In Europe, the stock markets opened on Thursday with mixed results. The Euro Stoxx 600 general index, which represents the European stock market, was down 0.3 percent at the time of review. London’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.5 percent while Germany’s DAX index was down 0.4 percent. Stockholm’s OMXS30 index also saw a decline of 0.3 percent.
Several large European companies including Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Nestle and Airbus reported their earnings for the first quarter on Thursday. Deutsche Bank exceeded analysts’ expectations with a profit increase to 1.275 billion euros in the first quarter, a 10 percent rise compared to the previous year. Analysts had predicted a result of 1.23 billion euros and the company’s net sales also rose by 1 percent year-on-year to 7.8 billion euros, close to the forecast of 7.73 billion euros.
Barclays also reported better than expected results with a first-quarter profit fall to £195 million pounds, down from £214 million pounds a year ago but still higher than analysts’ expectations of £146 million pounds. Meanwhile, Nestle reported a decline in revenue from last year to CHF22 billion but fell short of analysts’ forecast by CHF64 million or about 3%.
Meanwhile in Australia, BHP has made an offer of AUD88 billion (£59 billion) for Australian mining giant Rio Tinto which is currently under evaluation by Rio Tinto’s board who could either reject or accept it . If accepted this deal could mark one of the largest mergers in Australia’s mining industry in recent years .
Based on futures trading Wall Street is expected to open lower today as investors await more news on global economic recovery and US inflation data due later this week
