- Faurecia SE (FAU TH) +1.6%
- Voestalpine (VAS TH) +1.5%
- Watch European Miners as Iron Ore Declines Over China Outbreak
- Vestas (VWSB TH) +1.2%
- Siemens Gamesa (GTQ1 TH) +1.1%
- Grocer Carrefour Picked as Top Takeover Target in Europe: Survey
- Orsted (D2G TH) +1.1%
- ASML (ASME TH) +1.1%
- Raiffeisen (RAW TH) -1%
- Raiffeisen Resumed Underweight at Morgan Stanley; PT 14 euros
- Centrica (CENB TH) -1.1%
- K+S (SDF TH) -1.2%
- Ukraine War Defers EU Agri-Green Push, Boost Fertilization Firms
- Danone (BSN TH) -1.2%
- Volvo (VOL1 TH) -1.5%
- Equinor (DNQ TH) -1.8%
>>> Up
* Hurricane Energy Raised to Hold at Canaccord; PT 9 pence
* Julius Baer Raised to Buy at SocGen; PT 67.50 Swiss francs
* Swedbank Raised to Add at AlphaValue/Baader
>>> Down
* Addlife Cut to Hold at SEB Equities; PT 275 kronor
* Brewin Dolphin Cut to Market Perform at KBW; PT 515 pence
* Cargotec Cut to Hold at Handelsbanken
* Energean Cut to Hold at Jefferies; PT 1,300 pence
* Ford Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays; PT $17
* Gjensidige Cut to Sell at SEB Equities; PT 215 kroner
* Granges Cut to Hold at Handelsbanken
* PagSeguro Cut to Neutral at Banco BTG Pactual; PT $23
* Sampo Cut to Hold at HSBC; PT 49 euros
* Selvaag Bolig Cut to Hold at Pareto Securities; PT 53 kroner
* Target Healthcare REIT Cut to Hold at Berenberg; PT 120 pence
* Telenor Cut to Hold at Handelsbanken
* Telia Cut to Hold at Handelsbanken
* TI Fluid Cut to Hold at Jefferies; PT 195 pence
>>> Initiation
* Atlantic Sapphire ASA Reinstated Hold at Arctic Securities
* D'Ieteren Rated New Outperform at Oddo BHF; PT 205 euros
* flatexDEGIRO Rated New Outperform at Oddo BHF; PT 30 euros
* Impact Healthcare REIT Rated New Buy at Jefferies; PT 134 pence
* IntegraFin Re-Initiated Hold at Liberum; PT 430 pence
* Kainos Rated New Add at Numis; PT 1,560 pence
* Nyxoah Rated New Peerperform at Wolfe; PT 19.24 euros
* Raiffeisen Resumed Underweight at Morgan Stanley; PT 14 euros
* Target Healthcare REIT Rated New Hold at Jefferies; PT 122 pence
* Unity Software Rated New Buy at Citi; PT $125
>>> Call
* GB Group Gets Another Buy as Liberum Sees Long-Term Potential
* Staffers Estimates Cut at Jefferies, Lowers Pagegroup to Hold
Stocks fell Thursday after the Federal Reserve outlined plans to pare its balance sheet by more than $1 trillion a year while hiking interest rates, a campaign to curb inflation that could hit economic growth. An Asia-Pacific share gauge fell over 1%, sapped by Japan. Losses were a little smaller in China, where officials have again signaled that they intend to loosen policy amid a Covid outbreak and property-market woes. U.S. and European futures dipped after a tech-led Wall Street retreat Wednesday. Treasuries rose, the yield curve was steeper and the dollar flirted with a three-week high as investors digested the minutes of the Fed’s March meeting. The minutes signaled half-point rate increases are possible, and that the Fed is considering reducing its massive bond holdings at a maximum pace of $95 billion a month to tighten financial conditions. Commodity markets continue to be whipsawed by disruptions sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine and efforts to curb raw-material costs. Oil rallied, paring a slump that was triggered by the International Energy Agency’s decision to deploy 60 million barrels from emergency stockpiles. The Fed’s plan to prune its near $9 trillion balance sheet, which was swollen by pandemic-era bond purchases, points to more volatility in global markets. Investors are doubtful the Fed can avoid tipping the world’s biggest economy into a recession as it focuses on slowing activity to bring down price pressures. In China, officials will use monetary policy tools at an “appropriate time” and consider other measures to boost consumption, according to the readout from a meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday. Russia slipped closer to a technical default after foreign banks declined to process about $650 million of dollar payments on its bonds, forcing it to offer rubles instead. The latest corporate developments included the purchase of a stake in HP Inc. valued at more than $4.2 billion by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. HP’s shares jumped in extended trading. US After Hours SOFI -5.3% falls on weak guidance; VAPO -18.8% as it withdraws FY22 rev guidance; LEVI +1% ticks higher on earnings
