LIVE MARKETS-How's 2019? Actually, it's rarely been better!

* European shares up in choppy station * STOXX 600 up 0.1%, FTSE 100 up 0.6% * Results in focus: Saab rallies, Reckitt down sharply * M&A heats up in food delivery: Prosus makes rival bid for Just Eat Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Julien Ponthus. Reach him on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: julien.ponthus.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net HOW'S 2019? ACTUALLY, IT'S RARELY BEEN BETTER! (1003 GMT) With the trade war and Brexit looking less threatening by the day, there doesn't seem to be much in store to spoil 2019 returns for European equities - that is, if Q3 results don't prove disastrous. The STOXX 600 is up over 16% year-to-date and getting very close to year highs. Things seem to be looking up and BlackRock, which upgraded its rating on European equities to neutral earlier this year, is sticking to its view that the ECB's "dovish shift" should provide an offset to the macro gloom. As this BlackRock's chart shows, European stocks are not the only asset class to be nearing their 2019 highs, same goes for the S&P 500 for instance. (Julien Ponthus) ***** WHO PERFORMS BETTER IN TIMES GLOBAL GROWTH SCARES? (0929 GMT) The answer is simple: the U.S. and that's why DB prefers Wall Street over Europe, as it expect the economy and earnings to stagnate even further. "Despite the fact that the US is the most expensive market, we prefer it to other regions," they say, making a couple of interesting points. 1. The rest of the world is more cyclical: the S&P 500 is only 40% exposed to manufacturing compared to 52% and 62% in Japan and Europe 2. In prior episodes of weakened global growth, the US has outperformed relative to the rest of the world (Danilo Masoni) ***** OPENING SNAPSHOT: OVERALL FLAT BUT PLENTY OF Q3 SWINGS (0733 GMT) The STOXX 600 opened just slightly positive but most European indexes are now tilted to the downside. It seems that this is likely to be a choppy session with Q3 results triggering sharp individual moves. The biggest winner is clearly Swedish defence firm Saab which had results well ahead of market forecasts and is up close to 6%. On the other end of the spectrum, Reckitt Benckiser is down 5% after hitting its lowest since May 2018. The British household goods maker has cut its full-year sales forecast for the second time this year. See top movers on the STOXX 600 here: (Julien Ponthus) ***** ON THE RADAR: Q3 MATTERS (0659 GMT) European bourses are now seen opening sideways with a lot of corporate news to digest. What matters more and could shift the balance at the open is the Q3 season accelerating towards full speed with investors on the lookout for signs that Europe has started to bottom up, notably with Netherlands-based staffing company Randstad reporting a slightly better-than-expected drop of 2% in third-quarter core profit, as previously slowing European markets stabilized. With that in mind, there’s a lot of positive news to be found, like Saab swinging back to profit and particularly in the Swiss corporate universe. Sunrise Communications Group is expected to rise after it bowed to investor pressure and scrapped a rights issue needed to complete the acquisition of Liberty Global's UPC business. Shares in both banking group UBS and drugmaker Novartis are seen rising at the open after publishing their Q3 results. In the tech sector sensor specialist AMS Q3 sales were above its own guidance while Logitech reported a 4.5% increase in operating income. Elsewhere in tech, German business software firm Software AG saw a 5% increase in third-quarter revenue. Less rosy in Brexit land with British household goods maker Reckitt Benckiser cutting full-year sales forecast for the second time this year, Travis Perkins, the country’s largest distributor of building materials, halting plans to sell its plumbing and heating division, and Premier-Inn owner Whitbread reporting lower profits. In other disappointing news, France’s Imerys and Norway’s Aker BP cut their outlook. (Julien Ponthus) ***** EUROPE ON THE RISE AMID TRADE WAR OPTIMISM (0626 GMT) European bourses are seen opening on the rise this morning, following gains on Wall Street and in Asia as a wind of optimism towards the U.S./China trade lifts sentiment. As a sign that investors are also confident a hard disorderly Brexit will most likely be avoided, the pound is up and in touching distance of the $1.30 benchmark. Spreadbetters at IG expect London's FTSE to open 5 points higher at 7,168 points, Frankfurt's DAX up 41 points at 12,789 points and Paris' CAC to rise 12 points 5,660 points. In terms of corporate news, the Q3 earnings season is slowly getting to full speed and today seems to have brought a few disappointing items such as French speciality minerals company Imerys cutting its outlook for 2019 or Norway's Aker BP reducing its full-year oil output target. (Julien Ponthus) ***** (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Joice Alves, Josephine Mason, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)