>>> Gas Natural Fenosa launches distribution network sale with EUR 3bn price tag

Gas Natural Fenosa launches distribution network sale with EUR 3bn price tag - report (translated)
13 JUN 2017
Gas Natural Fenosa [BME:GAS] (GNF) has launched the sale of its gas distribution network in Spain priced at more than EUR 3bn, Expansion reported citing financial sources. According to the Spanish-language business paper, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have the mandate to sell a 25% stake of the business.

GNF declined to comment, the paper said. Last May CEO Rafael Villaseca acknowledged that the group was considering options for the network, but said not decision had been taken.

The business may be spun off and its capital open to a new partner that will acquire a significant stake but not a majority, Expansion said.

Potential suitors include Borealis and Allianz, according to the report.

>>> What to look at today - 13th of June 2017

Dow -0.17% S&P -0.10% Nasdaq -0.52% Russell -0.18%
US Market start the week on a -ve tone following move of last friday on the tech sector. at the opening Tech traded lower, energy & financials higher but the 3 sectors quickly retraced their early move. Mega Cap & Semi weighted on market AAPL lower on Mizuho downgrade.  Crude oil helped the sector's bullish disposition, climbing 0.5% to $46.06/bbl, but the commodity's performance was somewhat disappointing considering it closed near its session low.  telecom services (+0.9%) and real estate (+0.6%) sectors were also strong throughout Monday's session, on the flip side, five sectors--consumer discretionary (-0.1%), materials (-0.5%), health care (-0.1%), consumer staples (-0.1%), and utilities (-0.2%)--paired with the technology sector to overpower the five advancers. US after hours AHH +3.5% on SmallCap 600 addition news, SAIC -10% following earnings/guidance, SYNA -3% on acquisition news/updated guidance. Asian Markets trading higher as tech bounce back from lows in the US to close near highs of the day. Crude trading higher helped also sentiment in Asia.

Nikkei -0.07% Hang Seng +0.41% CSI -0.09% Shanghai +0.20%

Eur$ 1.1187 CNH 6.7899 CNY 6.7973 JPY 110.03 GBP 1.2650 CHF 0.97 RUB$56.9445 WTI$ 46.31 +0.50%

S&P +0.12% EuroStoxx +0.03% Dax +0.04% FTSE +0.41% SMI+0.10%

Macro :
- EU Said to Propose Clearing Relocation Power for Supervisors
- Bitcoin Drops as Much as 14% as Exchange Experiences Outage
- U.S. May Budget Deficit at $88.4b; Est. $87b

Keep an eye on :
- AC FP : Hotel M&A Appetite Is Up, Sector Fundamentals Are Stable: Baird
- ALBK ID : AIB Price Range Seen at EU4.50-EU4.65: Times (Earlier)
- ASRNL NA : Dutch State Sells 25m ASR Nederland Shares; Proceeds EU725m
- BSLN SW : Basilea Gets $54.8m of BARDA Funding for Ceftobiprole Studies
- CABK SM : Spain’s CaixaBank Willing to Absorb Unicaja: El Independiente
- DBK GY : Deutsche Bank Reaches $170 Mln Accord in Euribor Antitrust Suit
- CDI FP : Dior CEO Says He’s Optimistic About Europe’s Economic Prospects
- EDF FP : EDF Says Simone Rossi to Become Head EDF Energy as of Nov. 1
- EUCAR FP : Europcar to Take 20% Stake in SnappCar Auto-Sharing Startup
- FUM1V FH : Fortum JV Wins Biggest Quota in Russia Wind Auction: Kommersant
- GLEN LN : Glencore’s Rio Coal Bid Offers ’Significant Synergies’: Goldman
- GLJ GY : Grenke to Invest in New Industries, IT Hardware, CEO Tells BZ
- ING FP : Ingenico CEO Says Co. Looking for U.S. Acquisition: Reuters
- KLED SS : Kungsleden Met Target to Sell Non-Strategic Properties for SEK2b
- LAT1V FH : Lassila & Tikanoja Cuts Profit Outlook for 2017
- NAS NO : Norwegian to Move Flights from Stockholm If Tax Introduced: TV4
- KN FP : Natixis Hires Bilal as Asset Mgmt Head of International Sales
- OMV AV : OMV, Gazprom Said to Mull South Stream Plan Restart: Standard
- RE US : Everest Re to Join S&P 500, to replace Mead Johnson
- SAN FP : Tesaro Up; Sanofi Said to Consider $185/Share Bid: StreetInsider
- SHBA SS : Handelsbanken Funds to Blacklist Some 40 Companies, SVD Reports
- UBI FP :Ubisoft, Nintendo to Release Mario Game on Switch Aug. 29
- VOLVB SS : Cevian Says Volvo’s Profitability Could Exceed Scania’s: SVD
- VOW3 GY : LG Chem Denies Report of 7t Won Contract With Volkswagen

