(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK
stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
for site in development. See the bottom of the report)
LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - European shares headed for a
weaker start on Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street and in
Asia, with a fall in commodities prices on the back of a firmer
dollar and hawkish comments from another Fed official seen
putting pressure on the market.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard joined a chorus of
officials in highlighting the risk of at least two rate hikes
this year, with the first perhaps as soon as April. Markets
imply only one increase and dealers suspect an orchestrated
attempt by the Fed to shift that thinking. MKTS/GLOB
Futures for the Euro STOXX 50 STXEc1 , France's CAC
FCEc1 , Britain's FTSE FFIc1 and Germany's DAX FDXc1 were
down 0.6 to 0.7 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS slipped 1.3 percent, while Japan's Nikkei
.N225 dropped 0.6 percent on Thursday. U.S. equities ended 0.5
to 1.1 percnet weaker in the previous session, when pan-European
FTSEeurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 closed 0.1 percent lower.
Trading volumes are likely to be thin ahead of the Easter
holidays.
COMPANY NEWS
VOLKSWAGEN VOWG_p.DE
Two sources told Reuters that Volkswagen was not expected to
unveil an agreement Thursday with U.S. regulators at a federal
court hearing in California on how to address excess emissions
in 580,000 diesel vehicles.
Separately, a spokesman for VW said the carmaker will recall
177,000 Passat cars built in 2014 and 2015 due to a technical
glitch that could cause engines outage.
German paper Bild, citing financial sources, reported that
plans by Volkswagen to issue a bond by late June have met with
lukewarm investor interest amid the emissions scandal.
RENAULT RENA.PA
The French carmaker is recalling 10,649 Zoe electric cars to
remove the potential risk of rupture to brake fluid hoses, a
spokesman said. LHAG.DE
Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines will cancel their flights to
Brussels until the end of Monday, March 28, a spokesman said
late-Wednesday.
Including previous cancellations, 156 flights from Frankfurt
and Munich to Brussels were affected and 12,300 passengers. From
Thursday, Lufthansa will start a daily bus shuttle between
Frankfurt and Brussels.
DRILLISCH DRIG.DE
Drillisch reported a 24 percent rise in 2015 earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to 105.6
million euros. Separately, it said Chief Executive Paschalis
Choulidis would step down for personal reasons.
BIOMEDICAL SBSG.DE
The company agreed to buy Hungary's Diatron MI Plc, a maker
of hematology applications, from private equity firm The
Riverside Company and said the acquisition would be earnings
accretive this year. LAGA.PA
The media group said its Travel Retail division is targeting
between 7 percent and 10 percent average annual sales growth
through 2019. AIR.PA
Airbus and other Skymark creditors haved claimed 309 billion
yen ($2.75 billion) in accounts receivables, which the bankrupt
Japanese airline has been able to reduce in negotiatons, Nikkei
reported. KORI.PA
The French retirement home operator said it aimed to raise
its revenue this year to 3 billion euros and keep its EBITDA
margin close to the 2015 level as it reported results for last
year. NUME.PA
The French cable group's SFR mobile arm will allow rivals to
buy rights to broadcast Premier League football, SFR CEO Michel
Combes told Les Echos newspaper. SUISSE CSGN.S
Credit Suisse Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam received 18.9
million Swiss francs ($19.37 million) in 2015, according to the
Swiss bank's annual report published on Thursday.
Thiam said on Wednesday he has total confidence in finance
chief David Mathers and global markets head Tim O'Hara after
large illiquid trading positions pushed the bank to accelerate
its cost-cutting plan. For more, click on SYNN.S
Senator Chuck Grassley and other U.S. lawmakers are pushing
for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to have a formal role in
weighing ChemChina's planned takeover of Switzerland's Syngenta ,
the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
NOVARTIS NOVN.S
Drugmaker Novartis agreed on Wednesday to pay more than $25
million to the U.S. government to settle civil charges that it
bribed healthcare professionals in China to boost sales there,
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. For more,
click on NOVN.S
NESTLE NESN.VX
Starbucks Corp SBUX.O said on Wednesday it will sell
espresso pods for Nestle SA's popular Nespresso home brewers in
Europe and unveil a new way for customers to earn loyalty points
for free food and drinks outside its cafes. For more, click on
SBUX.O
UBS UBSG.S
The Dutch authorities got information on "thousands" of
their taxpayers' accounts at Swiss bank UBS before a court
ruling in Switzerland this week put a hold on further
disclosures, according to the Dutch finance ministry. For more,
click on UBSG.S
ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK
stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets
for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia format
from 0600 London time through the 1630 closing bell, it will
include the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service,
Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research and
market zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves will
continue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue to
provide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.
If you have any thoughts, suggestions or feedback on this,
please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com.
Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA.