WSJ : An Asteroid Whizzed Past Earth Thursday

An Asteroid Whizzed Past Earth Thursday
Scientists predicted the small asteroid would make one of the closest approaches ever

An asteroid the size of a big truck raced over Earth Thursday, just 2,200 miles above the planet’s surface, according to a NASA tracker, in what scientists had said would be one of the closest approaches ever recorded.

Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, had predicted the asteroid, named 2023 BU, would travel over the Pacific Ocean west of southern Chile, Thursday afternoon Pacific time.

The near-Earth object posed no danger. There was no impact, according to the tracker.

“It’s not going to break up,” said Dr. Farnocchia. “It’s going to zoom past Earth, say hello and move on.”


Had it entered Earth’s orbit, the asteroid would have burned upon entry and, at its small size, turned into a fireball. “It’s not going to get close enough for that,” said Dr. Farnocchia.

It would be the fourth-closest approach recorded, according to Dr. Farnocchia. He said there were two instances in 2020 and another in 2021.

Asteroids are big rocks and harder to recognize than comets, which usually have spectacular tails.

2023 BU was first spotted by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov, from his observatory in Nauchnyi, Crimea, on Jan. 21. More observations were reported to the Minor Planet Center, a clearinghouse for the position measurement of small celestial bodies. And after the discovery was announced, observatories around the globe added to the findings, helping astronomers refine 2023 BU’s orbit, according to NASA.

NASA’s impact hazard assessment system, which is based in Southern California and called Scout, analyzed the data and quickly predicted the near miss.

Dr. Farnocchia, who developed Scout, said he received an alert from Scout about the asteroid when he was having dinner. “When you see that alert, you just want to make sure that it’s real,” he said. “So usually I just go and see the data and confirm it’s real and that everything is checked out.”

Scientists use perihelion—or the point in the orbit of a plane, asteroid or comet at which it is closest to the sun—to measure how close an object is getting to Earth. If the perihelion of an object is less than 1.3 astronomical units, which is the distance between Earth and the sun, it is called a near-Earth object.

“Some of them actually can come really close to the Earth, and some of them might never come close to the Earth. That is just the first cutoff to split objects that could be potentially interesting and the ones that certainly are not,” said Dr. Farnocchia.

Any asteroid in Earth’s proximity and gravity can experience a change in trajectory. 2023 BU’s orbit around the sun was expected to take 359 days and follow a circular path, NASA said. But after its expected encounter with Earth on Thursday, its orbit will become more elongated, and one orbit will take 425 days.

Some 100 tons of material from space make it to Earth every day, though most of it is small. Objects about a couple of meters in size reach Earth about once a year and don’t cause any damage. Bigger objects that can cause damage may occur in our lifetime, Dr. Farnocchia said. “So the thing that you have to do is to discover as many as possible,” he said.

Astronomers measure some space objects such as asteroids by observing their brightness, which gives them an idea of their mass. 2023 BU is estimated to be between 3.5 meters and 8 meters, or 11.5 feet to 28 feet—about the size of a big truck.

Discovering smaller objects is a way to keep an eye on bigger discoveries, like NASA’s DART mission in 2022. The space agency used its fast-moving spacecraft to shift the orbit of a distant asteroid after colliding with it.

“Besides discovering objects, we are also making preparations to be able to deflect them in case that was ever needed,” said Dr. Farnocchia. “The DART mission is a great example of that.”

>>> Stoxx 600 Pre-Market Indications

  • Sainsbury (SUY1 TH) +4.2%
    • *BESTWAY GROUP TO BUY 3.45% STAKE IN SAINSBURY, MAY BUY MORE
  • Equinor (DNQ TH) +1.2%
  • Diageo (GUI TH) +1.2%
    • Watch Luxury, Alcohol Stocks as LVMH Sales Growth Slows
  • Imperial Brands (ITB TH) +1.2%
  • Reckitt (3RB TH) +1.1%
  • BAT (BMT TH) +0.9%
  • Rheinmetall (RHM TH) +0.7%
  • Shell (R6C0 TH) +0.6%
  • GTT (9TG TH) +0.6%
  • Hermes (HMI TH) +0.6%
    • Watch Luxury, Alcohol Stocks as LVMH Sales Growth Slows
  • SAP (SAP TH) -0.7%
  • Infineon (IFX TH) -0.9%
    • Watch European Chip Stocks After Intel Gives Grim Forecast
  • Airbus (AIR TH) -0.9%
    • Air France-KLM Places Firm Order for Seven Airbus A350 Jets
  • Sartorius (SRT3 TH) -1.1%
  • Enel (ENL TH) -1.3%
  • Porsche AG (P911 TH) -1.5%
  • United Internet (UTDI TH) -1.8%
    • EQS-Adhoc: United Internet and Warburg Pincus announce price range and offer structure for Initial Public Offering of IONOS
  • LVMH (MOH TH) -2.1%
    • LVMH Sales Growth Slows at End of Record Year for Dior Owner
  • STMicroelectronics (SGM TH) -2.5%
    • Watch European Chip Stocks After Intel Gives Grim Forecast
  • H&M (HMSB TH) -3.9%
    • *H&M 4Q GROSS MARGIN 49.7%, EST. 52.2%