Nikkei -1.60% Hang Seng -1.13% CSI -1.06% Shanghai -1.18% Shenzen -1.55%
Eur$ 1.0917 CNH 6.3674 CNY 6.3622 JPY 123.68 GBP 1.3083 CHF 0.9326 RUB 81.8411 TRY 14.7424 WTI$ 97.23+ +1.06% Gold 1,923.03 -0.12% BTC 43,270 -1.37% ETH 3,200 -1.91%
S&P -0.30% Nasdaq -0.22% EuroStoxx -0.16% FTSE +0.06% Dax -0.18% SMI +0.08%
Macro :
- ECB’s Knot Expects Higher Inflation in Coming Months
- Fed Officials Weigh Pruning Balance Sheet by $95 Billion a Month
- Oil Selloff Accelerates as IEA Sets Coordinated Global Release
Keep an eye on :
- 888 LN : 888 to Launch Equity-Raise to Fund William Hill Takeover: Sky
- ARL GY : Advent, Centerbridge to Submit Renewed Aareal Takeover Bid
- ACCEL NA : Accell Says Acceptance Period in KKR Deal Runs April 8 to June 3
- ACS SM : ACS Confirms Interest to Bid For Atlantia With GIP, Brookfield
- ACS SM : ACS Looks to Elevate Highways Ambition With Atlantia Bid: React
- AIR FP : Airbus Is Said to Have Delivered About 60 Aircraft in March
- ALV GY : BNP, SocGen Interested in Allianz’s Generation Vie Stake: Echos
- ARR NO : Arribatec Group Offering of 100m Shares Prices at NOK0.5/Share
- ATL IM : Blackstone Is Said to Weigh Potential Bid for Italy’s Atlantia
- ATL IM : Atlantia Shares Jump in Milan After Report Perez Weighing Offer
- ATL IM : Atlantia Outlook to Stable by Moody's
- AVTX NA : Avantium Starts Offering Worth up to EU45m, Terms Show
- BARC LN : Barclays Hires BofA Equity Capital Markets Veteran Warren Fixmer
- BBVA SM : BBVA Plans Early Redemption of Contingent Conv. Securities
- BA US : Boeing 737 Max 10 Faces Costly Delays as Lawmaker Opposes Waiver
- CA FP : Carrefour Seen as Europe’s Top M&A Target in Bloomberg Survey
- CLASB SS : Clas Ohlson March Sales +22% (1)
- CNP FP : CNP Assurances Names Barriere, Thepaut to Executive Committee
- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank Plans to Hire 3,700 in India to Entrench Position
- H20 GY : Enapter AG Plans EU100m Capital Raise in Two-Part Share Issue
- EUZ GY : Eckert & Ziegler Prelim 1Q Net Income About EU6.5M
- SGRE SM : Gamesa Sinks on Turbine Issue; Citi Says Drop May Be Overdone
- G IM : Generali Div. at Risk in Challengers’ Plan, CEO Tells Repubblica
- GXI GY : Gerresheimer 1Q Adjusted Ebitda EU61.5M Vs. EU54.2M Y/y
- HPQ US : Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Adds New $4.2 Billion HP Stake
- REMEDY FH : Finland’s Remedy to Remake Max Payne Titles With Rockstar Games
- REP SM : Repsol 1Q Refining Margin Widens, Crude Output Drops
- MSLH LN : Marshalls to Buy Marley For GBP535m Ent. Value; Starts Placing
- SAN FP : Sanofi, Regeneron: EU Commission Approves Dupixent for Children
- SBMO NA : SBM Offshore Has No Significant Business in Ukraine or Russia
- SCTS SS : Scandi Standard Says Fire Broke Out at Danish Facility
- SKAB SS : Skanska Receives Order for Route 146 in U.S. Worth SEK780m
- SOP FP : Sopra Steria Indexes EU1.1B Credit Line to Carbon Target
- SREN SW : Swiss Re Reiterates Target ROE of 14% in 2024
- DG FP : Vinci Highways Acquires 70% of Tollplus It Didn’t Already Own
- WMH LN : 888 to Launch Equity-Raise to Fund William Hill Takeover: Sky
AccuWeather Warns La Nina To Spark Active Hurricane Season
AccuWeather forecasters are predicting the seventh straight above-average Atlantic hurricane season because of La Niña and warmer ocean temperatures.