>>> Europe : Brokers Upgrades & Downgrades - 13th of June 2017

>>> Up
*Alibaba Raised to Buy at SWS, PT $169
*EON Raised to Reduce at AlphaValue
*Lufthansa Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse
*Luxottica Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley, PT EU65
*Senvion Raised to Outperform at Macquarie
*Tesla Raised to Buy at Berenberg
*Tryg Raised to Outperform at RBC, PT DKK145

>>> Down
*3i Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley, PT 940p
*Electrolux Cut to Neutral at Swedbank, PT SEK295
*Gas Natural Cut to Neutral at Citi
*Iliad Cut to Neutral at Natixis
*Liberbank Cut to Hold at Santander, PT EU0.86
*SCA Cut to Sell at AlphaValue
*Topdanmark Cut to Underperform at RBC, PT DKK170

>>> Initiation
*Chr. Hansen New Hold at Vertical Group, PT DKK447
*Givaudan New Hold at Vertical Group, PT CHF1,870
*Publicis New Buy at UBS, PT EU80.50
*Tate & Lyle New Hold at Vertical Group, PT GBP7.40
*WPP New Buy at UBS, PT 2,050p

>>> Call
>> Stock
*BAE SYSTEMS EXITS CONVICTION LIST AT GOLDMAN; STAYS BUY

>>> Asian Update

Asia Mid-Session Market Update: BOJ speculated to maintain assessment this week; Australia NAB confidence slips

***US Session Highlights***
- (US) New York Fed Consumer Expectations May survey: 1-year ahead inflation expectations at 2.6% v 2.8% prior; 3-year ahead inflation expectations at 2.5% v 2.9% prior (lowest since Jan)
- (US) TREASURY'S $24B 3-YEAR NOTE AUCTION DRAWS 1.500% (lowest yield since Feb); BID-TO-COVER RATIO: 3.00 V 2.76 PRIOR AND 2.78 AVG OVER THE LAST 12 (highest BTC since Dec 2015)
- (US) Pres Trump: administration will have 'major' legislation on steel and aluminum dumping - press
-The sell-off from Friday rolled into today's start to the week, albeit in a less dramatic way. Techs continued to be the under-performers today as well. The Tech sell-off initiated Friday spread to Europe this morning with STOXX 600 losing nearly 1%. Worst performing sectors for the S&P were Technology and Materials losing 0.7% and 0.6% respectively, best performing sectors were Energy and Real Estate, gaining 0.7% and 0.5% respectively.

***US markets on close: Dow +0.2%, S&P500 +0.2%, Nasdaq +0.3%***
- Best Sector in S&P500: Telecom
- Worst Sector in S&P500: Technology
- Biggest gainers: UA +5.8%; KIM +4.0%; FTR +3.7%
- Biggest losers: NFLX -4.2%; IDXX -3.9%; ALB -3.7%
- At the close: VIX 11.5 (+0.8pts); Treasuries: 2-yr 1.36% (flat), 10-yr 2.21% (+2bp), 30-yr 2.87% (+1bps)

***US movers afterhours***
- SYNA Acquires CNXT Holdings for $300M cash from MRVL; Guides Q4 R$420-430M v $431Me - filing; +2.5% afterhours
- XLRN Announces top-line results from DART Phase 2 study of Dalantercept in advanced renal cell carcinoma; -5.2% afterhours
- SAIC Reports Q1 $1.08 v $1.00e, Rev $1.10B v $1.11Be; -10.1% afterhours

***Politics***
- (GE) Germany Chancellor Merkel's Conservatives have support of 37.5% v 23.5%for the Social Democrats - INSA Poll

***Key economic data***
- (AU) AUSTRALIA MAY NAB BUSINESS CONFIDENCE: 7 V 13 PRIOR; CONDITIONS: 12 V 13 PRIOR
- (JP) JAPAN Q2 BUSINESS SURVEY INDEX (BSI) LARGE ALL INDUSTRY Q/Q: -2.0 V 1.3 PRIOR; BSI LARGE MANUFACTURING Q/Q: -2.9 V 1.1 PRIOR