>>> TradeGate Pre-Market Indications

DAX:
  • HeidelbergCement (HEI TH) +0.6%
    • HeidelbergCement Raised to Neutral at Exane; PT 55.50 euros
  • Siemens (SIE TH) -0.6%
    • Siemens Cut at Berenberg as Expectations Getting Harder to Beat
  • Infineon (IFX TH) -0.6%
    • Watch European Chip Stocks After Intel Gives Grim Forecast
  • Sartorius (SRT3 TH) -0.9%
MDAX:
  • Rheinmetall (RHM TH) +0.9%
  • ProSieben (PSM TH) +0.8%
  • Thyssenkrupp (TKA TH) +0.8%
  • TAG Immobilien (TEG TH) -0.9%
  • United Internet (UTDI TH) -1%
    • United Internet, Warburg to Seek Up to €500 Million in Ionos IPO
  • Siltronic (WAF TH) -1%
    • Watch European Chip Stocks After Intel Gives Grim Forecast
  • Jungheinrich (JUN3 TH) -2.4%
SDAX:
  • DIC Asset (DIC TH) +2.5%
  • Shop Apotheke (SAE TH) +1.1%
  • Deutz (DEZ TH) +1%
  • GFT (GFT TH) -1.8%

FT : Israeli tech sector warns of economic hit from Netanyahu’s hardline policie

Israeli tech sector warns of economic hit from Netanyahu’s hardline policies
Executives say new government’s move to curb judicial powers will scare away vital investment to the self-styled Startup Nation

Israel’s technology sector has put Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline new government on notice, warning that its controversial plans to curb the powers of the judiciary could damage the country’s $500bn economy.

On Tuesday, more than 100 Israeli tech groups gave staff permission to join a “warning strike” in Tel Aviv against the plans, which would give the government and its allies control over the appointment of judges, and severely limit the top court’s ability to strike down government decisions.

The hour-long protest drew only a thousand people. But it was the latest in a series of warnings from Israel’s business community about the reform, which critics fear will give the government — widely regarded as the most rightwing in Israeli history — close to unchecked power.

Last week, two former central bank chiefs said that, if enacted as planned, the overhaul could raise Israel’s cost of borrowing. Earlier this month, Standard and Poor’s said it could ultimately harm Israel’s credit rating.

The tech sector’s warnings carry particular resonance given its key role in the economy of the self-styled Startup Nation, where it accounts for around a sixth of gross domestic product, and more than half of exports. In the past two years alone, Israeli tech groups have attracted $42bn of funding.

“Tech is a strategic sector for Israel,” said Assaf Rappaport, chief executive of Wiz, a cloud security start-up, who took part in the protest. “Without democracy, without a system of judicial certainty, the economy cannot thrive, start-ups cannot thrive, tech cannot thrive.”

Government officials argue the changes are needed to rein in a judiciary that has become too activist. But to many tech executives and investors, the proposals look more like a power grab and a recipe for erratic policymaking that could erode the country’s business-friendly framework.

“It becomes a conversation on almost every call [with investors and customers],” said Merav Bahat, founder of the cyber security company Dazz. “The people who are buying goods and technology from us want to buy them from companies that are stable.”

One concern cited by tech workers is that, in combination with the open hostility to minorities displayed by some members of the government — which is dominated by figures with unabashedly ultranationalist, anti-Arab and homophobic views — the judicial reform could make Israel a less attractive place to work.

But the biggest fear is that, in the longer term, the legal uncertainty spawned by the changes could make investors wary about investing in the country, and even prompt founders to start their companies elsewhere.

