European Factors-Futures signal 5 pct fall for European shares
(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)
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