21 08 EU PRE OPEN

INDICES
Yesterday, European stocks returned to negative territory. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 1.07%, Germany's DAX 30 dropped 1.14%, France's CAC 40 slid 1.33%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 1.61%.

EUROPE ADVANCE/DECLINE
83% of STOXX 600 constituents traded lower or unchanged yesterday.
51% of the shares trade above their 20D MA vs 64% Wednesday (above the 20D moving average).
50% of the shares trade above their 200D MA vs 52% Wednesday (above the 20D moving average).

The Euro Stoxx 50 Volatility index added 2.05pts to 24.04, a new 52w high.

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

Europe Best 3 sectors
real estate, health care, media

Europe worst 3 sectors
basic resources, banks, financial services


INTEREST RATE
The 10yr Bund yield fell 1bp to -0.47% (above its 20D MA). The 2yr-10yr yield spread rose 2bps to -18bps (above its 20D MA).


ECONOMIC DATA
UK : UK-EU Brexit Talks
UK 07:00: Jul Retail Sales MoM, exp.: 13.9%
UK 07:00: Jul Retail Sales YoY, exp.: -1.6%
UK 07:00: Jul Retail Sales ex Fuel MoM, exp.: 13.5%
UK 07:00: Jul Retail Sales ex Fuel YoY, exp.: 1.7%
UK 07:00: Jul Public Sector Net Borrowing, exp.: £-34.8B
FR 08:15: Aug Markit Composite PMI Flash, exp.: 57.3
FR 08:15: Aug Markit Services PMI Flash, exp.: 57.3
FR 08:15: Aug Markit Manufacturing PMI Flash, exp.: 52.4
GE 08:30: Aug Markit Composite PMI Flash, exp.: 55.3
GE 08:30: Aug Markit Services PMI Flash, exp.: 55.6
GE 08:30: Aug Markit Manufacturing PMI Flash, exp.: 51
EC 09:00: Aug Markit Composite PMI Flash, exp.: 54.9
EC 09:00: Aug Markit Manufacturing PMI Flash, exp.: 51.8
EC 09:00: Aug Markit Services PMI Flash, exp.: 54.7
UK 09:30: Aug Markit/CIPS Manufacturing PMI Flash, exp.: 53.3
UK 09:30: Aug Markit/CIPS UK Services PMI Flash, exp.: 56.5
UK 09:30: Aug Markit/CIPS Composite PMI Flash, exp.: 57
EC 15:00: Aug Consumer Confidence Flash, exp.: -15


MORNING TRADING
In Asian trading hours, EUR/USD edged up to 1.1877 and GBP/USD rose further to 1.3236. USD/JPY remains subdued at 105.66. AUD/USD advanced to 0.7204. Earlier today, official data showed that Australia's preliminary retail sales grew 3.3% on month in July (+2.7% in June).

Spot gold climbed to $1,950 an ounce.


#UK - IRELAND#
AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical giant, said its "Imfinzi (durvalumab) has been approved in Japan for the treatment of patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer".


#GERMANY#
Bayer, a pharmaceutical group, announced that it has agreed to pay 1.6 billion dollars to resolve 90% of about 39,000 total filed and unfiled U.S. Essure claims involving women who allege device-related injuries.

From a weekly point of view, the share remains within a descending channel since June 2017. Below the channel's upper boundary (set currently around 70E) look for the horizontal support of March 2020 at 44.85E and 32.15E in extension.

Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView


#SWITZERLAND#
EMS-Chemie, a speciality chemicals company, announced that 1H net income declined 27.9% on year to 191 million Swiss franc and EBIT slid 28.2% to 227 million Swiss franc on net sales of 845 million Swiss franc, down 26.8%. Regarding the outlook, the company stated: "Based on the extraordinary market slump, EMS continues to expect net operating income (EBIT) for 2020 to be below previous year."


#SCANDINAVIA - DENMARK#
Maersk, a Danish integrated shipping company, was downgraded to "neutral" from "overweight" at JPMorgan.

Sampo, a Finnish financial company, was upgraded to "overweight" from "equalweight" at Morgan Stanley.