March 15 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com
EUROPEAN EQUITIES: BET ON FINANCIALS (1122 GMT)
Some analysts say there is more upside for European equities while a spillover effect from U.S. rising yield is still possible and the vaccine campaign seems to be picking up speed after suffering from supply problems.
BofA sees the STOXX 600 index at 460 points by the third quarter this year, with further 15% outperformance for value versus growth by late Q3.
In the table its sector view.
Below more assessments about sectors by Morgan Stanley.
. Banks (overweight): posted a very strong net EPS beat, and an improving outlook for dividend reinstatements gives the sector best in class dividend revisions. It continues to look attractive relative to its long run history.
. Insurance (overweight): valuations remain highly attractive and are well below long run averages. It represents a very cheap way to gain exposure to the reflation theme.
. Autos: it's currently the most overbought European sector. Valuations appear neutral versus history.
. Utilities: it is currently the most oversold sector in Europe. Its underlying fundamentals have also lagged and it sees negative relative earnings revisions at this time. Relative valuations have normalised but look less depressed when compared to defensive peers.
. Household Products (underweight): has been the worst performer over the last 3 months. Rock bottom relative valuations and oversold performance may mean value is starting to emerge for the sector; however, it remains a tricky backdrop for defensives.
(Stefano Rebaudo)
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UPBEAT OPEN AS FLUTTER AND DANONE SHINE (0839 GMT)
The STOXX 600 has had quite an upbeat open this morning and the mood at +0.7% is proving much better than what futures had pointed out earlier.
There's some pretty heavy price action at the top of the index with Flutter Entertainment rising 7.3% after announcing it was considering a U.S. listing for its FanDuel unit.
France's Danone is the second biggest gainer, up 4.7%, boosted by the ousting of its CEO as the group bowed to pressure from several shareholders including investment fund Artisan Partners and activist investor Bluebell Capital.
In Milan, car-maker Stellantis is also enjoying the beginning of the week, jumping 3.3% as Deutsche Bank initiated its coverage of the stock with a "buy" and a target price of 20 euros per share, which is a handsome 5 euros above what they are trading at right now.
The sector indexes of Flutter, Danone and Stellantis have logically enjoyed the positive newsflow: travel and leisure is up 3.2%, consumer staples are up 1.1% and autos rising 1.7%.
(Julien Ponthus)
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NO TWIST, NO SHOUT (0814 GMT)
A week packed with central bank action lies ahead -- the U.S. Fed, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, Norges Bank as well as those in Turkey, Brazil and Russia hold policy meetings.
As anticipation builds, especially for the Fed's Wednesday outing, ten-year U.S. Treasury yields US10YT=RR are within kissing distance of 13-month highs of 1.642% reached on Friday and the dollar is ticking higher.
The 10-year yield has just had a seven week rising streak -- the longest since 2009 and while that hasn't unleashed the stock market mayhem many had feared, rate-sensitive tech shares have certainly felt the heat.
So on Monday, Nasdaq futures NQC1 are trading in the red, while European indexes as well as the U.S. Dow Jones look set to open firmer. The Nasdaq .NDX is up 0.4% year-to-date, while the "old economy" Dow Jones .DJI has gained over 7%.
And it is unlikely, as some had speculated, we will see Fed action to curb yields through an "Operation Twist" in which the central bank accelerates bond-buying at a certain part of the curve.
The BOE on Thursday could signal upping its bond buying from May while messages from the BOJ on yield-curve control will be key on Friday.
What's clear is that inflation and growth will be picking up in coming months as base effects from the year-ago economic slump kick in; we had a taste of that today from China where industrial output rose 35.1% in the first two months from a year earlier and retail sales jumped 33.8%.
Asking prices for UK homes also rose by 0.8% in the four weeks to March 6, data from Rightmove just showed.
Meanwhile, fund raising continues unabated, with eye-watering valuations -- digital payments company Stripe raised $600 million in a funding round, valuing it at $95 billion, the most valuable private company on Silicon Valley.
And Deliveroo is marketing what could be the biggest London listing in more than seven years, with plans to sell around 1 billion pounds of new shares in its upcoming IPO.
Key developments that should provide more direction to markets on Monday: -Eurozone finance ministers meet -Sweden cbank governor Ingves speaks -U.S. Treasury 6-mth and 3 month auctions -U.S. TIC data -U.S. retail sales/industrial output Feb
(Julien Ponthus)
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CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC (0631 GMT)
European stock seems set to open slightly up this morning with futures currently trading in positive territory.
It's far from exuberant though with the derivatives for the DAX only up 0.2% and those for Nasdaq down 0.3%.
It could certainly be worse given the cautious mood in Asia.
MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan is down 0.9%, with mainland Chinese stocks retreating 1.7%.
(Julien Ponthus)
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