MARKET WRAPS
Stocks:
Stocks rose to greet the week, which brings plenty of economic data, particularly in the U.S., as well as the latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes.
Speeches from European Central Bank officials will also be carefully watched given the close call in market pricing over whether the central bank will cut rates by 25 or 50 basis points in December, Jefferies said.
Stocks to Watch
Siemens Energy could rally further, despite already almost rising four-fold this year, Berenberg said, lifting its share price target to 70 euros from 35 euros.
The company's troubled wind-energy division is being assigned a negative valuation in a range of 8 billion euros to 20 billion euros, but the segment could be valued at as much as 6 billion euros, representing a significant potential valuation upswing.
Novartis still needs to convince the market about its increased midterm sales guidance as the company has to boost its pipeline with external investment to achieve its goal, Berenberg said separately, adding though consensus has closed the gap to previous company guidance, it expects upgrades to fade as the company enters 2025 and patent expirations start to bite.
Sanofi's revised hospital drug-discount program in the U.S. holds long-term promise, although industry-wide implementation hurdles persist, Bryan Garnier said.
Under its new plan, Sanofi requires institutions to provide medical claims information before receiving discounts, after discounts under Medicare and the 340B program led to a 15.7% decrease in its portfolio net price in 2023.
U.S. Markets:
Stock futures pointed to further gains, with investors cheering Donald Trump choice of Wall Street veteran Scott Bessent to head the Treasury Department.
The hedge fund manager is expected to support plans to hike tariffs and slash taxes and rein in government spending in a bid to address the mounting U.S. deficit.
Bessent's nomination "could be a catalyst for a year end rally, which is typically a strong period for risk sentiment and stock markets," XTB said.
Zoom Video Communications and Agilent Technologies report earnings after the bell.
Stocks to watch
MicroStrategy: Shares of the bitcoin-buying software company have been volatile since crypto-ally Trump election success. They rose 4% premarket after big swings last week.
Forex:
The euro edged higher against the dollar after a key measure of German business expectations came in slightly above forecast.
The dollar declined in the wake of Trump's Bessent nnouncement, XTB said.
Bessent is expected to advocate a slow and steady approach to potentially inflationary trade tariffs--which could boost risk sentiment--reducing safe-haven flows to the dollar, however, dollar declines will be limited as the U.S. economy is outperforming.
The currency could still trade with an upward bias into year end, and any weakness could be used as a buying opportunity, it added.
Sterling's further decline against the dollar is likely to be more gradual and might be limited, UOB said.
Although the pound's weakness against the dollar hasn't stabilized, daily and weekly stochastic indicators are in oversold territory, and downward momentum on the daily chart is slowing, it said.
Bitcoin edged lower as its rally since Trump's victory paused ahead of the $100,000 milestone.
However, the cryptocurrency could soon resume its rise, according to XTB.
"We continue to think that bitcoin will breach the $100,000 level in the coming days and weeks, although it could be choppy in the lead-up to this key level."
Bonds:
Gilt yields edged higher after Bank of England member Clare Lombardelli reiterated the central bank's recent message about taking a gradual approach to interest rate cuts.
Energy:
Oil slipped following reports that Israel is nearing a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, but growing concerns over Russia and Iran limit losses.
Iran said it would launch a significant number of new advanced centrifuges at its nuclear facilities in response to a censure resolution passed by the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
"Geopolitical uncertainties are keeping oil prices volatile," ANZ Research said.
Traders will now focus on OPEC+'s next move, as any further delay in the group's plan to phase out voluntary output cuts will be crucial for the market.
Metals:
Gold futures slumped as investors took profits ahead of U.S. economic data releases with consistent and unrelenting selling in Asian trade, Pepperstone said.
The selloff is more likely a position adjustment rather than cooling save-haven demand, it said, adding that some investors are likely ending long gold bets ahead of a U.S. consumer confidence report on Tuesday that could get a larger-than-expected bump from Trump's election win.
There is also the additional risk of a hotter U.S. core PCE print on Wednesday, which would reduce the likelihood of a December interest rate cut.
