EUROPE MARKETS: Europe Stocks Nudge Up On M&A And Earnings News, As LSE Surges While Heineken Fizzles
July 29 2019 - 5:51AM
Dow Jones News
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
Heineken lower after decline in profit
Merger and earnings news stirred European stocks on Monday, with
broader markets quiet ahead of a key U.S. interest-rate decision
this week.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.25% to 391.7.
The U.K. FTSE 100 added 1.09% to 7631.17, the German DAX
increased 0.11% to 12433.4 while the French CAC 40 fell 0.06% to
5606.85.
What's moving markets
U.S. stock futures were pointing to little movement in the Dow
Jones Industrial Average at the open, as markets are largely frozen
ahead of Wednesday's Federal Reserve interest-rate decision.
"The key question facing investors now is whether the Fed can
get away with a small number of 'insurance' cuts or whether it will
be pushed towards a more fundamental loosening of policy," said
Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, which
sees 75 basis points of Fed cuts over the next six months.
Focus stocks
Consolidation in the food delivery sector moved stocks as Just
Eat(JE.LN) and Takeaway.com (TKWY.AE) announced merger talks, in a
deal where the Dutch-listed group would buy the U.K.-listed company
in a stock swap valuing Just Eat, using Friday's closing prices, at
731 pence a share. Activist investor Cat Rock has stakes in both
companies and has been reported to be pushing for a deal.
Just Eat jumped 24% to 790 pence while Takeaway.com shares rose
5.5%.
Delivery Hero (DHER.FF) shares rallied over 7% in Frankfurt.
Deliveroo and Uber (UBER) Eats also are competitors in Europe.
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.LN) shares jumped 15% as
the exchange operator confirmed it's in talks to buy Refinitiv,
owned by Blackstone (BX) and Thomson Reuters (TRI) , in a $27
billion deal to bulk up its offerings of financial data and
infrastructure. Deutsche Boerse (DB1.XE) shares fell 1.4% in
Frankfurt, as the company said it now doesn't expect its talks to
buy certain currency business units from Refinitiv to succeed.
Earnings also were a mover of stocks. Both classes of Heineken
shares (HEIA.AE) (HEIO.AE) skidded by as much as 5% as the brewer
reported a decline in first-half profit
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heineken-shares-slide-after-first-half-profit-fall-2019-07-29).
Ryanair Holdings shares (RY4C.DB) (RY4C.DB) rose 1.4% as the
low-cost carrier maintained its annual outlook as it reported a 21%
drop in fiscal first-quarter profit.
Bank of Ireland (BIRG.DB) shares dropped 6% as the Irish lender
said its net interest margin for the year would be lower than it
was in the first half, and that margins will trend lower next year.
AIB Group (A5G.DB) shares continued to drop after its cautious
report on Friday.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 29, 2019 05:36 ET (09:36 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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