REFILE-LIVE MARKETS-European tech trying to ignore all the FANGst

(Refiles to fix formatting of headline) * European shares reverse course, up 0.2% * Italian banks lead rebound, autos rally * Asian shares fall on weak data * Hargreaves Lansdown hit by Woodford woes * Bang & Olufsen slumps after warning June 4 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. Reach him on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: rm://thyagaraju.adinarayan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net EUROPEAN TECH TRYING TO IGNORE THE FANGst (1120 GMT) Reports that the U.S. government is gearing up to investigate whether Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google misuse their massive market power sent the so-called "FANG" stocks spiralling down yesterday as nervous investors dumped the highly-hyped and widely-owned sector. The U.S. index of top tech stocks is well under its 200-day moving average, and has fallen an hefty 20% in just a month - since May 6. Europe's tech sector, although down 1.4% and the worst-performer today, is holding up pretty well by comparison. It's still above its 200-day moving average and has fallen just 6.2% over that same period, as you can see below. Stretched valuations likely have a lot to do with this stark contrast in performance. "Valuations for the FANG stocks are at a point where they are being priced for perfection," said Tom Carroll, head of investments and risk at Sanlam Investments UK, at a roundtable earlier today. "People are only buying stories, they are not buying companies anymore," he added, of the FANGs phenomenon. (Helen Reid) ***** EUROPE'S SELL SIGNAL NOT SO CLEAR (1030 GMT) When the EuroSTOXX 50 fell under its 200-day moving average on Friday, a sense of unease spread among investors with traders warning that the breach of that threshold had sent a sell signal for stock markets. But it looks like the bearish signal isn't so clear after all. In fact, the index managed to end Friday above that level and after negative starts both today and yesterday it's now on track for its second straight session of gains. That sentiment towards Europe is not so bearish despite the continued outflows is reflected by the latest regional recommendations from Credit Suisse strategist Andrew Garthwaite, who's upgraded the region to benchmark. Here in bullets his thinking behind the move: * Economic momentum could surprise on the upside, with cyclicals pricing in zero GDP growth * Investors have capitulated * Earnings revisions are better than those of global equities * We see room for re-leveraging, with buybacks rising * The ERP remains excessive So why not overweight? * The sector-adjusted P/E is on only a 6% discount to the U.S. * Gross margins (ex tech) are similar to the U.S. at a time when wage growth has been much stronger than expected * Europe is very underweight tech (Danilo Masoni) ***** "WE ARE NOT FORECASTING A GLOBAL EARNINGS RECESSION, BUT..." (0914 GMT) Bernstein has taken a look at how factors behave in periods of earnings recession and even though that's not their base-case scenario, the risk cannot be simply ignored. "We are not forecasting a global earnings recession, but in conversations with clients such a possibility is clearly a concern," strategists at the US investment house say. Their model indicates zero EPS growth in Europe over the next 12 months, while the US should see EPS growing around 5%. With that in mind here's their main takeaways: * Income works! In an earnings recession there is tactically support for income, particularly in the guise of the FCF yield factor. However, value strategies that rely on mean-reversion tend to lag. FCF yield does not currently command a premium, so is particularly attractive. We think investors should globally buy high FCF yield companies. * Pay up for Quality, but how much? Factors such as ROE and balance sheet quality tend to perform well. However, we show that in Europe in particular, the premium demanded for the ROE factor is already far ahead of the premium in prior recessions... Instead, we suggest investors buy balance sheet quality globally, and in Europe also buy accounting quality. * Low Volatility tends to perform very strongly just as earnings growth turns negative but the performance reverses quickly as the earnings growth bottoms. How it is currently valued depends a lot on how such a trade is structured. We think investors should buy low vol stocks but to specifically do so within sectors globally * Momentum tends to anticipate an earnings recession, so investors need to get out of the factor before an earnings recession hits, but it reverses quickly at the first sign of a positive