 1 percent

and follow gains of more than 2 percent in the previous session,

as investors still see a full-blown trade war as unlikely.

"US President Trump threatened trade disputes with the rest

of the world by offering to subsidize US farmers. That may

prompt talk of retaliation. However, this is not a trade war.

These are threats for the future, not real policies now," says

UBS WM Global Chief Economist Paul Donovan.

Here's your snapshot:

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

EARLY MORNING HEADLINE ROUNDUP (0556 GMT)

It looks there is no big corporate news out of Europe early

this morning that could have impact on single stocks. Anyhow

here are the main headlines:

Vivendi (LSE: 0IIF.L - news) presents board candidates for Telecom Italia (Amsterdam: TI6.AS - news) in bid

to please investors

Italy's CDP says will build stake of up to 5 pct in Telecom

Italia

Prysmian CFO sees higher 2018 core profit despite forex hit

Dufry (IOB: 0QK3.IL - news) proposes dividend, launches share buyback

France expects combat jet announcement at Berlin Air show -

report

U.S. State Dept OKs possible $2.5 bln sale of military

drones to Germany

Former JPM exec Zames among candidates to replace Deutsche

Bank CEO - Bloomberg

Norsk Hydro (LSE: NHY.L - news) 's Brazil unit sues local prosecutors over spill

analysis

Saipem (LSE: 0NWY.L - news) main investors to ask shareholders to reappoint

Stefano Cao CEO

Eni (LSE: 0N9S.L - news) , Qatar Petroleum are said to hold talks for deal on

giant Mexico field- Bloomberg

Saudi Aramco, Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) to sign refinery expansion deal next

week - sources

Miners insist on rewrite of Congo mining code to protect

exemptions

Enbridge (Dusseldorf: EN3.DU - news) said to seek partial sale of German wind farm stake

- Bloomberg

Moody's places UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) ratings on review for upgrade, maintains

stable outlook on Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news)

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

EUROPE SEEN LOWER BUT NO SHOCK AFTER NEW TRUMP TARIFFS (0527

GMT)

After Wall Street closed yesterday, U.S. President Donald

Trump threatened tariffs on $100 billion more of Chinese

imports.

The news, which sent U.S. stock futures back in the red, is

going to weigh on the European open this morning, although it

looks investors are getting somewhat used to the rhetoric.

"Trump has consistently taken a harder line than his

advisers, so this might not entirely shock the markets but it

will certainly weigh on sentiment. Markets will now watch both

the rhetoric from Trump’s cabinet members and China’s response

to assess whether risk of a trade war is materially higher,"

said Credit Suisse in its investment daily.

"We continue to see a trade war as unlikely," it added.

Financial spreadbetters expect London's FTSE to open 38

points lower at 7,161 (-0.5%), Frankfurt's DAX to open 99 points

lower at 12,206 (-0.8%) and Paris' CAC to open 35 points lower

at 5,242 (-0.7%).

Later in the session the focus will turn to the U.S.

non-farm payrolls report, which could give more clues on the

speed at which the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates.

The U.S. March employment report is expected to show

non-farm payroll growth of 193,000 jobs versus 313,000 in the

prior month, according to the latest Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) poll of

economists.

(Danilo Masoni)

*****