EU indices up this morning TA focus on Rentokil Initial

INDICES
Friday, European stocks were broadly lower. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 0.78%. Germany's DAX 30 declined 0.64%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.84%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 1.33%.

EUROPE ADVANCE/DECLINE
73% of STOXX 600 constituents traded lower or unchanged Friday.
58% of the shares trade above their 20D MA vs 64% Thursday (above the 20D moving average).
44% of the shares trade above their 200D MA vs 46% Thursday (above the 20D moving average).

The Euro Stoxx 50 Volatility index added 0.68pt to 28.27, a new 52w high.

SECTORS vs STOXX 600
3mths relative high: Financial Services, Technology, Utilities
3mths relative low: Media

Europe Best 3 sectors
travel & leisure, technology, real estate

Europe worst 3 sectors
personal & household goods, basic resources, automobiles & parts
INTEREST RATE
The 10yr Bund yield fell 3bps to -0.43% (below its 20D MA). The 2yr-10yr yield spread rose 0bp to -25bps (below its 20D MA).

ECONOMIC DATA
GE 07:00: May Factory Orders MoM, exp.: -25.8%
EC 08:30: Jun Construction PMI, exp.: 39.5
FR 08:30: Jun Construction PMI, exp.: 32.4
GE 08:30: Jun Construction PMI, exp.: 40.1
UK 09:00: Jun New Car Sales YoY, exp.: -89%
UK 09:30: Jun Construction PMI, exp.: 28.9
EC 10:00: May Retail Sales YoY, exp.: -19.6%
EC 10:00: May Retail Sales MoM, exp.: -11.7%
FR 10:00: May Retail Sales YoY, exp.: -31.1%
FR 10:00: May Retail Sales MoM, exp.: -20%
FR 14:00: 3-Mth BTF auction, exp.: -0.52%
FR 14:00: 6-Mth BTF auction, exp.: -0.53%
FR 14:00: 12-Mth BTF auction, exp.: -0.53%


MORNING TRADING
In Asian trading hours, EUR/USD rose 1.1275 while GBP/USD slipped to 1.2481. USD/JPY advanced to 107.69.

Spot gold edged down to $1,774 an ounce.

#UK - IRELAND#
Lloyds Banking Group, a British bank, announced that Robin Budenberg, Chairman of The Crown Estate, will succeed Lord Blackwell as Chairman in early 2021. Meanwhile, the bank said Antonio Horta-Osorio has informed the Board of his intention to step down as CEO in 2021.

Barratt Developments, a residential property developer, posted a full-year trading update: "Completion volumes were significantly reduced by the lockdown period with 12,604 total homes including joint ventures completed during the year (2019: 17,856 homes). (...) Our forward order book is strong with total forward sales (including JVs) as at 30 June 2020 of 14,326 homes (30 June 2019: 11,419 homes) at a value of £3,249.7m (30 June 2019: £2,604.1m)."

Aviva, an insurance group, announced the appointment of Amanda Blanc, currently an independent non-executive director  as CEO with immediate effect.

Rentokil Initial, a business services group, said Stuart Ingall-Tombs, currently CFO of the company's North America region, will succeed Jeremy Townsend as CFO on August 14. From a chartist point of view, the share is aiming in direction of its previous all-time high at 535.2p. Moreover, the 20 and 50DMA are bullish and provide support resp. at 499.9p and 488.2p. Above the horizontal support at 470p, look for a further rise towards the previous all-time high at 535.2p and 570.0p in extension.


Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView

#GERMANY#
Commerzbank, a banking group, may replace CEO Martin Zielke with corporate clients chief Roland Boekhout, reported Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.

#FRANCE#
Air France-KLM, an airline group, said it will cut 6,560 jobs for Air France by the end of 2022 out of a current total of 41,000 and 1,020 jobs over the three years out of the current 2,420 for HOP!.

#SWITZERLAND#
Swisscom's unit Fastweb has agreed to acquire a minority stake in Telecom Italia's secondary grid, which has an enterprise value of 7.5 billion euros, reported Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.

#DENMARK#
AP Moller Maersk, a Danish integrated shipping company, was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at Deutsche Bank.