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LIVE MARKETS-European stock futures on a 6-day winning streak

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Josephine Mason. Reach her on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: josephine.mason.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net EUROPEAN STOCK FUTURES ON A 6-DAY WINNING STREAK (0624 GMT) European stock futures are indicating a stronger open this morning, extending a winning streak into a sixth day as investors brace for the ECB to cut interest rates and announce a range of stimulus measures to shore up the bloc's economy tomorrow. Germany's DAX is leading the charge, up 0.5% while the Euro STOXX 50 is up 0.3%. Traders expect the rotation seen in recent days from growth/momentum stocks into under-owned battered value/cyclicals to continue, boosting cars and banks. But reminders that manufacturing in the region and across the globe is weakening abound: Schmolz & Bickenbach overnight cut its forecast for the full-year, blaming a weakening steel demand as its order backlog continued to decline in the third quarter. On the high street though, conditions appear to remain pretty resilient. The owner of clothing chain Zara and the world's biggest fashion retailer, Inditex, has posted first-half profits and sales that were in line with expectations, buoyed by good summer weather in Europe and favourable foreign exchange effects. There's a bit of M&A action: French retailer Carrefour is reported to be weighing a possible bid for its debt-laden rival Casino while ArcelorMittal is exploring a sale of its downstream construction business as it divests non-core operations, according to a report. Here are some early headlines: Merck KGaA Confirms 2019 Targets Bankers step up rate rant ahead of crunch ECB meeting Vivendi denies plan to take over Italy's Mediaset UK's Man Group President Jonathan Sorrell to leave firm -Sky News Sanofi to pay Lexicon $260 mln for terminated partnership Naspers takes Tencent stake out of Africa with Prosus listing ArcelorMittal to explore sale of construction business- Bloomberg Norsk Hydro to shutter some aluminium foil production in Germany, lay off workers GRAPHIC-FTSE 100's changing face: A trip down memory lane Spain's Telefonica looks to make money from mobile towers European Q3 profit outlook improves slightly, still in recession Carrefour weighing bid for French retail rival Casino -BFM Schmolz + Bickenbach Lowers 2019 Earnings Forecast (Josephine Mason) ***** ROTATION CONTINUES, EUROPE SEEN HIGHER (0519 GMT) European shares are expected to extend yesterday's gains, notched up late in the day as investors continue to shift into sectors that have underperformed this year banks like cars and banks, taking profits in defensive industries like healthcare. Trading may be in a tight range again though ahead of the ECB's monetary policy meeting tomorrow, with some strategists cautioning that investors are setting their expectations for the size of stimulus to be announced too high. Banks will continue to benefit from rising bond yields. "Investors are trimming long speculative positions in sovereign bonds, as dovish expectations have certainly gone well ahead of what central banks would deliver at this month’s meetings," says Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group. IG financial spreadbetters expect London's FTSE to open 25 points higher at 7,293, Frankfurt's DAX to open 70 points higher at 12,339, and Paris' CAC to open 12 points higher at 5,605. (Josephine Mason) ***** (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Josephine Mason and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)