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LIVE MARKETS-Europe: old, but can still learn new tricks

LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity

markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Danilo Masoni. Reach

him on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves:

danilo.masoni.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

EUROPE: OLD, BUT CAN STILL LEARN NEW TRICKS (1426 GMT)

European firms are on average much older than those making up U.S. indices, notes Man GLG's

chief investment officer. Europe also has many more regulated industries, while it has fewer of

the fast-growing tech stocks responsible for much of the breakneck rally in global markets.

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Some 56 percent of the market cap of the S&P 500 is comprised of companies incorporated

after 1981, while that figure is 33 percent for the DAX and 32 percent for the CAC 40.

But, contrary to the adage that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, CIO Pierre-Henri

Flamand reckons European indices hide opportunities.

"While we don't believe just taking blind exposure to Europe is a good strategy, we would

argue that ... there's potential to achieve compelling returns in these markets," he writes.

"Given recent price movements, we believe it’s now worth looking within the European indices

to see whether there are firms that may have been dragged down because of their proximity to

less well-run businesses."

Indeed, Europe's valuations still look pretty attractive relative to world and U.S. stocks.

Whether that's enough to attract more investors to Europe is a different question, clearly, as

shorts on European stocks have been increasing.

(Helen Reid)

*****

TECH TROUBLES? GO DEFENSIVE (1356 GMT)

Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) 's heavy share price drop has rekindled debate over the outlook for tech

stocks and while some believe the sector behind this long bull market is still not expensive

(see CS post below), others think it's time to look more closely into defensive plays.

Among them is Hildebrandt Tomas, director and senior portfolio manager at Evli Investment

Management in Helsinki.

"Short term the Facebook news is broadly negative since it's about data security, which

could be a growing issue. Facebook and others are also facing critique and pressure from

different directions regarding their business practices. In general, the tech sector looks

over-owned and priced for perfection, which should benefit other sectors," he said.

"Trying to see a little bit further on, I think that the defensive sectors could benefit

from this," he added.

Hildebrandt said Evli was not making any investment switch given that the funds they're

invested in were already tilted towards defensives.

Facebook fell nearly 7 percent yesterday after reports that a political consultancy that

worked on Trump's 2016 campaign gained inappropriate access to data on 50 million of the social

network's users. The stock was down again today after a report said the U.S. FTC is

probing it over whether it violated terms of a consent decree over its use of personal data.

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

DARK POOL TRADING UPDATE: BLOCKS AHOY!(1305 GMT)

Just over a week on from the implementation of MiFID II's double volume caps limiting

trading in dark pools, it's still too early to draw any huge conclusions about shifts to market

structure, but one thing is clear: block trading is on the up.

The latest figures from trading technology firm Fidessa show block trading, as a percentage

of total trading in the dark, surged up to 42 percent by the end of the first week of the new

regime. Trading in large blocks of shares (whose size is determined as a percentage of average

daily volume traded in that stock) is exempt from the dark pool caps, hence the spike.

"This is a massive jump," says Christian Voigt, senior regulatory adviser at Fidessa. "I was

expecting more of a smooth steady increase, up to 30 percent maybe, but it was much stronger."

The 42 percent figure is a seven-fold increase from the proportion of block trading as

recently as January 2017. Of course, the figure is also flattered by an overall reduction in

dark pool trading as a result of MiFID II.

"Part of dark trading has been very restricted, but the block part has been trading

consistently," says Voigt. "What it tells us is some people are trying extra hard to do a block

trade - they don't slice and dice anymore."

There is, however, an upper limit to the proportion of block trades. These trades can be

very big, meaning not many investors have the capacity needed to put them through.

As things begin to settle down and the market adjusts to the new rules, Voigt predicts block

trading will end up representing more than 25 percent, but less than 70 percent, of total

trading in the dark.

(Helen Reid)

*****

CHECKLIST FOR THE AGEING BULL (1216 GMT)

Andrew Garthwaite and his team of strategists at Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) have nudged up their target

for the MSCI AC World index to 624 points. In a note titled "Checklist for the ageing bull" they

cite a series of positive factors - from global growth to monetary conditions - and say that

even though a number of preconditions for a market peak have occurred, each has an effective

counter-argument.

Here are the positives:

* The breadth of global growth drives earnings revisions, which are consistent with stronger

markets. We forecast EPS growth this year of 10% in Europe and 17% in the US.

* Monetary conditions are still loose while financial conditions and excess liquidity are

neutral.

* There have been very few signs of corporate excess (in terms of over-investment or M&A) or

positive 'new paradigm' thinking.

