>>> What to look at today - 6th of June 2018

Stocks in Asia pushed higher Wednesday, alongside U.S. futures, as investors dialed down worries about the backdrop of protectionism and geopolitical challenges. Treasury yields ticked upwards, while the dollar was flat.
While most shares on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks rose, benchmarks in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia had modest gains. A positive tone was set by advances in megacap tech shares in the U.S. session, with fresh records posted in Nasdaq indexes. The Australian dollar was buoyed after the nation’s economy expanded faster than forecast as exports rebounded. Crude oil was on track to rise for a second day.
US After Hours : NCS +10%, HUYA +7%, YY +3%, X +1% are higher, while AMBA -9%, OLLI -5% are lower following earnings/guidance

Nikkei +0.45% Hang Seng +0.52% CSI -0.18% Shanghai -0.05% Shenzen -0.08%

Eur$1.1729 CNH 6.3817 CNY 6.3882 JPY 109.88 GBP 1.3413 CHF 0.9846 RUB 61.9660 WTI$ 65.82 +0.44%

S&P +0.17% EuroStoxx +0.17% FTSE +0.08% DAX +0.27% SMI -0.10%

Macro :
- Global Stocks to Rebound on Growth, Earnings, HSBC Says
- U.K. Labour Seeks Soft Brexit in Bid to Force Defeat on May
- ECB Is Said to See June 14 as Pivotal for Debate on QE Exit

Keep an eye on :
- AC FP : Accorhotels Buys Supply Management Platform Adoria
- AZA IM : Italy’s Salvini Says Government Already Working on Flat Tax
- ARGX BB : Argenx Sees Phase 3 Trial of Efgartigimod in gMG Before Yr-End
- BAYN GY : Bayer Banks to Earn EU97 Million on Capital Increase: BZ
- BLT LN : BHP Is Said to Get Shale Bids Valuing Unit Up to $9 Billion
- CA FP : Carrefour Says EU500M Senior Bond Issue Oversubscribed
- DIS US : Disney Says Ready for Talks Requested by U.K. on Fox-Sky Deal
- DUE GY : Dürr Buys Babcock’s Industrial Environmental Unit for EU110M
- DWS GY : DWS Sees Volatile Summer Ahead for Markets, Cuts Risk Exposure
- AZJ LN : EasyJet Load Factor Rose to 93.3% in May From 91.5% Year Earlier
- FORN SW : Forbo Says to Continue With Current Share Buyback Program
- HFG GY : Giant Food to Offer HelloFresh Meal Kits In All 166 Stores
- IBS PL : Ibersol First Quarter Net Income EU3.5 Mln\
- NAS NO : Norwegian Air May Traffic Rises 17% to 3.42M Passengers
- NHH SM : Thailand’s Minor to Bid for All of Spain’s NH Hotel Group (1)
- RI FPF : Pernod Ricard China Net Sales Grew 19% in 9 Months Through March
- UG FP : Peugeot To Cut Engine Output at Douvrin After Iran Exit: CGT
- PHIA NA : MDxHealth, Philips in Global Pact for Prostate Cancer Biomarker
- SIX2 GY : Erich Sixt Boosts Private Placement Size to up to 1.01m Shares
- SKG ID : International Paper Says Won’t Make Offer to Buy Smurfit Kappa
- SNAP US : Snap May Move After Report on Instagram Long-Form Video Plans
- GLE FP : Societe Generale Unit Pleads Guilty to Bribery Conspiracy
- SGC LN : Stagecoach Bus Division Caution Outweighs Dividend: Liberum
- SNH GY : XXXLutz Is Looking at Steinhoff’s Austrian Business, APA Says
- SREN SW : Swiss Re Launches $500m 6-Year Senior Exchangeable Note Offer
- HO FP : Thales Targets Sales Growth of 3% to 5% Annually Through 2021
- TKA GY : Elliott Questions Leadership of Thyssenkrupp CEO: Handelsblatt
- TIG BB : Takeda Says Conditions of Bid for TiGenix Satisfied
- VACN SW : VAT CEO Says Small Acquisitions Should Always Be on Agenda: FuW
- VOE AV : Voestalpine Full Year Ebitda Beats Highest Estimate
- WPP LN : Break up speculation