AccuWeather's senior meteorologist and hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski is once again anticipating an above-normal season of tropical development in the Atlantic basin, along with higher probabilities of major hurricanes making landfall in the U.S.
Kottlowski forecasts 16-20 named storms and six to eight hurricanes. Of those hurricanes, he believes three to five could exceed Category 3 strength.
AccuWeather's forecast of 16-20 named storms is higher than the 30-year average of 14 per year. The projection of six to eight hurricanes is in line with averages.
This year's upcoming season could be identical to how 2020 and 2021 played out. Last season, there were 21 named storms, seven hurricanes, and four major hurricanes. Eight of those storms made direct impacts on the U.S. mainland. About four to six are expected to hit the U.S. this year.
Kottlowski said the climatological phenomenon known as La Niña will play a crucial role in the active hurricane season, which begins on June 1 and ends on Nov. 7. There's also a risk of tropical storms before the season starts.
La Niña has been extremely active in the last two years and has reduced the amount of vertical wind shear in the atmosphere. Greater vertical wind shear can often stymie developing cyclones.
Kottlowski said La Niña and above-normal sea-surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean and off the U.S. East Coast would produce another active hurricane season.
Samsung Forecasts Record First-Quarter Revenues
Profits are also projected to rise over prior year
SEOUL— Samsung Electronics Co. forecast record quarterly revenues and a 50% rise in first-quarter operating profits over the prior year, owing to strength for memory chips and a robust rollout of its latest flagship smartphones.
Samsung’s performance speaks to how the prolonged chip shortage continues to boost business for tech suppliers. But sales of the South Korean tech giant’s memory chips and smartphones could face risks of decline in the months ahead as factors including the Russia-Ukraine war and record inflation could dampen consumer sentiment.
On Thursday, the world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones said it forecasts operating profit of 14.1 trillion South Korean won, equivalent to about $11.6 billion, for the quarter ended March 31. That compares with 9.4 trillion won for the year-earlier quarter.
Revenue is expected to reach 77 trillion won, up about 18% from the prior year. It would mark Samsung’s highest ever quarterly revenue, just topping the prior record of 76.6 trillion won set in the prior quarter.
Samsung’s outlook topped market expectations. Analysts polled by S&P Market Intelligence were expecting on average 13.5 trillion won in operating profit and 74.9 trillion won in revenue.
The Suwon, South Korea-based company reports full earnings later this month. Samsung is considered a bellwether for the tech world as it is both a major electronics maker and a supplier to consumer-electronics rivals including Apple Inc. and Sony Group Corp.
Samsung generates most of its operating profit from semiconductors and has a dominant position in memory chips that give devices their multitasking ability and data storage.
Prices of the two major types of memory chips—both DRAM and NAND flash—in the first quarter remained higher than the same point last year. But production hold ups due to shortages of other types of semiconductors have led to some pullbacks in memory demand from the prior quarter, said Sanjeev Rana, a Seoul-based senior analyst at brokerage CLSA. But memory prices held up better than expected, propping up profits, he said.
DRAM prices could decline by up to 5% in the second quarter, from the prior three-month period, due in part to weaker consumer demand for tech gadgets because of inflation and unknown economic fallout from the continuing Russia-Ukraine war, according to TrendForce, a Taiwan-based tech-market researcher.
But NAND flash prices are expected to rise by 5% to 10% in the second quarter as supply became tighter following a raw-material contamination that disrupted production at Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp. and Western Digital Corp. in early February, TrendForce projects.
Samsung is also expected to have gotten a boost from its latest lineup of Galaxy S22 flagship smartphones, which made its debut in February. The South Korean firm kept prices the same as last year’s models. But the premium devices, which bring in the highest margins, are the main drivers of the company’s smartphone profits.