“At the moment, people are sitting on the fence trying to see what will happen. But I can tell you what will,” said Eran Shir, founder of Nexar, a tech group focused on the automotive sector.

“If I’m starting a new company tomorrow, and I have the option to build it as a US company or an Israeli one, why would I build it as an Israeli one when there is so much uncertainty? . . . I don’t want to take the risk.”

Wiz’s Rappaport said given its relatively small domestic market, Israel was particularly vulnerable to capital and staff being shifted elsewhere.

“We love the Israeli talent and the amazing people that we have here. But there are so many other places in the world with amazing talent that are competing with Israel,” he said.

“The Israeli economy is very, very small. For most of our start-ups and tech companies, and even the multinationals here, the customers are mainly in the US and Europe, and most of our employees are also outside Israel.”

Adam Fisher, managing partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, which has invested $1.5bn in about 50 Israeli start-ups, said he did not expect a “tsunami” of companies pulling out of Israel. But if the reform were passed as planned, there was a risk the country would become “disadvantaged over time”.

“From my experience in other countries, what [could happen] is that when there’s an opportunity to expand an operation in Israel, it’s put off,” he said. “When there’s an opportunity to hire more people, it’s decided to hire somewhere else. Where there’s an investment opportunity in two geographies, the one in Israel may take more time.”

Others are less pessimistic. “I’m not a fan of the reform, but I also don’t think the situation is as bad as it could be,” said Yaron Carni, from Maverick Ventures Israel, a venture capital fund that has raised $180mn over three funds since 2013. “Governments come and go. And reforms come and go. But technology is here to stay. Technology is going to eat the world.”

Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has sought to parry concerns about the overhaul’s economic impact. Last week, he touted a $2bn sale of sovereign bonds as proof that investors still trusted Israel. On Wednesday, he claimed the reforms would strengthen the economy by reducing “superfluous legal processes”.

“Nobody will harm intellectual property rights and the honouring of agreements,” he added. “There is no reason for fear-mongering.”

What worries investors, however, is that if the judicial overhaul is passed, they would have scant recourse against a government that decided to break such promises.

“When the government can do whatever it pleases, it creates a sense of arbitrary rule,” said Bessemer’s Fisher. “Investors like ourselves look at the situation, and you realise: ‘well, that’s the law now — but it can change on a whim’.”

FT : Rolls-Royce’s new chief warns company is a ‘burning platform’

Rolls-Royce’s new chief warns company is a ‘burning platform’
Tufan Erginbilgic delivers bleak assessment to employees on future of UK engineering group

The new chief executive of Rolls-Royce has given a brutal assessment of Britain’s flagship engineering group, telling employees it must transform the way it operates or it will not survive.

In a global address broadcast to staff, parts of which were shared with the Financial Times, Tufan Erginbilgic warned investors were losing patience with the FTSE 100 group.

“Every investment we make, we destroy value,” he told employees, adding that financially, “we underperform every key competitor out there”.

Erginbilgic’s stark appraisal was designed to pave the way for a big shake-up at the 117-year-old group, according to one person familiar with the address.

The Turkish-British national took over from Warren East at the start of January with a brief to improve Rolls-Royce’s performance. It has traditionally achieved profit margins far below those of its bigger competitors, such as General Electric of the US.

Speaking at Rolls-Royce’s UK manufacturing site at Derby, Erginbilgic described the company as a “burning platform”. The phrase evoked comments made more than a decade ago by Nokia’s then-chief executive Stephen Elop, who also warned staff the company was standing on a “burning platform”. Less than three years later, the Finnish company’s mobile phone business was sold to Microsoft.

Addressing staff, Erginbilgic said: “We do have a burning platform, not because I say so but because of what I am going to share with you.”

The company’s performance was “unsustainable”, he said, adding: “It is at a level [at which] it cannot continue. Rolls-Royce has not been performing for a long, long time, it has nothing to do with Covid, let’s be very clear. Covid created a crisis, but the issue in hand has nothing to do with it.”

“Given everything I know talking to investors, this is our last chance.”

Erginbilgic used the address to launch a “transformation programme” with a focus on “efficiency and optimisation” in what was widely interpreted as a signal to staff to expect another round of job cuts, in particular among white-collar workers.

Rolls-Royce’s recent history is one of successive restructurings designed to force through radical transformation. The company is only just emerging from a sweeping overhaul launched by East in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic including the loss of 9,000 jobs to save £1.3bn in costs.

