European markets end the day in green
European markets closed mostly in positive territory on Thursday.
pan-european Stocks 600 Banks and travel and leisure led the rise, ending the day 0.4% higher.
Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.16% to end slightly higher, while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.4% and Germany’s DAX ended up 0.7% after trading at record highs earlier this week. did.
– April Roach
France is currently paying more on its debt than Spain, economists say
Gilles Moek, group chief economist at AXA, discusses the outlook for the French market amid the collapse of Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government.
Moec told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Thursday that it was “very impressive” that France was being treated more favorably than Spain by the rating agency.
– April Roach
Stock prices open with little change
Combining Shell and Equinor’s North Sea oil and gas portfolios will improve profit margins, Equinor executives say
Shell and Norway’s Equinor are combining their UK offshore oil and gas assets into a jointly owned energy company to build a stronger portfolio and improve profit margins, said Camilla, Equinor’s senior vice president, head of UK upstream. Sarte told CNBC’s Sylvia Amaro.
“We’re doing this to form this 50-50 company with Shell and Equinor because we truly believe that combining our portfolio will make our portfolio stronger,” Sarto said. .
“By developing new ways of working, we can actually develop work processes that actually improve the bottom line and actually create long-term value from these assets. is an important business rationale.”
Analysts led by RBC Capital Markets’ Viraj Borkataria said they expect “tax synergies” to be a key factor in the mix of North Sea oil and gas assets.
shell Shares were down 1% as of 1:33 p.m. London time.
— Jenny Reid, Sam Meredith
Bitcoin surpasses $100,000, crypto stocks soar
Cost Photo | Null Photo | Getty Images
British businesses face a difficult 2025, research says
British businesses face a tough 2025, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said in its quarterly economic forecast.
The BCC has revised upward its forecast for UK growth for the next two years, saying increased government spending will boost growth prospects. However, business investment and trade are likely to suffer due to rising employment costs and the possibility of a tariff war, the BCC reported in a statement on Tuesday.
“Global trade will be difficult for many businesses due to fears of tariff wars and continued trade barriers with the EU,” said David Barrier, head of research at the BCC.
Growth in the UK is expected to accelerate from 0.8% in 2024 to 1.3% in 2025 and 1.5% in 2026. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has been revised upward to 4.5% next year and will fall to 4.2% in 2026.
— Abby Ryant
Vodafone CEO says merger of Vodafone-3 companies will provide the UK with the digital infrastructure it deserves
Chief executive Margherita Della Valle said: “[The merger]will benefit consumers and businesses across the country and will ultimately give the UK the digital infrastructure it truly deserves.” . vodafone.
Della Valle added that despite the merger, competition and costs remain the same.
“What will change is that these brands will be able to rely on much better infrastructure as we move the UK from being one of Europe’s laggards in digital infrastructure to being a best-in-class leader. “That’s the 5G network,” Della Valle said.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday gave the green light to the Vodafone-Three merger. The deal will be allowed to proceed if both companies make a “binding commitment to invest billions of dollars” to roll out an integrated 5G network across the UK.
The merger is expected to be officially completed in the first half of 2025.
Read the full text here.
— Abby Ryant
France’s CAC40 index hits three-week high amid political uncertainty
Kaku
“The market is already further ahead than the rating agencies…What I find interesting is that there hasn’t been much movement in spreads over the last few days, because a lot of these moves were priced in last week. ” said Jill Moek. AXA’s group chief economist told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.
“What is probably reassuring the market to some extent at the moment is that we are not going to see anything like a government shutdown in France,” Moeck added, adding that investors are already assuming that early elections will be held in the middle of next year. He said he is doing so. It is constitutionally possible.
French 10 year bond yield As of 9:41 a.m. London time, it was trading about 1 basis point higher at 2.904. of CAC40 rose 0.31% to trade around 7,325 points.