turn in earnings growth. The valuation of momentum is elevated compared to history, particularly in the US... The factor has rallied hard in recent weeks but we fear it could become vulnerable again (Danilo Masoni) **** TECH SELL-OFF SPREADS TO EUROPE, HARGREAVES LANSDOWN HIT BY WOODFORD (0736 GMT) Tech is the biggest drag in Europe as a massive sell-off in Nasdaq 100 index overnight led by losses in Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon weighs. STOXX tech index is now down 10% from April peak. Hargreaves Lansdown slumps 6% and is the top faller on Britain's FTSE 100 index . The stock is hit after dealing in the Woodford Equity Income Fund, which is held in six of the Hargreaves Lansdown Multi-Manager funds, has been suspended. Neil Woodford, one of Britain's most high-profile fund managers, suspended trading in the fund after an increase in demand from clients to take their money back. British online grocer Ocado slides 3% and is second biggest faller on FTSE 100. The move comes as UK retail sales fell by an annual 2.7%, the biggest fall - excluding distortions caused by the timing of Easter - since the British Retail Consortium's records began in 1995. Danish luxury TV and stereo maker Bang & Olufsen slumps 19% to 4-year low after issuing its third profit warning in less third time in less than seven months. (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** EUROPEAN STOCK FUTURES SLIDE; AO WORLD, BANG & OLUFSEN, SHELL IN FOCUS (0641 GMT) European stock futures slide 0.6 percent on Tuesday as worries over impact of trade tensions on global economy, Brexit's impact on UK retail and uncertain Italian politics take center stage. UK Retail sales sank by an annual 2.7%, the biggest fall - excluding distortions caused by the timing of Easter - since the British Retail Consortium's records began in 1995. More uncertainty in Italy as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte threatened on Monday to resign, telling his two coalition partners to end their constant feuding or seek new elections. In corporate news, Denmark's Bang & Olufsen cut its profit outlook hurt by lower-than-expected sales in Europe. One trader expects shares of the luxury TV and stereo maker to fall 5-10%. European retail continues to be battered and results from Britain's AO World is the latest evidence as the seller of washing machines, fridges, cookers and televisions reported another loss hit by weakness in its continental Europe division. AO World seen 5-10% lower. Shell called 1-2% higher after the oil giant said it expects to increase its dividend payouts to shareholders once it completes a $25 billion share buyback by the end of 2020. Volkswagen said late on Monday that it would seek a dual listing of a minority stake in its Traton trucks unit on the Frankfurt and Nasdaq Stockholm exchanges, with an IPO planned for completion before the summer break. Key headlines: VW seeks dual listing for minority stake in Traton trucks unit VW CEO meets top U.S. trade official as Mexico tariffs loom - sources AstraZeneca searches for successor to Chairman Johansson - Sky News Kinnevik intends to divest majority of its shareholding in Millicom BRIEF-Bang & Olufsen Adjusts Outlook For The Financial Year 2018/19 Italian PM threatens to quit, tells coalition to end feud UK shoppers slash spending in May - BRC Shell eyes dividend boost after 2020 Britain's AO World earnings weighed down by Europe business Intu Properties appoints Robert Allen as CFO BRIEF-Italy's BPER looking into possible acquisition of Carige - MF (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** EUROPEAN SHARES SEEN SLIGHTLY LOWER (0530 GMT) European stocks are expected to open slightly lower today taking their cues from Asian stocks overnight as escalating US-China trade tensions force investors to take shelter in safe-haven assets. Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 22 points lower at 7,163, Frankfurt's DAX to open 43 points lower at 11,749, and Paris' CAC to open 27 points lower at 5,215. STOXX 600 managed to eke out gains on Monday in the final hour of trading helped by healthcare stocks. In the U.S., the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index fell 1.6% dragged down by Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon.com on fears the companies are the targets of U.S. government antitrust regulators. In European coporate news, Sky News reports that British drugmaker AstraZeneca is preparing to search for a successor to Chairman Leif Johansson. (Thyagaraju Adinarayan) ***** (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Helen Reid, Josephine Mason and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)