* The sector that has led the market is not expensive (tech's P/E relative is close to

average). Tech is the defining characteristic of this cycle.

And the peak market conditions? Here are a few, including one on the Fed.

* The current expansion is the second-longest in the post-war era; aside from 1987, all bear

markets in the past 50 years have occurred against a backdrop of recession. For now, modelled

recession probabilities remain very low

* Corporate debt-to-GDP is at previous peak. However, the free cash flow yield after buyback

and dividends is positive, buybacks are earnings enhancing and still outperforming.

* Our tactical indicators gave a sell signal in late January, but this was driven by

sentiment surveys, and funds flow has not followed sentiment. Volatility usually picks up more

ahead of a market peak.

* Fed tightening. We expect the FOMC to raise rates 4 times this year. We would worry if the

term 'gradual' is dropped or r-star is revised up more than potential growth.

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

UK MID-CAPS: ACQUISITION TARGETS OF THE MONTH (1211 GMT)

The rationale behind the two latest M&A moves, on Hammerson (Frankfurt: 876140 - news) and Fenner (Stuttgart: 0UR.SG - news) , is quite different.

The second French company swooping in on a UK mid-cap company in as many days, Michelin (Paris: FR0000121261 - news)

made a bid for Fenner late yesterday which has sent the engineering company's

shares up 26 percent.

Hammerson yesterday rebuffed Klépierre's offer and also gained a handsome

24 percent on the day.

But the Fenner takeover is a very different animal to the (attempted) Hammerson

takeover. Fenner's shares, even before today's surge, are up 240 percent over the past 24

months. Hammerson meanwhile was wallowing at a 21-month low when Klepierre (LSE: 0F4I.L - news) judged it was time to

make an offer. (see chart below)

Clearly part of the reason is that UK real estate investment trusts (REITs) have been widely

seen as one of the best sectors to short if you're convinced a hard Brexit is coming.

Engineering firms like Fenner, meanwhile, have an outward-facing business model and expertise

making it, in many investors' eyes, a safer mid-cap bet even in the event of a hard Brexit.

Michelin's offer places a hefty premium on Fenner even after its stellar performance,

prompting analysts at Berenberg to criticise the deal valuation as too rich, though others at

UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) say the deal valuation is in line with multiples paid for other UK engineers acquired in

recent years - in other words, Michelin isn't slapping a Brexit discount on the deal.

So while Brexit risks have made some stocks, like Hammerson, more attractive to potential

buyers - though the clear message yesterday was that the offer would have to be sweetened -

there remain cyclical, export-oriented stocks in the UK mid-market which attract attention

without being hugely cheap.

It's exactly this kind of takeover interest that many of the investors who've stuck with UK

mid-cap stocks have been holding out for.

(Helen Reid)

EQUITIES WAVER AS FED COMES INTO VIEW (1010 GMT)

As European shares dip in and out of negative territory, one of the big market focus points

is the Fed's two-day policy meeting, at which the central bank is expected to raise rates for

the first time this year.

Mike Bell, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, says there is a pretty

strong chance of four rate rises this year.

"A lot of the repricing has already taken place. You've seen bond yields move quite a bit

higher this year," Bell (LSE: 0QPQ.L - news) says, adding that yields could see some slight further upside if the Fed

shifts to be a little more hawkish.

"I think equities can handle it as long as they don't start to signal that they are

concerned about inflation and signal more than four rate hikes this year," Bell adds.

(Kit Rees)

*******

OPENING SNAPSHOT: STOXX ATTEMPTS REBOUND (0840 GMT)

European shares are trying to rebound following yesterday's sell-off, although there is not

much conviction behind the gains and the STOXX 600 is up only 0.1 percent, having

fallen more than 1 percent in the previous session.

Tech remains under pressure but the unloved media sector is gathering some support after the

world's third-biggest advertising group Publicis (Paris: FR0000130577 - news) unveiled its latest strategy update. Financials

were also adding support ahead of tomorrow's widely expected rate hike.

Here's your snapshot:

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

BREXIT TRANSITION DEAL: A "BUY" SIGNAL FOR UK EQUITIES? (0758 GMT)

The transition deal announced in Brussels yesterday might only have removed part of the

uncertainty around Britain's planned departure from the EU. But could this already be a turning

point for UK equities?

Investor (LSE: 0NC5.L - news) surveys show London is the least appealing equity market in Europe and it's mostly

about the economic uncertainty caused by Brexit.

But to an income investor, the UK looks "incredibly attractive right now", says Edmund

Shing, head of equity derivative strategy at BNP Paribas (LSE: 0HB5.L - news) . He contrasts gilt yields of 1.5

percent with dividend yields on some UK oil companies of 6 percent.

