European Factors to Watch-Stocks seen sharply lower as Greece crisis worsens – Reuters

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(Reuters) – European stocks were expected to slump at the open on Monday, after Greece closed its banks and imposed capital controls to check the growing strains on its crippled financial system, bringing the prospect of being forced out of the euro into plain sight.

Financial spreadbetters expected Britain’s FTSE 100 to open down by 178-200 points, or 2.6-3 percent lower. Germany’s DAX was seen opening down by 408-442 points, or 3.6-3.9 percent lower, while France’s CAC 40 was seen opening down by 169-184 points, or 3.3-3.6 percent lower.

After bailout talks between the leftwing government and foreign lenders broke down at the weekend, the European Central Bank froze vital funding support to Greece’s banks, leaving Athens with little choice but to shut down the system to keep the banks from collapsing.

Greek banks will be closed and the Athens stock market shut all week, and there will be a daily 60 euro limit on cash withdrawals from cash machines, which will reopen on Tuesday.

Capital controls are likely to last for many months at least, while Greece also faces defaulting on 1.6 billion euros ($ 1.8 billion) of loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that are due for repayment on Tuesday.

“While our base case remains that Greece will retain the Euro (albeit likely with a prolonged interregnum where Greece’s relationship with the rest of the Euro area is irregular), the risk of a ‘Grexit’ is rising and uncertainty is increasing as we enter the uncharted territory of default, deposit controls and payment in IOUs,” Goldman Sachs wrote in a note on Sunday. —————————————————————————— > GLOBAL MARKETS-Euro, stocks slide on looming Greece default > US STOCKS-Stock futures slump as Greek crisis worsens > Nikkei slides to 1-week low as Greek crisis batters global markets > TREASURIES-Long-dated yields hit nearly 9-month high > FOREX-Euro sharply down as Greece crisis deepens, default looms > PRECIOUS-Gold gets safe-haven boost on Greek fears, equities slump > METALS-London copper inches up, but gains seen short-lived > Oil prices fall after Greece imposes capital controls

COMPANY NEWS:

ALTICE :

European telecoms and cable group Altice would be interested in buying Dutch company KPN, its chief executive Dexter Goei was quoted in a Dutch newspaper as saying, but he added the two companies were not in talks.

DEUTSCHE BANK :

Deutsche Bank’s co-chief executive Anshu Jain may have “knowingly made inaccurate statements” to Germany’s Bundesbank during investigations into manipulation of the inter-bank rate setting process, the Financial Times reported online, citing a confidential report from German regulator BaFin.

K+S :

Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc, the world’s largest fertilizer company by capacity, does not plan any closures at K+S AG if its bid for its German peer proves successful, according to people familiar with the matter.

LUFTHANSA :

Deutsche Lufthansa plans to make offers of compensation in the coming days to the families of those killed in the crash of a Germanwings jet in the French Alps in late March, a spokesman for the airline said on Sunday.

NOVARTIS :

Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG will buy U.S.-Australian biotech company Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, a chronic pain specialist, the companies said in separate statements on Monday.

VOLKSWAGEN :

VW plans to launch a family of low cost budget cars in China and possibly elsewhere starting in 2018, its chief executive said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

($ 1 = 0.9080 euros) (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta)