11 09 EU PRE OPEN

INDICES
Yesterday, European stocks were slightly lower. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.4%, Germany's DAX 30 slipped 0.2%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.4% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.2%.

EUROPE ADVANCE/DECLINE
64% of STOXX 600 constituents traded lower or unchanged yesterday.
54% of the shares trade above their 20D MA vs 57% Wednesday (above the 20D moving average).
56% of the shares trade above their 200D MA vs 56% Wednesday (above the 20D moving average).

The Euro Stoxx 50 Volatility index eased 0.88pt to 25.01, a new 52w high.

SECTORS vs STOXX 600
3mths relative high: Chemicals
3mths relative low: none

Europe Best 3 sectors
travel & leisure, automobiles & parts, chemicals

Europe worst 3 sectors
basic resources, construction & materials, financial services


INTEREST RATE
The 10yr Bund yield rose 3bps to -0.46% (below its 20D MA). The 2yr-10yr yield spread fell 1bp to -23bps (below its 20D MA).


ECONOMIC DATA
GE 07:00: Aug Harmonised Inflation Rate MoM final, exp.: -0.5%
GE 07:00: Aug Harmonised Inflation Rate YoY final, exp.: 0%
GE 07:00: Aug Inflation Rate MoM final, exp.: -0.5%
GE 07:00: Aug Inflation Rate YoY final, exp.: -0.1%
UK 07:00: Jul Balance of Trade, exp.: £5.3B
UK 07:00: Jul Construction Output YoY, exp.: -24.8%
UK 07:00: Jul Industrial Production YoY, exp.: -12.5%
UK 07:00: Jul Industrial Production MoM, exp.: 9.3%
UK 07:00: Jul Manufacturing Production MoM, exp.: 11%
UK 07:00: Jul Manufacturing Production YoY, exp.: -14.6%
UK 07:00: Jul GDP 3-Mth Avg, exp.: -20.4%
UK 07:00: Jul GDP MoM, exp.: 8.7%
UK 07:00: Jul Goods Trade Balance, exp.: £-5.12B
UK 07:00: Jul GDP YoY, exp.: -16.8%
EC 09:00: Eurogroup Meeting
EC 09:50: ECB Schnabel speech
GE 10:00: Bundesbank Weidmann speech
EC 13:00: ECB Lane speech
UK 14:00: Aug NIESR Monthly GDP Tracker, exp.: -7.9%


MORNING TRADING
In Asian trading hours, EUR/USD advanced to 1.1837 while GBP/USD remains subdued at 1.2818. USD/JPY was little changed at 106.16.

Spot gold was broadly flat at $1,946 an ounce.


#UK - IRELAND#
Anglo American, a mining group, reported that rough diamond sales value for De Beers' seventh sales cycles of 2020 amounted to 320 million dollars, compared with 287 million dollars in the prior-year period.

Ashmore, an investment group, posted full-year results: "Net revenue increased 5% to £330.5 million as a result of growth in recurring net management fee income. (...) Statutory profit before tax of £221.5 million was 1% higher than the prior year (FY2018/19: £219.9 million). (...) The Directors have recommended a final dividend of 12.10 pence per share for the year ending 30 June 2020 (FY2018/19: 12.10 pence). (...) Total dividends paid and recommended for the year are 16.90 pence (FY2018/19: 16.65 pence)."

Ferrexpo, an iron ore company, announced a further special interim dividend of 0.066 dollar per share, which brings the total distributions announced in respect of this year to 0.198 dollar per share, compared with 0.132 dollar per share in the prior-year period.

Barratt Developments, a residential property developer, was upgraded to "overweight" from "neutral" at JPMorgan.

Royal Mail, a postal service and courier company, was upgraded to "neutral" from "underweight" at JPMorgan.


#GERMANY#
Bayer, a pharmaceutical group, announced that its supervisory board has unanimously decided to extend the contract of Chairman Werner Baumann until April 30, 2024.

Fraport, an airport operator, reported that Frankfurt Airport served 1.5 million passengers in August, representing a 78.2% decline year-on-year and accumulated passenger traffic dropped by 68.4% during the January-August period.


#FRANCE#
Euronext, a stock exchange operator, and Italy's state lender CDP will submit a joint non-binding bid for Italy's stock market operator Borsa Italiana in connection with the sale process initiated by London Stock Exchange Group, according to a statement from CDP.

Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company, said in a trading update that "the performance in the fourth quarter Fiscal 2020 was in line with the hypotheses for the second half published on July 7, 2020 in terms of revenue, underlying operating profit flow-through, and free cash flow thanks to the strong mobilization of its highly engaged teams".

Vinci, a concessions and construction company, was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at HSBC.

Gecina, a  property group, was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at HSBC.


#BENELUX#
Galapagos, a pharmaceutical research company, said its Ziritaxestat, for the treatment in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, reached the primary endpoint of a the NOVESA Phase 2a clinical trial.


#ITALY#
FinecoBank, a financial service company, was downgraded to "hold" from "buy" at HSBC.
From a weekly point of view, mid-June, the share escaped from a medium-term descending broadening wedge, calling for the continuation of the uptrend. Over the short term, since the end of July, a short-term lateral pullback in rectangle has been taken shape. The end of this accumulation area is going to trigger a new upleg towards 15.75E and 17E in extension.

Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView