Europe stocks higher; ASML up 3.7% on chip report; Remy Cointreau choppy as the outlook disappoints.

British insurance firm shares Direct line Initial deals jumped 39 percent, to their highest level since March, after it announced a takeover offer from a rival. Aviva “Significantly undervalued” the company.

Aviva announced on Wednesday that it had made a full takeover bid for the company on November 19, offering Directline shareholders 112.5 pence per Directline share in cash – up from their closing date of November 18. A 59.7 percent premium on price — and 0.282 new Aviva shares per direct line share.

Directline confirmed the unsolicited offer, and said its board had concluded it was “highly opportunistic and substantially undervalues ​​the company.”

“The Board has great confidence in the capabilities of our newly established leadership team and is firmly behind the delivery of our strategy. Under that strategy, the company continues to make early progress toward its financial goals, and expects attractive growth in profitability, return on capital and shareholder returns,” it said.

It added that there is no guarantee that a firm will be offered or on what terms. Aviva must confirm by 5pm on December 25 whether it intends to make a firm offer.

Aviva shares were down 3.39 percent at 8:47 a.m. London time.

– Jenny Reid

European stocks rose at the open on Thursday Stokes 600 The index rose 0.49 percent at 8:23 a.m. London time. Technology stocks gained 1.57 percent.

of Germany DAX And of France CAC 40 Both were about 0.5 percent higher, while the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent.

– Jenny Reid

UK consumer confidence is weak as a result of the Labor government. Historic first budget in October, according to a November survey by the British Retail Consortium.

A BRC-Opinium poll found that opinions on the state of the economy have worsened slightly, while people’s perceptions of their finances have improved slightly. Personal expenditure remained stable in October.

“Consumer confidence has changed little since the Chancellor’s Budget, with many worried about the economy in the run up to Christmas,” said Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC.

“Last month clearly did little to turn the dial either positively or negatively for households, however, the same cannot be said for the retail industry. The Budget results in an extra £7 billion in 2025. With the costs, retailers will have little choice but to raise prices or reduce investment in jobs and stores.”

The sweeping reforms announced by Labor have sparked widespread backlash from Britain’s business community, who say Higher taxes and changes to employment rights Pressure has been put on employers.

– Jenny Reid

French spirits group Remy Cointreau reported a 12.9% drop in first-half operating profit to 147.3 million euros ($155.3 million), a smaller decline than forecast in an analyst survey compiled by the company.

Analysts had expected a 20.6 percent decline in operating profit.

CEO Eric Walt said the company kept margins stable in the first half through “strict cost management” as it implemented a 50 million euro full-year savings strategy. Coupled with weak demand in the Americas and Asia Pacific and other brandy producers, the beverage maker Higher duties on Chinese exports between one EU-China trade dispute.

Consolidated sales on an organic basis were down 15.9 percent during the period.

The firm did not forecast a return to growth in the U.S. before the fourth quarter, and a decline in sales in the Asia-Pacific, “due to an untimely recovery in the United States, and deteriorating market conditions.” From. In China.”

It forecast a decline of between 15% and 18% in overall organic sales for the full year, updating a “double-digit decline” forecast issued in October.

European markets are expected to open higher on Thursday.

of Great Britain FTSE 100 The index is expected to open 16 points higher at 8,291, Germany DAX France rose 72 points to 19,334 CAC and Italy’s rose 30 points to 7,173 FTSE MIB According to IG data, it rose 98 points to 33,310.

There are no major earnings on Thursday, but data releases include Spanish and German inflation and European economic sentiment figures. Italian and Spanish business confidence data are also due.

– Holly Elliott

Bitcoin It climbed back above $96,000 on Wednesday, recovering slightly from a pullback this week that dropped it from record levels.

According to CoinMetrics, the flagship cryptocurrency was last traded nearly 6 percent higher at $96,676.70, while the sky jumped more than 9% to $3,636.46. The broader crypto market, as measured by Coin Desk 20 The index gained 7 percent.

Although Bitcoin is widely viewed as a store of value and a digital alternative to gold, the cryptocurrency often trades alongside the stock market. On Wednesday, however, it was tied with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which was down 0.6 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 also fell.

Coin base Bitcoin rose more than 6 percent after it was lifted along with other crypto stocks.

– Tanya Mitchell

According to Redburn Atlantic, President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed hefty tariffs on imports could create winners in the stock market — especially in companies that help businesses manage their supply chains.

The Redburn analyst cited the 2018-2019 trade tensions between the U.S. and China as saying that these tech stocks outperformed during “periods of supply chain uncertainty.”

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Percentage of all stocks in S&P 500 Their 200-day moving average is currently 77%, and has been above 60% for at least the past year. According to Chris Verone, head of technical and macro research at Strategas, this proves that market fundamentals are “still solid”.

strong Moving averagewhich smooths out short-term fluctuations to reveal the underlying trend in a stock’s price, “speaks to the persistence of decent insiders,” Veron wrote to clients on Wednesday.

“It’s not historically unusual for stocks to have a shoulder period for the early part of December, but the market is still in the middle of its best 3-month period on the calendar,” he said of the October period. Referring said. 31 to 31 January.

– Scott Schniper

Attractive returns and breadth of opportunities are among the reasons why the US market has historically reigned supreme among investors.

However, one market watcher sees US stocks as expensive and is now looking for opportunities in other markets that are cheaper.

“We believe that markets outside the US are generally more attractive than the US from a pricing perspective,” said Morningstar Chief Executive Officer Kunal Kapur, revealing markets with “attractive pockets” of opportunity.

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Amla Balakrishner