The grounding of international air travel severely dented its civil aerospace business which still generates 40 per cent of the group’s underlying revenues.

Although the company is on course to have met its 2022 targets for revenue growth and “modestly positive” free cash flow, its balance sheet remains laden with debt. Its shares have risen 22 per cent since the start of January to 114p but remain far below their pre-pandemic high of 337p.

The company said its new boss had been discussing “the need to significantly improve the performance of Rolls-Royce”.

“He was honest about our financial underperformance compared with our peers, laid out his priorities for all of us and stressed the need for everyone within the business to work together in order for Rolls-Royce to succeed.”

Staff at the meeting said Erginbilgic went on to say Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace division, which builds and maintains large engines for widebody aircraft, was not generating cash or profit even before the pandemic.

The company generates the bulk of its cash from the hours that its engines are in the air. While it has been held back by the slow recovery in long-haul travel, analysts have predicted the reopening of China will be a positive catalyst.

Erginbilgic, however, cautioned that the company needed to change fundamentally, telling staff that no business generating low returns should be in its portfolio.

He stressed that he was convinced he could improve the company, but warned employees needed to “think differently, act differently, make a difference so this business corrects itself and we don’t have much time”.

FT : Doubts emerge as Brazil and Argentina pin hopes on joint currency

Doubts emerge as Brazil and Argentina pin hopes on joint currency
South America’s leftwing leaders push ahead despite questions over unequal benefits of proposal

The IMF’s former chief economist Olivier Blanchard needed just three words to respond to the news that Brazil and Argentina would begin preparatory work on creating a common currency. “This is insane,” he tweeted.

While economists have questioned the viability of the idea, political analysts have been less dismissive, pointing out that the desires of South America’s mainly leftwing presidents to promote regional integration and challenge the US dollar’s dominance should not be underestimated.

For the first time in more than seven years, Brazil and Argentina are politically aligned under leftist leaders, with both Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Alberto Fernández keen to present a united front.

Brazil’s president told reporters in Buenos Aires earlier this week that, “God willing”, the finance ministers and leaders of the two central banks would have the “intelligence, competence and good sense” to begin work that could eventually produce a common currency.

His Argentine counterpart said while he did not know “how a common currency with Brazil and the region would work,” the two nations would have a “much deeper strategic bond” that would last “for decades.”

The two leaders made clear that an eventual common currency would, at first, be limited to use in trade and would run in tandem with Brazil’s real and the Argentine peso, rather than replacing them.


This is not the first time that the idea has been floated. People close to the previous rightwing administration in Brazil confirmed that former finance minister Paulo Guedes had defended the idea several times on the grounds that the currency would help impose fiscal discipline and that there would be fewer global currencies in the future so it would be beneficial if the region established its own. Guedes even suggested a name, the “peso real”, and predicted a 15-year timeline for such a project in Latin America. Argentina’s former central bank chief Federico Sturzenegger, who served from 2015-2018 under the conservative administration of Mauricio Macri, was supportive of establishing a central bank among members of the Mercosur trade bloc.

Latin America’s left has long wanted to reduce the region’s historic dependence on the United States and sees a common currency as a clever way to claim greater economic sovereignty while also pursuing a long-held dream of closer political union. In a nod to those tensions with its rival north of the equator, Brazil’s current finance minister Fernando Haddad last year co-authored a piece suggesting a common currency called the “sur”, or south.

Underpinning the political support is a desire to stabilise Argentina’s battered economy. The country has been on the brink of insolvency for years, its central bank reserves are dwindling, tight exchange controls have fed a rampant black market in the dollar and confidence in the peso has collapsed. “Argentina needs an external anchor to restore credibility,” economist Rodrigo Wagner, an expert on new currency adoption, said.

The financial chaos has weighed on trade between the two economies. At roughly $30bn in 2022, flows between Brazil and Argentina are lower than the $40bn level recorded a decade ago. That is partly because Argentina has a chronic shortage of US dollars — the common currency of global export markets — to purchase Brazilian exports.

“Trade is certainly facilitated by a common currency and eliminating FX risks brings advantages,” said Nannette Hechler-Fayd’herbe, global head of economics and research at Credit Suisse. However, she highlighted that monetary unions also posed challenges to member states, as the history of the EU’s single currency project showed.

