LIVE MARKETS-On the radar: The winter dividend is coming

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters. You can share your thoughts with Thyagaraju Adinarayan (thyagaraju.adinarayan@thomsonreuters.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com) and Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London.

ON THE RADAR: THE WINTER DIVIDEND IS COMING (0640 GMT)

It's a bit a song of ice and fire this morning: blue chips are burning cash like Daenerys Targaryen her enemies and investors have to come to terms with one of the only certainty of these troubled times: the dividend winter is coming!

UniCredit became the first Italian bank to comply with the ECB call to put dividend and buybacks on hold to preserve beef up capital and support the economy.

It was followed this morning by Dutch lenders ING and ABN Amro which said they would follow the advice of the ECB and suspend any payment of dividends until at least Oct. 1.

One exception outside the EU in the banking sector is UBS Group which maintained its 2019 dividend.

Apart from lenders, the pay-out freeze is still doing its thing with Sweden's SSAB dropping its dividend for 2019,a move that came less than a week after the steelmaker had halved its original payout proposal.

In terms of fire, Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess told German TV channel ZDF his company was burning through $2.2 bln a week with production halted by the coronavirus pandemic.

On that note Nissan just announced that its global vehicles sales fell by 24.2%.

British fashion chain Next just cut off its remaining source of revenue and shut its online business, bowing to pressure from workers worried about their health.

More companies joined in to warn investors about the recession with ABB saying all of its businesses would suffer in the first quarter.

Other coronavirus led headlines for European equities include:

* British accounting firm KPMG's chairman testing positive for the coronavirus

* A new version of a breathing aid has been developed in less than a week by a team involving Mercedes Formula One, and is being tested at London hospitals.

* Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have expanded a clinical trial of their rheumatoid arthritis drug Kevzara as a coronavirus treatment to patients outside the United States.

(Julien Ponthus)

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MORNING CALL: STEADY AS SHE GOES (0533 GMT)

European futures are trading in the black pre-market despite a difficult session in Asia where shares slipped and oil prices tanked as fears for the global economy lingered on despite the many fiscal and monetary stimulus plans implemented or pledged around the world.

China on Monday became the latest to join in with a cut of 20 basis points in a key repo rate.

U.S. futures have also cut their losses and are now firmly in positive territory.

While investors were hoping that stock markets had reached a bottom in the coronavirus crisis, many analysts warn that the economic damage is likely to be deep and long-lasting.

Sunday, a senior medical official said lockdown measures to combat coronavirus in Britain could last months and only be gradually lifted.

(Julien Ponthus)

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