“There is clearly a problem with the number of bonds France will issue in the coming years, as the budget deficit remains too high,” Moec said. “But it’s probably not as dramatic as an alliance might seem at first glance.”
— Abby Ryant
European stocks open mixed
STOXX 600 index.
European stock markets opened mixed on Thursday as investors assessed political uncertainty in France.
As of 8:11 a.m. in London, France’s CAC40 was up 0.13%, while Germany’s DAX was up 0.06%. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.05%.
— Jenny Reid
France faces bond market turmoil, but Greece in 2010 did not, economists say
George Lagarias, chief economist at Forbis Mathers, said France is facing an unsustainable debt trajectory and rising bond yields, but the situation is not the same as the Greek debt crisis of 2010.
“France is not in debt to begin with. Neither A nor B nor the big countries nor the G7 countries will be in a debt crisis in the 21st century. This is the prerogative of small countries. Greece was in a debt crisis long before there was a debt crisis. ” Lagarias told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
France has faced months of political instability since the summer’s general election, with the minority government toppled in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday.
Concerns that France will not be able to pass a budget to reduce its budget deficit have pushed France’s borrowing costs to a 12-year high against Germany and pushed bond yields to the same level as Greece for the first time in history. It became. Analysts see this as a symbolic milestone, given France’s stronger fundamentals and Greece’s turbulent market history, which saw its sovereign debt downgraded to junk in 2010 and was subsequently bailed out. Ta.
“France is going through something, political turmoil… There may be some turmoil in the bond market, because the bond market is really shaken up by inflation, tariffs, etc. So some of that It could seep into bonds.’ But France is not Greece,” Lagarias said.
“We have to admit that this is not a eurozone crisis. (Countries) can borrow to get themselves out of trouble, although not as fast as they used to. The main culprit is the United States. ”
— Jenny Reid
Shell and Equinor to form joint venture to create UK’s largest independent oil and gas company
Oil giants Shell and Norway’s Equinor on Thursday announced plans to combine their UK offshore oil and gas assets to form a jointly owned energy company.
Read the full text here.
— Sam Meredith
UK regulator approves Vodafone-Three merger
The UK Competition and Markets Authority on Monday approved the merger of telecommunications companies Vodafone and Three.
The CMA has set several conditions on the £15 billion ($19.5 billion) deal, including that both companies commit to investing billions of dollars to roll out an integrated 5G network across the UK. Set.
The organization had previously expressed concerns that the merger would result in price hikes for tens of millions of customers, and that some users would receive a reduction in service.
Vodafone stock price.
Read the full text here.
— Jenny Reid
Bitcoin surpasses $100,000 for the first time in history
price of Bitcoin It breached the long-awaited $100,000 threshold for the first time late Wednesday night.
The flagship cryptocurrency last rose more than 7% to $102,879.60, according to Coin Metrics. It had previously risen to $103,844.05.
The move came hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The same day, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking at the Deal Book conference, said that Bitcoin is “just like gold, only virtual, only digital.”
To learn more about Bitcoin’s historical milestones, read the full article here.
— Tanaya Machel
CNBC Pro: “It’s important to stay invested,” says Julius Baer portfolio manager. Here’s how she invests
Uncertainty persists in financial markets, raising questions about how to build portfolios and invest across asset classes as 2025 approaches.
A long-term investor is currently playing the market by staying invested and being well diversified.
“We think it’s important to stay invested and view the possibility of a correction as a technical and temporary opportunity to enter the market,” said Anneka Beneby, portfolio manager at Julius Baer International.
She also revealed what and how she will be allocating for the new year.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Amara Balakrishna
European Market: Click here for opening call
European markets are expected to open lower on Thursday.
british FTSE100 The index is expected to open 17 points lower at 8,342. dachshund 7 points down to 20,225, France CAC 7,275, down 28 points, Italy FTSE MIB According to IG data, it decreased by 82 points to 33,747.
There are no major earnings or data releases in Europe on Thursday.
— Holly Ellyatt