Pierpaolo Barbieri, founder of the Argentine fintech Ualá, said it was too easy to be cynical about the plans. “Brazil wants a larger market for its exports and to lower trade barriers,” he added. A common unit of exchange would be an “ultimate vehicle” towards achieving both.


Digital currencies, such as Tether and Bitcoin, were already offering alternatives. “Anything that opens up our extremely closed market is a step in the right direction,” said Barbieri.

Everton Guimarães Negresiolo, president of the Argentine-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services, has said “a bilateral trade tool” in a currency “other than the dollar” would be beneficial to the businesses they represent — though he acknowledged that a string of economic imbalances between the two countries posed “very important challenges”.

“It is very positive news to learn that we are working towards greater regional integration,” said Gustavo Grobocopatel, who heads one of Argentina’s largest farming groups, Los Grobo, adding that the announcement was one way to get member states to “start doing the homework” on the imbalances.

Wagner said the lack of an alternative to dollars meant South American nations, including his native Chile, were missing out on valuable trading relationships.

But others argue the scale of the disparity between the two countries makes the project a non-starter.

Buenos Aires has been cut off from international debt markets since a default in 2020 and has tight foreign exchange controls. The real, meanwhile, is fully convertible, and a better grip on government spending means the country has full access to international markets. Annual inflation in Argentina reached 94.8 per cent in December, against a far more manageable 5.79 per cent in Brazil.

Marcos Casarin, chief economist at Oxford Economics, said: “Argentina has more inflation in a single month than Brazil [has] in a year.”

“My perception is this common currency is not going to be feasible. And if it is feasible, it is going to create increasing turbulence in our economy,” said Walter Schalka, president of São Paulo-based Suzano, one of the world’s biggest pulp and paper companies. “Argentina and Brazil are facing different economic moments. They’re in a completely different situation. This is something that is not going to create any value for Brazil.”

>>> What to look at today - 27th of January 2023

European equity futures climbed and Asian stocks advanced for a sixth-straight day as a surge in US tech shares and China’s reopening helped investors shrug off mixed data on the American economy. The moves are set to extend the weekly run of gains for the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to five as it heads for the highest close since April. Hong Kong-listed technology stocks were among the regional leaders on Friday, as they have been since around October.  A report that Japan and the Netherlands are poised to join the US in limiting China’s access to advanced semiconductor machinery tempered the climb, pulling stocks off their intraday highs. Mainland China remains closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. Investors are also focused on stocks linked to Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, with the companies expected to provide a detailed response to a short seller’s report that they labeled as “bogus.” Shares of Adani Group’s companies plunged, extending a selloff that began when the report was published. Flagship firm Adani Enterprises Ltd. dropped as much as 10%, while Adani Green Energy Ltd. and Adani Total Gas Ltd. tumbled 20%. The group’s rout pushed India’s NSE Nifty 50 Index to slide more than 1%, on course for the lowest since October. The yen rose after Tokyo inflation exceeded estimates and rose to the highest level since 1981. Quickly rising prices will add pressure on the Bank of Japan to scale back its stimulus after it redoubled its efforts to depress bond yields earlier this month. Japan’s 10-year bond yield climbed 1.5 basis point, to 0.475%, as it edges toward the BOJ’s new ceiling of 0.5%. Asia’s developments followed mixed US economic data Thursday, with gross domestic product rising at a faster-than-forecast pace in the December quarter, but accompanied by signs of slowing underlying demand as rate hikes crimp growth. A surprise drop in initial jobless claims also pointed to resilience in the labor market. The S&P 500 managed to close at the highest level in more than a month on Thursday, reflecting the jump in tech stocks. The Nasdaq 100 rose 2% to the highest level since September, led by an 11% gain for Tesla Inc. as Elon Musk teased potential for the carmaker to produce 2 million vehicles this year.  US futures went a different direction during Asian trading, in part reflecting Intel Corp. late in the day giving of the gloomiest quarterly forecasts in its history after a personal-computer slump ravaged its business. Intel tumbled in late trading.  oil rose on the back of optimism over Chinese demand. Gold slid. US After Hours INTC -9.4%, KLAC -5.5%, RHI -4.8% lower on earnings; HAS -7.5% guides Q4 below consensus, to cut jobs; V +1.4% higher on earnings; NOG +7.3% to join S&P SmallCap 600.

