LIVE MARKETS-On our radar: LSE, Wirecard and chips

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

ON OUR RADAR: LSE, WIRECARD AND CHIPS (0557 GMT)

Dealmaking and earnings are catching the headlines this morning.

Hong Kong's bourse has scrapped its unsolicited $39 billion approach for the London Stock Exchange after failing to convince LSE management to back a move that could have transformed both global financial services giants.

German payments firm Wirecard has increased its 2025 targets for transaction volume, revenue and EBITDA due to organic growth drivers and partnerships, boosting its shares by 2.2% in premarket trade at Lang & Schwarz.

Some good news for chipmakers from Samsung Electronics which flagged slightly better-than-expected Q3 profit, helped by strong sales of its new Galaxy Note 10 smartphone series even as a slump in its memory chip business continued to weigh on earnings.

In Germany, Qiagen has lost its CEO and warned Q3 preliminary sales will fall short of expectations.

Here are some early headlines:

Air France KLM's September passenger traffic rises from year ago

Wirecard raises EBITDA, revenue and transaction targets for 2025

Game over: Hong Kong bourse pulls $39 bln play for London Stock Exchange

Airbus sold 41 jets in September, targets record 4th-quarter deliveries

Thyssenkrupp to cut admin jobs as part of restructuring - sources

Germany's Aareal conducts strategic review following calls from investor

Liqui-Box sells bag-in-box business to get green light for DS Smith deal

Haulier Eddie Stobart's shareholder DBAY gets more time to make bid

Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital to raise 100 mln pound for next wave of takeovers - Sky news

Qiagen ceo leaves, warns on Q3 sales

(Josephine Mason)

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UNEXPLAINED OPTIMISM IN EUROPE (0520 GMT)

Stock markets are displaying remarkable optimism in Asia this morning, with China trading higher after its week-long holiday, even after a soggy Wall Street close and even though the commentary around the U.S.-China trade talks isn't exactly overwhelmingly positive.

Overnight Washington blacklisted eight Chinese tech companies, expanding its target list to include some of China's top artificial intelligence startups, punishing Beijing for its treatment of Muslim minorities and ratcheting up tensions ahead of high-level trade talks in the U.S. capitol this week.

U.S. President Trump also said he hoped China found a humane and peaceful resolution to the ongoing political protests in Hong Kong, and warned the situation had the potential to hurt trade talks taking place later this week aimed at ending the protracted trade spat between the world's two largest economies.

The bilateral talks are getting underway ahead of a scheduled increase in U.S. tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, to 30% from 25% on Oct. 15.

IG spreadbetters expect London's FTSE to open 17 points higher at 7,214, Frankfurt's DAX to open 26 points higher at 12,123, and Paris' CAC to open 9 points higher at 5,531.

(Josephine Mason)

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(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Joice Alves, Josephine Mason, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)