"I would argue that this (the transition deal) could potentially trigger people to reassess

their views towards the FTSE 100 stocks, particularly as they are affected by currency, but more

importantly they are affected by economic uncertainty," says Shing.

He believes there is less reason for pessimism around UK large-cap stocks because they are

less tied to the UK economy and, in any case, the UK economy is probably going to do slightly

better than people previously thought - GDP forecasts are weak but inching higher.

"So all things considered, (UK equities) might be a good long-term bet".

More "glass half full" here from Fidelity International multi-asset portfolio manager Bill

McQuaker:

"A bad (Brexit) deal would still be negative for the economy - but with the status quo now

in place for at least another three years, and the UK traditionally a defensive market, UK

equities might begin to look more attractive again,” says McQuaker.

(Tom Pfeiffer)

*****

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE EUROPE'S OPEN (0745 GMT)

European shares are seen rebounding slightly today with stock index futures pointing to

gains of around 0.3-0.4 percent.

Tech and media stocks will continue to be a focus following yesterday's sell off in Facebook (Swiss: FB-USD.SW - news)

shares and reports about plans by the EU to impose a 3 percent tax on turnover of big digital

groups such as Google and Facebook. Among TMTs, the world's third-biggest advertising group

Publicis released a new business plan it hopes will reverse sluggish growth and beef up margins

over the next three years, while a disappointing update from Oracle (NYSE: ORCL - news) could put pressure on German

software maker SAP (Amsterdam: AP6.AS - news) .

In M&A news, eyes on French tyre maker Michelin which said it plans to buy British

engineering company Fenner for 1.2 billion pounds so that it can serve mining companies better

and benefit from an industry recovery.

And here's an update on market-moving headlines:

UK online grocer Ocado meets guidance for quarterly sales growth​

888 core earnings rise 12 pct

BRIEF-Bellway (Frankfurt: 869646 - news) says HY profit climbs 16.5 pct

BRIEF-Fingerprint Cards (LSE: 0RGY.L - news) says CFO to leave company in June

British chipmaker IQE (LSE: IQE.L - news) posts 18 pct rise in 2017 pretax profit

Wood Group sees modest growth in core profit this year

British builder Bellway's first-half profit rises 16.6 pct

EnQuest (Frankfurt: 3EQ.F - news) 2017 core profit slightly above expectations

Oracle revenue misses as cloud growth falls short of estimates

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

DAX, FTSE, CAC FUTURES ON THE UP (0707 GMT)

Europe's top stock index futures have opened with gains of up to 0.5 percent, pointing to a

rebound following yesterday's sharp losses. On the macro front, today we have UK inflation

figures for February which are expected to soften, while in the U.S. the much-awaited Federal

Reserve meeting gets under way ahead of tomorrow's widely expected rate hike.

Here's your futures snapshot:

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

EARLY MORNING EUROPEAN HEADLINE ROUND-UP (0653 GMT)

France's Michelin bids for UK's Fenner in $1.7 bln mining move

Publicis seeks to boost growth by going deeper into consulting

Roche says Tecentriq, chemo cut risk of death in type of lung cancer

France expects EU to get full exemption from U.S. tariffs: Le Maire

UK trade minister optimistic about resolution over U.S. tariffs

Trump says he is working to lower prescription drug prices

Carmakers' group warns of post-Brexit customs, approvals mess

CNH Industrial CEO Richard Tobin steps down

Lockheed wins $522 mln U.S. defense contract -Pentagon

MEDIA-Hershey is exploring a sale of British crisps brand Tyrrells - Sky News

Innogy sticks to advertising strategy as break up looms

Sweden's Vattenfall wins Dutch 700 MW offshore wind tender

VW to announce $340 million Tennessee investment to build new SUV -source

Majority of French back selling state assets in Renault (LSE: 0NQF.L - news) , Orange (LSE: 0OQV.L - news) , PSA - poll

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

EUROPEAN SHARES SET FOR SLIGHT REBOUND (0621 GMT)

Good morning and welcome back!

After heavy losses in the previous session, especially for the UK's FTSE, further weighed

down by a stronger pound, European shares are set for a mild rebound today.

Financial spreadbetters expect London's FTSE to open 27 points higher at 7,070, Frankfurt's

DAX to open 28 points higher at 12,245 and Paris' CAC to open 5 points higher at 5,228.

Over in Asia, shares fell on Tuesday after investors took profits in high-flying U.S.

technology shares on fears of stiffer regulation as Facebook came under fire following reports

it allowed improper access to user data.

(Danilo Masoni)

*****