***Speakers and Press***
Japan
- (JP) Japan Fin Min Aso: USD can strengthen if Fed raises rates
- (JP) BOJ's Amamiya: Amount of BOJ's JGB purchases fluctuates
- (JP) BOJ expected to maintain economic assessment at this week's policy board meeting - Japan press

Korea
- (KR) Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov Lee: Fed rate hikes, household debt are risks to growth; to closely cooperate with Govt on economy

***Asian Equity Indices/Futures (00:00ET)***
- Nikkei flat, Hang Seng +0.5%, Shanghai Composite +0.4%, ASX200 +1.2%, Kospi +0.6%
- Equity Futures: S&P500 +0.1%; Nasdaq +0.2%, Dax +0.1%, FTSE100 +0.4%

***FX ranges/Commodities/Fixed Income (00:00ET)***
- EUR 1.1190-1.1210; JPY 109.80-110.10; AUD 0.7540-0.7565; NZD 0.7190-0.7225
- Aug Gold flat at 1,269/oz; July Crude Oil +0.4% at $46.24/brl; July Copper +0.2% at $2.62/lb
- (CN) PBOC SETS YUAN MID POINT AT 6.7954 V 6.7948 PRIOR
- (CN) PBOC to inject combined CNY50B v CNY40B prior
- (JP) Japan's MoF sells ¥0.9T in 0.6% (0.7% prior) 20-year JGBs; Avg yield: 0.583% v 0.560% prior; bid-to-cover: 3.98x v 3.84x prior
- (AU) Australia Finance Ministry (AOFM) sells A$150M in 1.25% 2022 Indexed bonds; avg yield 0.2776%; bid-to-cover 3.63x

***Asia equities notable movers***
Australia
- Bluescope (BSL) +4.6%: Market conditions remain stable and at elevated levels; stronger pricing, volumes and margins in H2 FY17 v H2 2016 - investor presentation
- Ansell (ANN) +4.1%; Raised at Morgan Stanley
- CSL Ltd (CSL) +1.3%; To acquire 80% stake in Chinese plasma fractionator for $352M

Japan
- Fujitsu (6702) +2.0%; Said to mull raising dividend for FY17 - Nikkei
- Toshiba (6502) -0.3%; Western Digital said to submit a new chip proposal to Toshiba this week; May raise offer to ¥2T ($18.2B) - Japan press
- Softbank (9984) -1.2%; Reportedly reaches agreement to combine India's Flipkart with Snapdeal - Nikkei

Hong Kong
- Ping An (2318) +1.1%; Reports May YTD gross premium CNY211.2B, +38.6% y/y
- L'Occitane (973) +0.8%; Reports Final FY16/17 Net €131.9M v €121.3Me, Rev €1.32B, +3.2% y/y

>>> US After Hours Summary: AHH +3.5% on SmallCap 600 addition news, S


After Hours Summary: AHH +3.5% on SmallCap 600 addition news, SAIC -10% following earnings/guidance, SYNA -3% on acquisition news/updated guidance

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: CLNT +17.3% (enters into exclusive discussions with ECrent Capital Holdings Limited), AHH +3.5% (will replace Pinnacle Financial Partners in the S&P SmallCap 600), CGIX +2.6% (10% owner/Director disclosed purchase of 100K shares worth total of $375K), IMAX +1.3% (ticking higher; authorizes new $200 mln share-repurchase program and cost-reduction initiative), DVAX +1.3% (continued strength), CHRS +1.1% (confirms that on June 9, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruled in favor of the Company's petitions for Inter Partes Review of ABBV U.S. 9,017,680 and 9,073,987), ADMS +0.8% (Adamas Pharmaceuticals announces that results of its Phase 3 EASE LID clinical trial of ADS-5102 were published online in JAMA Neurology; placebo-controlled phase 3 trial demonstrated that ads-5102 significantly reduced both dyskinesia and off time at six months in Parkinson's Disease patients with levodopa-induced dyskinesia), RE +0.5% (light volume; to join S&P 500), PNFP +0.5% (will replace Everest Re Group in the S&P MidCap 400; also shareholders voted to approve merger proposals - transaction is expected to close in the second quarter)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: SAIC -9.7%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: REED -14.8% (COO Mark Beaton resigned effective close of business on June 19, 2017; also files for offering of 2,550,000 shares of common stock by holders, consisting of 1,133,333 shares issuable upon conversion of a promissory note and 1,416,667 shares issuable upon the exercise of 2017-2 warrants), XLRN -5.1% (announces top-line results from DART Phase 2 Study of dalantercept in advanced renal cell carcinoma; to discontinue development) SYNA -3% (Synaptics to acquire voice and audio processing solutions company Conexant Systems and Multimedia Solutions Business from MRVL; updates guidance), FR -1.8% (commenced 2.56 mln share common stock offering), HCLP -1.6%  / EMES -1.5% (attributed to SLCA plant plans), MRK -0.6% (updates on two studies of KEYTRUDA in multiple myeloma; to pause new enrollment on KEYNOTE-183 and KEYNOTE-185 following the external Data Monitoring Committee recommendation)