>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 6th of June 2018

>>> Up
* Amplifon Upgraded to Buy at Kepler Cheuvreux
* Centrica Upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 1.80 Pounds
* Deutsche Telekom Upgraded to Outperform at Bernstein
* Fresenius SE Upgraded to Buy at Kepler Cheuvreux
* *HELIOS AND MATHESON QUICKLY FALLS TO SESSION LOW, DOWN 12%
* International Paper Upgraded to Outperform at RBC; PT $67
* Kone Upgraded to Buy at Goldman; PT 50.01 Euros
* Schindler Upgraded to Buy at Goldman; PT 252 Francs
* Schibsted Upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan; PT 303 Kroner
* Wendel Upgraded to Buy at HSBC; PT 139 Euros

>>> Down
* Axel Springer Downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan; PT 66 Euros
* Getlink Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley; PT 12.70 Euros
* Hapag-Lloyd Downgraded to Hold at Berenberg
* KPN Downgraded to Add at AlphaValue
* P2P Global Investments PLC/Fund Cut to Underperform at Jefferies
* Pandora Downgraded to Hold at Berenberg
* Stagecoach Downgraded to Hold at Liberum
* Selvaag Bolig Cut to Sell at DNB Markets; Price Target 37 Kroner
* Shell Downgraded to Hold at SocGen
* ZPG Downgraded to Hold at Liberum

>>> Initiation
* Bodycote Reinstated Hold at Panmure Gordon & Co; PT 10.58 Pounds
* Footasylum Rated New Hold at Peel Hunt; PT 1.90 Pounds
* Huntsworth Rated New Buy at Berenberg; PT 1.35 Pounds

>>> Call

>>> US Close Dow -0.06% S&P +0.07% Nasdaq +0.41% Russell +0.68%


Closing Market Summary: Stocks Advance for Third Straight Session

Stocks ended Tuesday on slightly higher note, with the S&P 500 adding 0.1%. The Nasdaq (+0.4%) and the Russell 2000 (+0.7%) outperformed, finishing at new all-time highs for the second day in a row, but the Dow lagged, closing lower by 0.1%. The major averages kept within pretty narrow ranges on Tuesday due to a lack of market-moving news.

The lightly-weighted materials sector (+0.8%) was the top-performing S&P 500 group, followed by consumer discretionary (+0.6%), information technology (+0.4%), and telecom services (+0.5%). On the flip side, financials (-0.4%) finished with energy (-0.3%), consumer staples (-0.5%), utilities (-0.7%), and real estate (-0.5%) at the bottom of the sector standings. Financials declined in tandem with Treasury yields, which finished lower across the curve. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note dropped two basis points to 2.92%.

In corporate news, shares of Starbucks (SBUX 55.68, -1.39) dropped 2.4% after Howard Schultz announced on Monday evening that he's stepping down from his role as executive chairman. Twitter (TWTR 39.80, +1.92) shares, meanwhile, spiked 5.1% after news that the company will be added to the S&P 500 on June 7, and shares of Mylan (MYL 39.98, +1.48) jumped 3.8% after the company received FDA approval for a drug similar to Amgen's (AMGN 181.73, -3.71) Neulasta, which is used to decrease the chance of inflection for chemotherapy patients.

Several retailers made outsized moves on Tuesday, sending the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 48.49, +0.85) up 1.8% to its best level since late January. The retail rally was helped by Monday comments from Evercore ISI Research, which suggested that fears about Amazon's (AMZN 1696.35, +31.08) ever-growing footprint are overblown. However, Amazon shares also had a solid performance on Tuesday, climbing 1.9% to finish at a new record high.

Overseas, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte delivered his inaugural address, calling for a universal basic income, a fairer tax system, and the EU to review sanctions against Russia. Italy's major stock index, the MIB, underperformed other European indices, losing 1.2%, and the yield on the Italian 10-yr bond rose 20 basis points to 2.75%.

Reviewing Tuesday's economic data, which was limited to the ISM Services Index for May and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for April:

  • The ISM Services Index for May ticked up to 58.6 (consensus 58.0) from an unrevised reading of 56.8 in April.
    • The key takeaway from the report is that it matched an uptick in the ISM Manufacturing Index for May. The uptick in both will help substantiate the belief that second quarter GDP growth is poised to pick up noticeably from the first quarter.
  • The April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 6.698 million from a revised 6.633 million (from 6.550 million) in March.

Looking ahead, investors will receive on Wednesday the April Trade Balance (consensus -$48.8 billion), the revised readings for first quarter Productivity (consensus 0.6%) and Unit Labor Costs (consensus 2.8%), and the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index.

  • Nasdaq Composite +10.6% YTD
  • Russell 2000 +8.4% YTD
  • S&P 500 +2.8% YTD
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average +0.3% YTD