Global demand is 20% higher for the Galaxy S22 than its predecessor, based on the first six weeks of sales, Samsung recently said.
Samsung is the largest smartphone vendor in Russia with a 30% market share as of the fourth quarter of 2021, according to Counterpoint Research. Last month, the company said it had suspended shipments of all of its products to the country because of geopolitical developments and was monitoring the situation.
Blackstone weighs takeover bid for Italian infrastructure group Atlantia
New York-based private equity group working on offer with Benetton family’s holding company
Blackstone Group is weighing a takeover bid for Italian infrastructure group Atlantia, the manager of motorways, toll roads and airports across Europe, in what would be one the largest buyouts in the booming industry, said people briefed about the matter.
The New York-based private equity group is working on the bid with Edizione, a holding company that manages the fortune of Italy’s Benetton family and owns a third of Atlantia, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
With its large shareholding, Edizione has the ability to influence any buyout proposal.
Blackstone declined to comment.
Atlantia owns majority stakes in airports in Nice, St Tropez, Cannes, and the Leonardo da Vinci international airport in Rome; motorways in 11 countries including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, the US and India; and operates toll roads in 24 countries.
Blackstone’s potential to enter a bidding war for Atlantia was first reported by Bloomberg, sending the Italian group’s US-listed shares up 10 per cent to close with an equity value of more than $17bn, according to data compiled by Sentieo.
The potential bid comes on the heels of a separate report that Florentino Pérez, chair of Grupo ACS and the president of football club Real Madrid, is teaming up with infrastructure investors Brookfield Asset Management and Global Infrastructure Partners on a takeover offer.
Pérez has considered partnering with the Benettons but is also willing to make a hostile approach if he fails to win the backing of the northern Italian family.
The Benetton family has been under enormous pressure to seek a buyer for part or all of Atlantia since the deadly collapse four years ago of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, which was maintained by an Atlantia subsidiary.
Italy’s previous government, led by the populist leader Giuseppe Conte, had threatened multiple times to strip Atlantia’s right to operate Italy’s highway network as a result of the tragedy.
Atlantia’s shares have languished since the Morandi bridge collapse, falling in value by more than a third since August 2018 before takeover speculation pushed them higher in recent days.
After Hours Summary: SOFI -5.3% falls on weak guidance; VAPO -18.8% as it withdraws FY22 rev guidance; LEVI +1% ticks higher on earningsAfter Hours Gainers:
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: CXM +9.9%, SKIL +6%, RGP +5.4%, LEVI +1%, SLP +0.4%
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: GENI +7.5% (Sportico details NFL as largest US shareholder in GENI), ADVM +3.1% (receives feedback from the FDA; to proceed with IND amendment process for ADVM-022 in wet AMD), SENS +2.2% (first US patient implanted with Eversense E3 CGM System), RLGT +1.7% (expects to report another record quarter in MarQ), SPRO +0.9% (announces publication in NEJM for its Phase 3 ADAPT-PO clinical trial), AXON +0.6% (acquires Foundry 45), LMT +0.5% (hypersonic-missile delay puts the US further behind Russia and China, according to Bloomberg), COF +0.4% (authorizes repurchase of up to an additional $5 bln of common shares), NETI +0.2% (exec recently purchased 40,000 shares), COST +0.1% (reports adjusted March comps of +12.2%), AHT +0.1% (reports preliminary 1Q22 RevPAR data), FB +0.1% (to launch virtual coins for the metaverse, according to FT)
After Hours Losers:
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: VAPO -18.8% (withdraws FY22 rev guidance due to slowdown in COVID hospitalizations; guides Q1 revs below consensus), IRNT -10.4%, SOFI -5.3% (lowers FY22 rev guidance below consensus)
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: CCCS -10.2% (commences 20 mln share public offering by selling shareholders), VAXX -3.4% (to receive CEPI funding for Phase 3 UB-612 heterologous booster trial), AVB -1.9% (commences 2 mln share public offering), BHR -0.2% (reports preliminary 1Q22 RevPAR data), ASR -0.2% (reports March traffic data), VAL -0.2% (awarded multiple contracts, with associated contract backlog of $181 mln), VLRS -0.1% (reports March traffic data), AMZN -0.1% (SEC is probing how AMZN disclosed its business practices, according to WSJ)