>>> US Close Dow -0.17% S&P -0.10% Nasdaq -0.52% Russell -0.18%


Closing Market Summary: Tech Stocks Weigh Again on Monday

The stock market opened the week with its second-consecutive decline as the top-weighted technology sector (-0.8%) weighed on the broader market. However, as a consolation prize, both the tech sector and the S&P 500 (-0.1%) finished near their best marks of the day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (-0.5%) underperformed while the Dow (-0.5%) settled just a step behind the benchmark index.

At the beginning of Monday's session, it appeared that Wall Street may duplicate Friday's sector rotation trade; tech stocks opened sharply lower while financials and energy stocks opened distinctly higher. However, the three sectors quickly retraced a portion of their early moves with the financial sector actually entering negative territory within two hours of the opening bell. The financial space (+0.2%) came back a bit in the afternoon, but never returned to its early-morning high.

The technology sector (-0.8%) held a solid loss throughout the session as mega-cap names like Apple (AAPL 145.32, -3.66), Microsoft (MSFT 69.78, -0.54), Alphabet (GOOGL 961.81, -8.31), and Facebook (FB 148.44, -1.16) refused to let up. Apple showed relative weakness, dropping 2.5%, after the company was downgraded to 'Neutral' from 'Buy' at Mizuho early on Monday morning. Chipmakers also weighed on the tech sector, evidenced by the 0.5% decrease in the PHLX Semiconductor Index.

Like financials, the energy sector (+0.7%) never returned to its early-morning high, but, unlike financials, the energy group was able to stay above water throughout the session. Crude oil helped the sector's bullish disposition, climbing 0.5% to $46.06/bbl, but the commodity's performance was somewhat disappointing considering it closed near its session low.

The telecom services (+0.9%) and real estate (+0.6%) sectors were also strong throughout Monday's session, but their positive performances had a pretty modest impact due to their relatively small market caps; the two sectors comprise around 5.0% of the broader market combined. 

General Electric (GE 28.94, +1.00) had a notable impact in the industrial sector (+0.5%), jumping 3.6%, after the company announced that Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt will be retiring from the company. John Flannery, who is the current president and CEO of GE Healthcare, will be replacing Mr. Immelt.

In addition to GE's advance, the industrial space profited from the outperformance of transports, evidenced by the 0.7% increase in the Dow Jones Transportation Average. Logistics heavyweights like UPS (UPS 108.94, +1.91) and FedEx (FDX 209.12, +2.72) showed notable strength, adding 1.8% and 1.3%, respectively.

However, on the flip side, five sectors--consumer discretionary (-0.1%), materials (-0.5%), health care (-0.1%), consumer staples (-0.1%), and utilities (-0.2%)--paired with the technology sector to overpower the five advancers. Amazon (AMZN 964.91, -13.40) weighed heavily on the consumer discretionary group, overriding an otherwise positive performance from most of the group's components. 

Still, despite the slip on Wall Street, safe-haven assets like U.S. Treasuries and gold ticked down; gold dropped 0.2% to $1,269.00/ozt while the benchmark 10-yr yield, which moves inversely to the price of the 10-yr Treasury note, climbed one basis point to 2.21%.

However, it is worth pointing out that the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 11.39, +0.69, +6.5%), sometimes called the 'investor fear gauge', did advance to a fresh three-week high.

Investors did not receive any economic data on Monday. Tomorrow's economic calendar will also be light with just one report--May PPI (consensus 0.0%)--on the docket. The report will be released at 8:30 ET.

  • Nasdaq Composite +14.7% YTD
  • S&P 500 +8.5% YTD
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average +7.5% YTD
  • Russell 2000 +4.6% YTD