Lithium prices are at risk of a sharp but brief fall in the next two months, because of a seasonal lull in chemical restocking, Macquarie said.
EMEA HEADLINES
UniCredit Makes $10.5 Billion Bid for Italian Rival, Setting Sights Closer to Home
UniCredit reinvigorated a stalled wave of European banking consolidation, bidding more than $10 billion for smaller Italian peer Banco BPM.
The all-stock offer comes as UniCredit is trying to acquire a big chunk of Germany's Commerzbank, seeking to position itself as the dominant banking group in a still-fragmented European market. On Monday, UniCredit said that effort is being prolonged by Germany's coming elections.
Anglo American Sells Remaining Coal Assets to Peabody Energy for Up to $3.8 Billion
Anglo American signed a deal to sell its remaining steelmaking coal assets to U.S. coal miner Peabody Energy for up to $3.775 billion, in the mining giant's first major step in its large-scale business reshaping.
The global, diversified miner is under pressure to implement the restructuring plan it outlined in May to fend off a nearly $50 billion takeover bid from rival BHP. This will see the London-listed company become a solely copper, iron-ore and crop-nutrients producer, as it carves out its coal, diamond, nickel and platinum segments.
Atos Gets $521 Million Bid Approach from French State for Advanced Computing Activities
Atos said it received a non-binding offer from the French government to acquire its advanced computing activities for an enterprise value of 500 million euros ($521.3 million).
The offer for 100% of the computing business could be potentially increased to up to EUR625 million when including earn-outs, the French IT company said.
Kingfisher Narrows Down Profit Guidance After Sales Miss, Warns of Wider Pressures
Kingfisher posted worse-than-expected quarterly sales and narrowed down its guidance, while warning that macroeconomic uncertainty could hit performance further ahead.
The home-improvement retailer said Monday that it expects a hit of around 45 million pounds ($56.4 million) to retail profit in fiscal 2026 due to higher national insurance contributions in the U.K. and potential tax changes in France.
GLOBAL NEWS
China Central Bank Keeps Key Policy Rate Steady
China's central bank kept a key policy rate steady in November and drained billions in liquidity from the financial system via a medium-term liquidity management tool.
The People's Bank of China on Monday injected 900 billion yuan of liquidity, or about $124.26 billion, into the banking system via its one-year medium-term lending facility at an unchanged rate of 2.00%. That compared with a total of 1.45 trillion yuan of such loans due this month, representing a net drain of 550 billion yuan in November.
Ukraine Clings to Shrinking Sliver of Russia, Expecting Trump to Push for Peace Talks
SUMY, Ukraine-In Russia's Kursk region just north of here, Russian assaults are so intense that their infantrymen sometimes step on the bodies of fallen comrades, according to Ukrainian soldiers opposing them there.
Russian glide bombs weighing one ton crash onto Ukrainian supply roads. Ukraine launched a flurry of Western missiles in the opposite direction last week, apparently injuring a North Korean general.
Israel Says Rabbi Found Dead in U.A.E. Was Abducted and Killed
A missing Jewish community leader found dead in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday was abducted and killed in an "act of antisemitic terrorism," Israel said.
Israeli-Moldovan citizen Zvi Kogan, 28, went missing from Dubai Thursday afternoon, prompting an investigation by Israel's Mossad spy agency after suspicions were raised that he was abducted in an act of terrorism. Kogan, a rabbi, was an emissary of the Jewish Chabad movement to Abu Dhabi, where he lived with his wife.
Ukraine's Western Missiles Threaten Big Russian Assets: Airports, Ammo Depots and Command Headquarters
KYIV, Ukraine-A half-dozen U.S. ballistic missiles, fired by Ukraine, slammed into an ammunition depot some 75 miles across the Russian border early Tuesday, setting off further detonations that turned the sky red.
The following morning, 10 British-provided cruise missiles pounded the vicinity of a Kremlin-run sanatorium that was apparently used as a military headquarters, smashing one after another in the town of Marino, located in Russia's Kursk region about 20 miles from the front line there.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2024 05:24 ET (10:24 GMT)
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