Nikkei +0,07% Hang Seng +0,28% CSI +0,61% Shanghai +0,76% Shenzen +0,65%

Eur$ 1,0868 CNH 6,7619 CNY 6,7927 JPY 130,17 GBP 1,2367 CHF 0,9224 RUB 69,4812 TRY 18,8085 WTI$ 81,31 Gold 1,924 BTC 23,000 ETH 1,582

S&P -0,39% Nasdaq -0,72% EuroStoxx +0,21% FTSE +0,08% Dax +0,19% SMI +0,14%

Macro :
- IMF Weighs Ukraine Aid Package Worth as Much as $16 Billion
- EU Considers Capping Russian Fuel Prices at $100 a Barrel

Keep an eye on :
- ACX SM : Acerinox to Invest $244m in US Stainless Steel Factory
- ADYEN NA : Stripe Revenue Growth Fell in 2022, Was Unprofitable:Information
- AIR FP : Airbus Says Intends to Create 7,000 New Positions in ‘23
- AMUN FP : Kasikornbank to Sell 49% of Fund Unit to Amundi: Kao Hoon
- BBBY US : Bed Bath & Beyond Inches Closer to a Bankruptcy Filing
- BORR NO : Borr Drilling Announces Letter of Award With Est. $30.4M Value
- MT NA : Boston Metal Reports $120M Financing Led by ArcelorMittal
- ARGX BB : Argenx Says FDA Extends Review of SC Efgartigimod BLA
- AZN LN : AstraZeneca to Work With FDA to Collect Data on Evusheld
- BHG SS : BHG Group 4Q Sales Misses Estimates
- BNP FP : BNP, Credit Agricole to Bid for SocGen’s ALD Assets: Les Echos
- CLAB SS : Cloetta 4Q Operating Profit Beats Estimates
- ACA FP : BNP, Credit Agricole to Bid for SocGen’s ALD Assets: Les Echos
- CTT PL : Portuguese Mail Company CTT to Increase Prices From March 1
- BN FP : Danone Puts Lagging US Brands Including Wallaby Up for Sale
- EDP PL : EDP Says 2022 Power Output Rose 3%, to Post Impairment on Pecem
- SFER IM : Ferragamo's 4Q Comes Up Short, Adds to Case for Overhaul: React
- HAL NA : HAL FY Dividend per Share EU5 Vs. EU5.70 Y/y
- HSBA LN : HSBC Shares Become Most Overbought Since 1986 After 50% Rally
- INTC US : Intel Tumbles After Forecast Suggests Its Comeback Is Far Off
- IPN FP : Ipsen Gets Negative CHMP Opinion for Palovarotene Treatment
- DEC FP : JCDecaux 4Q Adjusted Revenue Beats Estimates
- KOMN SW : Komax Sees Building Sale Contributing ~CHF11M to 2023 Ebit
- MC FP : LVMH’s Fashion & Leather Unit Drives ‘Excellent’ 4Q Results
- MAT US : Mattel Falls After Hasbro’s Preliminary Profit, Sales Disappoint
- NSKOG NO : Norske Skog 4Q Ebitda Beats Estimates
- OX2 SS : OX2 to Develop 1,400 MW Offshore Wind Farm Off Finland
- PTNR IT : Partner Communications to Delist From Nasdaq, Focus on Tel Aviv
- PHIA NA : Philips to Cut More Than 1,000 Jobs in the Netherlands: ED
- RCO FP : Remy Cointreau 3Q Organic Revenue Beats Estimates
- RNO FP : Renault-Nissan Landmark Deal Emerges With Joint Projects
- RNO FP : Renault Offers Workers 7.5% Salary Budget Increase in 2023: Rtrs
- SAN FP : Sanofi’s Dupixent Recommended for Expanded Use in EU
- SCR FP : Scor’s Thierry Léger Appointment Suggests All Is Not Well: React
- ENG SM : Axpo Sells Its 5% Share in Trans Adriatic Pipeline for €210M
- LIGHT NA : Signify 4Q Comparable Sales Misses Estimates
- GLE FP : BNP, Credit Agricole to Bid for SocGen’s ALD Assets: Les Echos
- SSABA SS : SSAB 4Q Adjusted Operating Profit Misses Estimates
- SREN SW : Swiss Re Chief Underwriting Officer Thierry Leger to Step Down
- TRELB SS : Trelleborg 4Q Net Sales Beats Estimates
- TUI1 GY : TUI Is Said to Pick Banks for Rights Offering to Repay Bailout
- UTDI GY : United Internet, Warburg to Seek Up to €500 Million in Ionos IPO
- V US : Visa 1Q Adjusted EPS Beats Estimates
- WDP BB : WDP 2023 Dividend per Share Forecast Beats Estimates
- ZURN SW : Zurich Airport Names Lukas Brosi as New CEO

