Live Markets: On the radar: Fresh PMIs, UK lockdown easing and Sanofi's vaccine

Cosmo NV

23/06/2020 07:44

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters
stocks reporters. You can share your thoughts with Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com)
and Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London and Stefano Rebaudo
(stefano.rebaudo@thomsonreuters.com) in Milan.
    
    
    ON THE RADAR: FRESH PMIS, UK LOCKDOWN EASING AND SANOFI'S VACCINE (0630 GMT) 
    Nothing like a bit of good news to start the day: French drugmaker Sanofi said it expects to
get approval by the first half of next year - faster than previously anticipated - for the
potential COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with Britain's GlaxoSmithKline.
    While second-wave fears are spreading in Asia, Brasil and in some U.S. states notably,
Britain is get ready to ease the lockdown further with cinemas, museums and galleries in England
being expected to be allowed to reopen from July 4. A review of social distancing measures is
also eagerly awaited in the hospitality industry.
    So all of that could give a boost to many FTSE 250 companies, particularly in the travel and
leisure segment.  
    Much of the optimism in the upcoming session will however depend on a fresh batch of PMIs
from the UK, France, Germany and the euro zone. Expectations are for a sizeable rebound.
    There are plenty of challenges ahead to bring the economy back to normal, and that can be
seen with Volkswagen's Mexican unit which said about 2% of its workers tested for coronavirus
had contracted the disease at some point.     
    On the corporate front, a U.S. federal appeals court blocked California from requiring that
Bayer  BAYGn.DE  label its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup with a cancer warning, handing
the company a victory in its ongoing litigation over the product.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2DZ2H2
    Boehringer Ingelheim, a major shareholder in Hikma Pharmaceuticals  HIK.L , is exiting the
drugmaker by selling most of its nearly one billion pound stake to institutional investors.
    Wirecard should provide some action still this morning, down about 5% in pre market trading
after the plunge of the stock in the last sessions. 
    Kloeckner shares up 13.4% in early trade after the company gives Q2 outlook.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2E00X3
    Shares in Cosmo Pharmaceuticals  COPN.S  are up 1.6% in premarket trade after the company
announced regulatory approval of Gi Genius in Israel.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2DZ194
    Closing the Refinitiv deal won't be a walk in the park for LSE: European Union antitrust
regulators warned about the possible anti-competitive effects of $27 billion takeover and 
launched a four-month investigation into the deal.    
         
    (Julien Ponthus and Stefano Rebaudo) 
    *****
    
    
    
    
    MORNING CALL: THE PATH IS CLEAR FROM TRADE DRAMA (0536 GMT) 
    European investors are waking up to a "fully intact" U.S./China trade deal, having missed in
their sleep the wild swings which followed White House trade adviser Peter Navarro saying it was
 over. 
    Trump later denied the deal collapsed, which triggered a rebound in Asian shares and cleared
the path for an upbeat open in Europe. 
    Futures for the STOXX50E and the DAX are currently both up 0.9% while it's about 0.4% for
the FTSE100. 
    While there's relief the two economic superpowers have not entered a full-on trade war,
COVID 19 second wave fears are pretty much intact with infections on the rise in Brasil and 
many U.S. states for example.
    In Europe, the publication of June PMIs this morning should shed a bit more light on the
shape of the recovery help set a trend for this session. 
    (Julien Ponthus) 
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ING summer plans    https://tmsnrt.rs/37QPhjQ
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