LIVE MARKETS-Opening snapshot: defensives up, cyclicals down

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

OPENING SNAPSHOT: DEFENSIVES UP, CYCLICALS DOWN (0832 GMT)

Europe is off to a rather muted start this morning as worries over slowing global growth and

trade tensions hit cyclicals and export-oriented stocks like autos, while defensives sectors

like utilities and telecoms which are less exposed to the cycle are doing well.

As a result the broader pan-European STOXX 600 is hovering just around parity, while under

the surface there are much bigger moves among the companies that reported results.

Sartorius Stedim Biotech is leading gainers on the STOXX 600, up 12 percent after

posting a solid revenue and profit forecast for 2019, while Royal Mail (LSE: RMG.L - news) has hit a fresh

record low after it failed to deliver on its full-year profit forecast.

Among top movers is also Zalando (Swiss: OXZALG.SW - news) , hit by a SocGen (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) downgrade, while a weak trading

update is hitting Hargreaves Lansdown (Frankfurt: DMB.F - news) . A well-received update is boosting UDG

Healthcare (Shanghai: 603313.SS - news) .

Here's your snapshot:

(Danilo Masoni)

*****

SAP (Amsterdam: AP6.AS - news) , ELECTROLUX, SWEDBANK AND UK HOUSEBUILDERS (0735 GMT)

There's a slew of earnings to digest this morning, with healthcare, software and Swedbank (LSE: 0H6T.L - news) in

the mix and an order worth about $2 billion for Airbus.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in SAP are down almost 2 percent in pre-market trade after Europe's most valuable

technology company missed its 2018 revenue and profit guidance and said it would book a

restructuring charge of nearly $1 billion in Q1.

In healthcare results, Dutch health technology company Koninklijke Philips (Other OTC: PHGFF - news) released some

investor-pleasing news: an increase in dividends, a $1.72 billion share buyback plan and

better-than-expected Q4 profits.

Germany's Siemens Healthineers, which makes medical imaging gear and diagnostics equipment,

will be in focus after its diagnostics division dragged on Q1 earnings.

Weaker-than-expected Q4 earnings from Sweden's Swedbank as weak equity markets hurt trading

results will likely dent confidence in Scandinavian banks, often seen as more insulated from the

troubles facing the euro-zone financial sector. Its shares are expected to fall as

much as 5 percent, one trader said.

Airbus may take off amid expectations Japanese airline ANA is set to order 18 Airbus A320neo

jets worth about $2 billion. Confirmation could be made later on Tuesday.

But Brexit woes may return for the UK housebuilders after Crest Nicholson (Frankfurt: A1KCZN - news) warned of a

"difficult" H1 and posted a 15 percent drop in full-year profit.

A profit and revenue warning from U.S. home appliances maker Whirlpool (Sao Paolo: R2:WHRL3S.SA - news) , grappling with high

costs as the U.S.-China trade dispute inflates steel and aluminum prices, is expected to hurt

Electrolux. Its shares were seen down 2-3 percent.

Alstom (LSE: 0J2R.L - news) and Siemens (BSE: SIEMENS.BO - news) remain in focus as they struggle to get clearance to create a European

rail champion.

Another blow for Bayer (IOB: 0P6S.IL - news) in court: a federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging its

glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer causes cancer has tentatively allowed pieces of

controversial evidence that the company had hoped to exclude from upcoming trials.

Here are some of the other headlines so far this morning:

UK grocers, fast food warn of major disruption from no-deal Brexit

Volvo's self-driving car venture gets nod to test on Swedish roads

SSAB Q4 core profit narrowly lags forecast

Australia wins appeal against BHP over tax owed by marketing arm

Accor Increases Its Stake In Orbis To About 85.84 Pct

French group Faurecia (Swiss: EO.SW - news) to launch tender offer for Clarion acquisition

Grandvision Acquires Charlie Temple

Hellofresh Q4 Adj. Ebitda Loss Reduced At Minus EUR 2 Mln To Minus EUR 6 Mln

Unilever (NYSE: UL - news) buys New York based The Laundress to boost cleaning business

Allianz (Swiss: ALV-EUR.SW - news) provided some reinsurance for burst Vale (Swiss: VALE.SW - news) dam -sources

U.S. House panels to hold joint hearing on Sprint, T-Mobile merger

EUROPE EKES OUT SMALL GAINS (0716 GMT)

Rather surprisingly given the slew of bad news overnight and weak Asian equities, most

European stock futures have opened in positive territory, and are currently ekeing out small

gains. Still, Germany's DAX futures, the most sensitive to all things trade and China, are

underperforming their peers.

MIXED BAG FOR EUROPE (0612 GMT)

Frankfurt and Paris are expected to open lower this morning, after Nvidia (Swiss: NVDA.SW - news) became the latest

U.S. chip maker to warn about the damaging effects of softening demand in China, the world's No.

2 economy, and the United States announced sweeping charges against China's telecom giant Huawei

just days before the next round of trade talks.

In contrast though, London's FTSE is seen higher as hopes mount that the latest batch of

votes on Brexit in Parliament tonight will take the country closer to avoiding a no-deal Brexit.

The UK index, battered by uncertainty over its EU divorce and shunned by investors, is trading

at a discount to its U.S. and European peers.

Financial spreadbetters IG (Frankfurt: A0EARV - news) expect London's FTSE to open 13 points higher at 6,760,

Frankfurt's DAX to open 6 points lower at 11,205 and Paris' CAC to open 9 points lower at

4,880.

Just to add a bit more spice to proceedings, Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) will release its results after the

closing bell tonight.

(Josephine Mason)

*****