>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 27th of January 2023

>>> Up
* 888 Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 165 pence
* Aena Raised to Equal-Weight at Barclays; PT 139 euros
* Credit Suisse Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley
* Equinor Raised to Neutral at Goldman; PT 390 kroner
* Foot Locker PT Raised to $43 from $31 at Williams Trading
* Geberit Raised to Outperform at Exane; PT 588 Swiss francs
* Granges Raised to Hold at Handelsbanken
* HeidelbergCement Raised to Neutral at Exane; PT 55.50 euros
* JCDecaux Raised to Overweight at Barclays; PT 27.50 euros
* Monte Paschi Raised to Equal-Weight at Barclays; PT 2.40 euros
* Rockwool Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT 1,810 kroner
* Sabadell Raised to Neutral at Exane; PT 1.20 euros

>>> Down
* Adevinta Cut to Hold at Nordea
* Airbus Cut to Hold at Jefferies; PT 130 euros
* Almirall Cut to Neutral at Oddo BHF; PT 10 euros
* Antofagasta Cut to Reduce at Peel Hunt; PT 1,400 pence
* CBRE Cut to Market Perform at KBW; PT $88
* Close Brothers Cut to Hold at Peel Hunt; PT 1,031 pence
* Flutter Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT 15,900 pence
* Hess Cut to Neutral at Goldman; PT $170
* HMS Networks Cut to Hold at DNB Markets; PT 405 kronor
* Mitchells & Butlers Cut to Hold at Jefferies; PT 170 pence
* Northrop Grumman Cut to Peerperform at Wolfe
* Smurfit Kappa Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley
* Travis Perkins Cut to Underperform at Exane; PT 866 pence

>>> Initiation
* CBRE Reinstated Buy at Citi; PT $100
* CNH Industrial Rated New Buy at Berenberg; PT $31
* Jones Lang Rated New Neutral at Citi; PT $200

>>> Call
* Siemens Cut at Berenberg as Expectations Getting Harder to Beat
* Time to Take Profits on Packaging Stocks, Smurfit Kappa Cut: MS

>>> US After Hours Summary: INTC -9.4%, KLAC -5.5%, RHI -4.8% lower on earnings; HAS -7.5% guides Q4 below consensus, to cut jobs; V +1.4% higher on earnings; NOG +7.3% to join S&P SmallCap 600

After Hours Summary: INTC -9.4%, KLAC -5.5%, RHI -4.8% lower on earnings; HAS -7.5% guides Q4 below consensus, to cut jobs; V +1.4% higher on earnings; NOG +7.3% to join S&P SmallCap 600

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: AJG +4.5%, AX +4.1%, LHX +3.7%, RMD +2.1% (also names CEO Mick Farrell as Chair), OLN +1.6%, WRB +1.5%, V +1.4%, WY +0.7% (also declares supplemental dividend), FICO +0.1%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: NOG +7.3% (to join S&P SmallCap 600), GVA +1.7% (awarded $46 mln California DoT contract), SANA +0.7% (FDA clears IND application to initiate first in-human study of SC291), CVX +0.1% (names new Vice Chairman)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: INTC -9.4%, HAS -7.5% (guides Q4 below consensus; COO to step down; to eliminate 1,000 jobs), KLAC -5.5%, RHI -4.8%, EMN -3%, SSB -2.9%, TSE -2.8%, ABCB -2.7%, APPF -2.1%, FHI -2%, FIBK -2%, KNX -1.5%, GBCI -0.2%, ASB -0.1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: AMD -3% (in sympathy with weak INTC earnings), NVDA -2.1% (in sympathy with weak INTC earnings), MAT -1.6% (in sympathy with weak HAS guidance), AROC -1.2% (increases dividend), BNTX -1% (FDA committee votes to use same coronavirus strain for initial COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters to simplify regimen, according to Reuters), NI -0.9% (increases dividend), MQ -0.6% (names new CEO), JNJ -0.2% (FDA committee votes to use same coronavirus strain for initial COVID-19 vaccine doses and boosters to simplify regimen, according to Reuters), LMT -0.2% (awarded $657 mln U.S. Army contract modification), BLD -0.1% (acquires SRI Holdings)