(Rewrites with futures, updates snapshot table, company news)
FRANKFURT, Oct 6 (Reuters) - European index futures pointed to stock market
plunges at the open on Monday amid sharply heightened uncertainty about the fate
of the financial industry.
At 0634 GMT, DJ Euro Stoxx 50 futures STXEc1 were down 5.5 percent, German
DAX futures FDXc1 were down 4.5 percent and French CAC futures FCEc1 were
down 5.6 percent.
"We have a seriously weak and fear-driven market at our hands," said Tom
Hougaard, chief market strategist at City Index in London.
During the weekend, German officials clinched a renewed rescue deal for
property lender Hypo Real Estate HRXG.DE, Belgium and Luxembourg found a buyer
for troubled financial group Fortis (FOR.BR) in French bank BNP Paribas, and
UniCredit (CRDI.MI), Italy's second-biggest bank, announced plans to raise new
capital.
Germany also offered a blanket bank deposit guarantee, as did Denmark, and
South Korea pledged to use its $240 billion in official reserves to help its
banks secure enough foreign-currency liquidity.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was quoted as saying Italy would
revive the idea of a common European Union-wide bailout fund at a meeting of
finance ministers on Monday.
"Financial stocks are certainly going to be under pressure again," CMC
Markets said in a note. "The overall impact is going to cross all sectors with
the prospect of slowing demand weighing on all the heavyweights."
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0625 GMT----------------------
LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1,099.23 -1.35 % -15.05
NIKKEI .N225 10,473.09 -4.25 % -465.05
MSCI ASIA EX-JP .MIASJ0000PUS 343.42 -4.76 % -17.17
EUR/USD EUR= 1.3569 -0.76 % -0.0104
USD/JPY JPY= 103.27 -1.62 % -1.7000
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.536 -- -0.06
10-YR BUND YLD EU10YT=RR 3.836 -- -0.09
SPOT GOLD XAU= $828.10 -0.80 % -$6.70
US CRUDE CLc1 $91.31 -2.74 % -$2.57
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* Money market squeeze eases but fears persist [ID:nSP76965]
* Wall St drops on economic concerns despite bailout [ID:nN03515715]
* Nikkei at 4-yr closing low, economic gloom grows [ID:nTKG003040]
* Asian stocks, euro tumble as crisis intensifies [ID:nL6053323]
* Euro sinks, yen soars as global bank fears deepen [ID:nT140643]
* TREASURIES surge in Asia as bank woes stir rate cut talk [ID:nT148936]
* Oil falls 2 pct to below $92, demand loss feared [ID:nSP369815]
* Gold down on oil and dollar, platinum at 3-year low [ID:nSP53773]
COMPANY NEWS
BNP PARIBAS (BNPP.PA)
France's biggest listed bank said it was paying 14.5 billion euros to take
control of financial group Fortis's (FOR.BR) banking businesses in Belgium and
Luxembourg as well as Fortis Insurance Belgium. [ID:nL6316554] [ID:nL5104035]
HYPO REAL ESTATE HRXG.DE
Germany thrashed out a new rescue for Hypo Real Estate, with the country's
financial sector agreeing to provide an extra 15 billion euros in liquidity on
top of the 35 billion they had already committed together with the Bundesbank.
[ID:nL584161]
UNICREDIT (CRDI.MI)
Italy's second-biggest bank approved measures to vault its key capital ratio
over its target to 6.7 percent by year-end, with plans for a 3 billion euros
capital increase and issuing shares as dividend. UniCredit also agreed a
convertible issue which would be pro rata to the amount taken up of the capital
increase. [ID:nL5164115]
UBS (UBSN.VX)
UBS will not introduce a cap on salaries, but management will earn less than
before the credit crisis, chairman Peter Kurer said in an interview published on
Saturday. In a separate interview, Kurer said he will earn less than 10 million
Swiss francs this year. [ID:nL5341259] [ID:nL4662587]
COMMERZBANK (CBKG.DE)
Commerzbank, BayernLB [BAYLB.UL], LBBW [LBBW.UL] and WestLB [WDLG.UL] denied
a report in German weekly Der Spiegel that they faced a big liquidity squeeze in
refinancing themselves in the coming months. [ID:nL4734797]
DEXIA (DEXI.PA)
Difficulties at loss-making U.S. bond insurer unit Financial Security
Assurance (FSA) did not accelerate the crisis that led to a 6.4 billion-euro
bailout of parent Dexia, Dexia Chairman Pierre Richard said in a radio interview
on Saturday.
RETAILERS
A large number of UK retailers could go bust in the new year, the Financial
Times quoted the country's largest corporate insolvency specialist Begbies
Traynor as saying.
It said banks were likely to support retailers until the Christmas period
but a spate of insolvencies was likely to follow in the new year.
RIO TINTO (RIO.L), BHP BILLITON (BLT.L)
A senior Chinese government official urged European regulators to reject BHP
Billiton's (BPH.AX)(BLT.L) $89 billion bid for Rio Tinto (RIO.AX)(RIO.L), saying
it would be harmful to the global economy, the Sydney Morning Herald paper
reported. [ID:nSYD371739]
RISANAMENTO (RN.MI)
The Italian property company Risanamento said on Saturday its creditor bank
Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) has agreed to extend a deadline for repayment of a 60
million tranche of a 150 million euro loan to Oct. 31 from Sept 30. Risanamento
also said it was in talks withg Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit (CRDI.MI) and Banca
Popolare di Milano (PMII.MI) about a new credit line worth 80 million euros.
REPSOL (REP.MC), SACYR VALLEHERMOSO (SVO.MC)
Spanish oil major Repsol would prefer cash-strapped builder Sacyr
Vallehermoso to sell assets other than its stake in Repsol, El Economista
newspaper said, citing Repsol head Antoni Brufau. [ID:nN694398]
SIEMENS (SIEGn.DE)
Siemens is well prepared for a downturn in global growth. "We had prepared
ourselves for bad weather while the sun was still shining," CEO Peter Loescher
told Tagesspiegel newspaper.
PORSCHE (PSHG_p.DE)
Porsche would not rule out another rise in profits for the fiscal year to
end-July 2009 even as global financial markets fall deeper into a crisis, its
CEO told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper. [ID:nL5117297]
THYSSENKRUPP (TKAG.DE)
The top executive at ThyssenKrupp's core steelmaking division is confident
that emerging markets will keep the steel boom alive next year even as economic
growth slows. [ID:nL443281]
(Reporting by Peter Starck)
