Fall day on spending package approved by German defence parliament
German defense stocks were low in morning trade the day after Parliament approved a groundbreaking fiscal package that allowed governments to increase defense and infrastructure spending.
rheinmetallone of the top performers Stoxx 600 On Tuesday, it fell 6.3% at 10:40am in London. RENK Group and Hensoldt It was 10% and 8.5% lower, respectively.
This year, the Defense Name continues its strong run in hopes of boosting security spending across the region.
“It will take some time before the contract passes and see the impact of the package placed in Germany in terms of corporate profitability,” Lindsay James, a quilter investor strategist, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Wednesday.
Rheinmetall stock price.
BBVA approaches a hostile takeover of Banco Sabadell
Spanish lender BBVA On Wednesday, the Morocco central bank said it had approved an indirect change in the country’s control of the Banco Sabadel branch as part of the hostile buyback bid of BBVA’s domestic peers.
The BBVA said the green light from the Morocco Central Bank means “currently there is all necessary approvals from international regulators to complete the transaction.”
BBVA CEO OnurGenҫ said the banks currently only need approval from the Spanish Competition Bureau and are investigating the impact of the merger on the domestic market.
“We presented an unprecedented list of remedies and essentially gave us a volume guarantee and price guarantee. We guarantee the price of loans in a particular region of a particular segment,” he said. “Based on these remedies, our hope is that they will give us light in the coming weeks.”
Jeneun said that if the regulator approves the acquisition, the government would choose to review the case and open up a way for Banco Sabadell shareholders (who he called the “right owner of the decision”) to decide whether to bid on the shares.
The BBVA first offered to merge with its domestic ally in April last year. This is what Sabadell publicly opposes and tells CEO César González-Bueno to CNBC last month that “competition will suffer” if it was absorbed by the BBVA.
“Additionally, they didn’t pay the price,” he said at the time. “For everything on the table, the answer is a very clear ‘no’. ”
– Chloe Taylor
German stocks fall
Germany’s Dachshund The index was about 0.2% lower by 9:34am in London and was on track to finish a three-day winning streak.
It came after lawmakers voted to reform public borrowing rules, paving the way for increased defense spending.
Phonovia2% down, and Brenntagpoured 1.7% during early trade, and was one of the biggest losers in DAX.
MDAX Index (where there are 50 German MidCap companies) also moved low on Wednesday morning, cutting by 0.3%.
Traton Poport also reduced MDAX’s biggest losses by 4.6% and 3.8% respectively.
– Chloe Taylor
Rio Tinto urges shareholders to refuse a unified push for Pariser Capital
Rio Tinto workers are looking at a vessel carrying bauxite, a raw material for aluminum, during Operation Weipa in Cape York, Cape York, on March 7, 2019.
Melanie Burton | Reuters
Rio Tinto It asks shareholders to refuse hedge fund Pariser Capital to continue to push for the unification of dual-listed mining giants.
The company currently operates under a dual listed company (DLC) structure, divided into Rio Tinto PLC and Rio Tinto Limited, which trade on the London Stock Exchange, and is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The boards of directors of both companies are made up of the same individuals.
On Wednesday, Rio Tinto said London-based Pariser Capital (the company’s main shareholders) had requested an order to form a committee of independent directors and looked into whether it would be in the best interest of the shareholders to determine whether it would be integrated into a single Australian holding company.
The Rio Tinto board urged shareholders to reject motions at their annual general meetings in April and May.
“The board has already conducted a robust and comprehensive review of the unification of the DLC with five key external advisors, and its conclusions are clear,” it said in a statement Wednesday. “Unification of DLC would be disruptive in value for the group and its shareholders.”
Towards the end of 2024, Pariser wrote to the board of directors of Rio Tinto, calling on a single Australian residential holding company to unify the DLC.
Since Rio Tinto became a dual list 30 years ago, it claimed that the DLC structure had destroyed shareholder value of around $50 billion. In a statement Wednesday, Rio Tinto labeled an assertion about value erosion of around $50 billion, “both baseless and misleading.”
Rio Tinto shares were 1% lower in London time at 9:30am.
– Chloe Taylor
The Bank of England was hoping to hold interest rates on hold
Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey will pause before the start of the Monetary Policy Report press conference at the Bank of England held in London, England on February 6, 2025.
Kin Cheung – WPA Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Bank of England is widely expected to hold interest rates when they meet on Thursday as the UK faces economic headwinds both at home and abroad.
Given the unpredictability of President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and the fledgling world trade war, and how those factors will affect UK inflation, it is highly likely that the central bank will keep its benchmark interest rate at 4.5% at its March meeting.
Read the full story here.
– Holly Eliatt
Santander says it is putting 750 jobs at risk as it pursues UK branch closures
On Wednesday, February 3, 2010, a sign was displayed from the branch of Banco Santander, London, UK.
Simon Dawson | Bloomberg via Getty Images
British forces at Spanish lender Santander on Wednesday said 750 staff were at risk of redundancy as they covered 95 branch closures in the UK.
Read the full story here.
– ruxandra iordache
Opening call
London’s FTSE 100 According to IG, in French, it is expected that the opening will change slightly. CAC40 It is expected to reduce German by 0.2% Dachshund It is scheduled to open approximately 0.5% lower.
The downward movement of DAX, home to the German big corporations, ended its third consecutive day profit for the index, adding 17.4% since the start of the year.
– Chloe Taylor
