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Five Things - Europe
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Good morning. Europe's virus outbreaks worsen again, Turkey finds energy, and Delivery Hero makes it to Germany's benchmark. Here's what's moving markets.

Spikes

France reported its biggest increase in new coronavirus cases since early May, before the country emerged from an almost two-month lockdown. Spain, meanwhile, has re-emerged as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe after recording the highest number of daily infections per million people in the continent over the course of this week. 3,715 new cases were reported on Wednesday, almost half of which were found in the vicinity of Madrid. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez -- whose handling of the pandemic has been widely panned -- is on vacation with his family and hasn't come out to address the public.

The Next Trillion

Apple Inc. became the U.S.'s first company to reach a $2 trillion market cap late Wednesday, after its stock rose nearly 60% this year. For a frame of reference, this exceeds the total market cap of all stocks in Germany's DAX 30, France's CAC 40, or Switzerland's SPI indexes. In December, Saudi Aramco's valuation briefly reached $2 trillion, but has fallen back to $1.8 trillion since. Among U.S. companies, Apple is trailed by Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., both of which have market caps under $1.7 trillion.

New Kid

Delivery Hero SE will replace defunct payments company Wirecard AG in Germany's prestigious DAX benchmark on Monday, the index's owner has announced. The stock has gained almost 50% since January, as lockdowns boosted demand for food delivery in its key markets. Joining the DAX could further propel the shares as tracker funds are forced to increase their weightings. Still, the Berlin-based firm's addition may spark some controversy as it is yet to achieve a single profitable year, raising questions about the prudence of including it alongside established heavyweights such as Siemens AG and SAP SE.

Black Sea Bonanza

Turkey has discovered energy in the Black Sea, most likely natural gas, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Wednesday. The two spoke after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to deliver Turks "good news" on Friday that would usher in a new era for the nation.The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index also rose 3% after Erdogan spoke, while shares of refiner Turkiye Petrol Rafinerileri AS, or Tupras, and petrochemical manufacturer Petkim Petrokimya Holding AS jumped 7.6% and 9.9% respectively.

Coming Up…

Asian stocks came under pressure Thursday after Federal Reserve minutes signaled tempered optimism about second-half growth and as Sino-American tensions simmered. European and U.S. futures are also pointing to a lower open. The morning's earnings agenda features Dutch payments firm and lockdown winner Adyen NV, miner Antofagasta Plc and cement maker CRH Plc. In the afternoon, we'll get quarterly earnings from e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd., as well as weekly U.S. initial jobless claims.

What We've Been Reading

This is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours. 

And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morning

Well that didn't last long. No sooner did the S&P 500 clamber to a new closing high Tuesday, it fell right back down again Wednesday, finishing the session near its lows with futures now pointing to further declines on Thursday. Of course it's way too early to suggest anything sinister and it will take a lot more that a modest down day (or two) to put an end to this U.S. equity rally. But notable in the commentary about the new record -- aside from a degree of incredulity -- was the constant reiteration that the rally was not reflective of moves across a broad swathe of stocks, in the U.S. or globally. The S&P 500's equal-weighted cousin is still 7% below its record and the MSCI's global gauge of stocks excluding U.S. ones remains 20% off its peak, which was reached in 2007. Furthermore, the percent of S&P 500 members making even a one-year high was just 6% on Tuesday, compared to 4% for both Europe's Stoxx 600 and the MSCI World Index. Those levels were well into the teens when global stocks were making new highs in the pre-pandemic days back in February. The rally has been swift but all boats have not been lifted.

Cormac Mullen is a cross-asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo.

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