European stock markets start cautiously

(ABM FN) European stocks will face a broadly flat opening on Friday pending the US jobs report.

IG forecasts an opening gain of 3 points for the German DAX, a minus of 3 points for the French CAC 40 and a drop of 5 points for the British FTSE 100.

European stocks closed higher on Thursday.

Equity markets rose Thursday on continued optimism about the US job market, despite a disappointing ADP jobs report on Wednesday.

“A calm calendar in Europe is causing the market to focus on the job picture in the US, where the number of first-time jobless claims is being released, among other things,” said IG analysts.

The market is counting on a 720,000 job increase in August by Friday afternoon, when the official report is presented. However, the ADP jobs report, often seen as an indicator of the quality of Friday’s report, disappointed. Paycheck processor data showed on Wednesday that US private sector employment rose by just 374,000 jobs in August, while the market was expecting a 600,000 job increase.

“As a result of the ADP miss, there are signs that Friday’s jobs report may be disappointing,” IG said.

On a macroeconomic level, it was announced in Europe on Thursday that producer prices in the eurozone rose by 2.3 percent on a monthly basis. On an annual basis, prices rose by as much as 12.1 percent.

Company news

Philips has completed the divestment of its Home Appliances business to Hillhouse Investment. The stock gained more than 2.0 percent.

JPMorgan Cazenove on Thursday lowered its advice for Unilever from Neutral to Underweight with a price target of EUR 44.00. The analysts’ estimates are 5 percent below projected earnings per share for the whole of 2022, partly due to an out-of-control increase in input costs, which is putting pressure on margins. Unilever has also made limited investments, which will have an impact on the turnover development. Unilever fell in Amsterdam by 1.7 percent.

AB InBev was also put on the sale list by JPMorgan. The investment bank is forecasting the biggest raw material price headwind ever for AB InBev for 2022, which is still underestimated by the market. The bank cut its 2022 earnings per share estimate by 6 percent. This puts the investment bank 10 percent below the consensus. The beer giant lost about 2.5 percent in Brussels.

In Frankfurt, Delivery Hero was up about 1.5 percent after a positive report from Bank of America. Lufthansa fell just 1.5 percent.

In Paris Alstom went almost 3.5 percent in the red, but Pernod Ricard won about 0.8 percent. On Wednesday, Pernod also won almost 4 percent after the publication of figures that showed that the distiller has left the corona crisis behind.

Oil stocks did well thanks to rising oil prices. Royal Dutch Shell won 2.2 percent, as did BP.

Euro STOXX 50 4,232.10 (+0.1%)
STOXX Europe 600       474,60 (+0,3%)
DAX                    15.840,59 (+0,1%)
CAC 40 6,763.08 (+0.1%)
FTSE 100 7,163.90 (+ 0.2%)
SMI 12,432.46 (0.0%)
AEX                    793,32 (+0,4%)
BEL 20 4,336.61 (+ 0.3%)
FTSE MIB               26.233,38 (+0,2%)
IBEX 35                8.981,40 (-0,1%)

US EQUITIES

Wall Street opens in green Friday, according to US futures, although opening profits will be modest.

US stocks closed higher on Thursday.

Stocks have risen this week as investors weigh strong corporate earnings and low interest rates against signs that the economic recovery is slowing in some parts of the world.

The market is awaiting Friday’s US jobs report for more clues about when the Federal Reserve could begin phasing out its bond purchases. The central bank has indicated that the recovery of the labor market plays an important role in its monetary policy decisions.

“The combination of a strong recovery, very low interest rates and a spike in accommodative policies creates a very potent mix for risky assets,” said Lombard Odier economist Bill Papadakis. “When you look at the alternatives investors could put their money in today, stocks are often the only option for slightly better returns,” he said.

On a macroeconomic level, it was announced on Thursday that the number of first-time jobless claims in the US fell by 14,000 to 340,000 last week, while the market expected 345,000 applications.

The US trade deficit fell from $73.2 billion in July to $70.1 billion.

Labor costs in the United States rose in the second quarter of 2021, but productivity rose faster. Labor costs rose by 1.3 percent and labor productivity even increased by 2.1 percent.

Orders placed with US factories rose 0.4 percent in July, after rising 1.5 percent in the previous month.

An October crude oil futures closed 2.0 percent, or $1.40, higher on Thursday at $69.99 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On a macroeconomic level, two purchasing managers’ indices for the services sector are on the agenda on Friday, in addition to the August jobs report.

Company news

Nikola and Bosch Group have signed a cooperation agreement. The companies announced this on Thursday without disclosing financial details. The partnership will allow Nikola to access Bosch fuel cell module technology and manufacture it at its Arizona facility. Nikola fell about 0.5 percent.

Irish privacy regulator DPC has fined WhatsApp €225 million. The share of owner Facebook lost almost 2.0 percent.

Apple is going to allow media apps to create links within apps to pages to log in to those companies. For example, companies such as Spotify and Netflix can avoid Apple taking a percentage of their subscription fees. Until now, users of Spotify and similar services could only subscribe from Apple’s App Store.

The rollout of Apple’s new MacBook Pro may be delayed due to chip shortages, DigiTimes reported Thursday, citing industry sources. The stock rose about 0.6 percent.

Intelsat may restructure its debt, cutting its $15 billion debt in half. That has been determined by a judge in Virginia when hearing the bankruptcy of the satellite communications company.

Amazon.com will hire 55,000 people worldwide, of which 40,000 in America, for its Webservices, Studios and Kuiper satellite project. The stock was down about 0.5 percent.

Semiconductor and software company Broadcom publishes after-hours results, as does IT company Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

S&P 500 index              4.536,95 (+0,3%)
Dow Jones index            35.443,82 (+0,4%)
Nasdaq Composite           15.331,18 (+0,1%)

ASIA

The Asian stock markets were divided on Friday, with the profit in Japan especially striking. Both the Chinese and Japanese service sectors shrank in August, Markit purchasing data just showed.

Nikkei 225                     29.131,30 (+2,1%)
Shanghai Composite      3.591,53 (-0,2%)
Hang Seng 25,948.28 (-0.5%)

EVALUATE

The euro/dollar traded at 1.1876. When the US markets closed on Thursday, the currency pair also moved at 1.1876 and at the close of the European markets there was still a position of 1.1862 on the plates.

USD/JPY Yen   110,03
EUR/USD Euro  1,1876
EUR/JPY Yen   130,65

MACRO-AGENDA:
00:30 Services Purchasing Managers Index – August def. (jap)
03:45 Services Purchasing Managers Index – August def. (Chi)
09:15 Services Purchasing Managers Index – August (Spa)
09:45 Services Purchasing Managers Index – August (Ita)
09:50 Services Purchasing Managers Index – August def. (fra)
09:55 Services Purchasing Managers Index – August def. (German)
10:00 Services Purchasing Managers Index – August def. (EUR)
10:30 Services Purchasing Managers Index – August Final (UK)
11:00 Retail sales – July (eur)
11:00 Retail Sales – July (Call)
14:30 Job growth and unemployment – August (US)
15:45 Purchasing managers index services Markit – August def. (US)
16:00 Services Purchasing Managers Index ISM – August (US)

COMPANY NEWS:
– No agenda items

Bron: ABM Financial News

From Beursplein 5, the editors of ABM Financial News keep a close eye on developments on the stock exchanges, and the Amsterdam stock exchange in particular. The information in this column is not intended as professional investment advice or as a recommendation to make certain investments.

–