Live Markets: European shares seen steadying at 22-month highs

Icosavax

12/12/2023 07:41

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    EUROPEAN SHARES SEEN STEADYING AT 22-MONTH HIGHS (0732 GMT)
    European shares were set to steady near 22-month highs at the open on Tuesday after data
showed UK wage growth slowed more than expected and ahead of U.S. CPI figures that will set the
mood in a week filled by central bank meetings. 
    Euro STOXX 50  STXEc1  and FTSE  FFIc1  futures both added around 0.1% and S&P 500  ESv1 
contracts steadied, after sales figures from Oracle  ORCL.N  missed estimates, as an uncertain
economy and competition in the cloud computing market weighed on demand.
    In Asia, shares rose, while the dollar drifted as investors stayed cautious ahead of a U.S.
inflation report. 
    Back to Europe, the disappointing Oracle numbers were set to weigh on software stocks, with
Germany's SAP  SAPG.DE  falling almost 2% in early Frankfurt trade. 
    Medical technology firm Carl Zeiss  AFXG.DE  reported good-looking results, sending its
shares up over 3% in early trade. In Finland, telecom equipment maker Nokia  NOKIA.HE  cut its
profitability goal after losing a deal with a U.S. telecom carrier.
    In M&A,  AstraZeneca  AZN.L  agreed to buy U.S. vaccine developer Icosavax  ICVX.O  in a
deal valued at up to $1.1 billion to bolster its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine portfolio.
    Still in the UK, the BoE said implementing the final leg of the global Basel rules will
increase capital requirements at British banks by 3%, less than for their EU and U.S. peers. 
    Eyes were also on Volkswagen  VOWG_p.DE  after the United Auto Workers union in the U.S.
filed unfair labor practice charges against the German group and two other Asian carmakers.
    Also on the watchlist were Monte dei Paschi di Siena  BMPS.MI . An Italian court acquitted
three of its former top executives in one strand of a long-running derivatives case, boosting
the earnings prospects of the state-owned lender.
    Elsewhere in late breaking news, Sanofi  SASY.PA  said it was terminating a deal to
exclusively license a drug that Maze Therapeutics is developing to treat Pompe disease because
of objections from the U.S. government.  
    
    (Danilo Masoni)
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    For Tuesday's other live markets posts:
    UK LABOUR DATA TAKES THE STAGE BEFORE US INFLATIONCLICK HERE