LIVE MARKETS-What you need to know before Europe opens

(Changes headline to lower case)

Jan 25 (Reuters) - 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

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE EUROPE OPENS (0735 GMT)

Futures point to a lower European opening after a surging euro and a faltering dollar

rattled European bourses yesterday. The monthly ECB meeting and comments from U.S. officials in

Davos will be under intense scrutiny.

There is enough corporate news to animate the market outside of macroeconomic issues - in

tech we had trading updates for SAP (Amsterdam: AP6.AS - news) and STMicro. Investors are continuously assessing whether

the sector is too expensive given its hefty multiples.

Germany's Siemens (BSE: SIEMENS.BO - news) said it is preparing for an eventual consolidation of platforms competing

to provide businesses with factory software, which might trigger some speculative M&A

positioning.

Swedish banking group Nordea raised its dividend marginally more than expected for 2017 even

though profits for the fourth quarter fell short of analyst expectations. Northern European

banks with their strong capital ratios have been investors’ sweethearts for a while but with

confidence rising for southern lenders, it’s interesting to see whether a change of heart could

progressively occur.

In the realm of “special sits”, activist White Tale is selling its nearly 25 percent stake

in speciality chemicals group Clariant (IOB: 0QJS.IL - news) to Saudi Basic Industries. Merger arbs, which are already

quite busy looking into the bids for the likes of Ablynx (LSE: 0HNK.L - news) , GKN (Frankfurt: 694194 - news) , or Sky (Frankfurt: 893517 - news) , will also focus on

Cineworld's attempt to buy U.S. rival Regal Entertainment, dealt a blow after advisory group

Institutional Shareholder Services told investors to oppose the $3.6 billion deal.

Here's a round-up of headlines:

Activist White Tale sells Clariant stake to Saudi's SABIC

Diageo (LSE: DGE.L - news) sales growth curbed by forex

Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) reports 5 pct rise in 2017 output

European pilot group demands Ryanair meet unions collectively

Siemens prepares for industrial software consolidation

Nordea Q4 profit lags estimate, raises dividend

UK's Asos (LSE: ASC.L - news) beats forecasts for Christmas sales​

STMicro posts surge in year-end results but eyes seasonal Q1 dip

Poland's PKN Q4 net profit falls 11 pct, misses forecast

Software AG Q4 margins hit record; IoT business may double in 2018

ISS (LSE: 0QRS.L - news) advises Cineworld shareholders to oppose Regal deal

Block of Steinhoff loans successfully auctioned as lenders sell out

Engie (LSE: 0LD0.L - news) buys majority in hydrogen-based storage specialist EPS

Italy's Tod's sees benefits from new management starting in H2

UK's Restaurant Group (Other OTC: RSTGF - news) 's 2017 comparable sales down 3 percent

UK estate agents Foxtons foresees challenging 2018

BRIEF-Daily Mail group confirms outlook, Q1 ad revenue up 2 pct

More oil and gas firms expect to hike capital spending in 2018 - survey

Seadrill (Hamburg: 2171269.HM - news) postpones restructuring plan hearing until Feb. 7

Wealth manager St. James's Place Q4 assets up on inflows, market gains

Fingerprint Cards (LSE: 0RGY.L - news) says to cut staff after warning of Q4 loss

Aryzta (IOB: 0MFY.IL - news) 's problems deepen as Europe, U.S. weakness leads to profit warning

(Julien Ponthus and Tom Pfeiffer)

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IS THE RISK OF A STOCK MARKET CORRECTION RISING? (0715 GMT)

On the theme of if/when we see a market pullback, economists at Oxford Economics say that

short-term risks are broadly balanced between a downward correction and a further 'melt-up'

rally, according to their analysis.

But a continued 'melt-up' could risk an equity correction of "well over 10%".

Oxford Economics reckons a stock market correction of 25 percent could cut U.S. growth to

around 1 percent by 2019.

(Kit Rees)

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EUROPEAN STOCK FUTURES POINT TO A START IN THE RED (0703 GMT)

Earlier financial spreadbetters' indications made it hard to call in what direction European

markets would open but futures now seem to point downward.

(Julien Ponthus)

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WANTED: "HEALTHY PULLBACK" (0630 GMT)

Just spotted an interesting quote in Chuck Mikolajczak's Wall Street report

which highlights the fact that the continuous rise of markets is actually making some investors

so nervous that a slight correction would be greeted with relief.

"The trend is higher and it is so universally, and with such conviction believed that any

meaningful pullback is going to be aborted because investors simply don’t want to miss out,"

said Peter Kenny, senior market strategist at Global Markets Advisory Group in New York.

"So we are not seeing that healthy pullback that most investors would actually welcome."

(Julien Ponthus)

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MORNING CALL: NO DIRECTION TREND YET FOR EUROPEAN SHARES (0621 GMT)

Good morning and welcome to Live Markets. No clear direction is emerging yet for European

shares ahead of the ECB's governing council meeting later today, which will be under intense

scrutiny after a rapidly strengthening euro versus a faltering dollar rattled the continent's

bourses during the previous session.

Financial spreadbetters expect London's FTSE to open 2 points lower at 7641.6 points,

Frankfurt's DAX to open 16 points higher at 13430.5 point and Paris' CAC to open 1 point higher

at 5496 points.

(Julien Ponthus)

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(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Helen Reid, Kit Rees and Julien Ponthus)