Investing.com – European stocks were up on Thursday, boosted by a series of strong earnings reports, while U.S. futures pointed to a higher open ahead of U.S. data on employment.
During European afternoon trade, the EURO STOXX 50 advanced 0.70%; France’s CAC 40 rose 0.69% while Germany's DAX rose 68%.
Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca jumped 4.5% after reporting second- quarter earnings that exceeded estimates and increasing its earnings forecast for the third time this year.
German auto maker Volkswagen climbed 1.9% after reporting the biggest quarterly profit in two years on the back of increased Chinese and U.S. demand for the Golf compact and Audi A5 coupe.
However Statoil tumbled 2.5% after Norway’s largest oil and gas company cut its production forecast for 2012 and reported smaller-than-expected profits.
In London, the commodity heavy FTSE 100 gained 0.85% as commodities advanced with Royal Dutch Shell up 1.01% and BP gaining 0.55%.
The outlook for U.S. equity markets, meanwhile, was optimistic ahead of earnings reports from Moody's, Colgate-Palmolive, Kellogg's, Motorola and Automatic Data Processing amongst others.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated an increase of 0.51%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a gain of 0.55% and Nasdaq 100 futures indicated an advance of 0.40%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release key data on initial jobless claims.
During European afternoon trade, the EURO STOXX 50 advanced 0.70%; France’s CAC 40 rose 0.69% while Germany's DAX rose 68%.
Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca jumped 4.5% after reporting second- quarter earnings that exceeded estimates and increasing its earnings forecast for the third time this year.
German auto maker Volkswagen climbed 1.9% after reporting the biggest quarterly profit in two years on the back of increased Chinese and U.S. demand for the Golf compact and Audi A5 coupe.
However Statoil tumbled 2.5% after Norway’s largest oil and gas company cut its production forecast for 2012 and reported smaller-than-expected profits.
In London, the commodity heavy FTSE 100 gained 0.85% as commodities advanced with Royal Dutch Shell up 1.01% and BP gaining 0.55%.
The outlook for U.S. equity markets, meanwhile, was optimistic ahead of earnings reports from Moody's, Colgate-Palmolive, Kellogg's, Motorola and Automatic Data Processing amongst others.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated an increase of 0.51%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a gain of 0.55% and Nasdaq 100 futures indicated an advance of 0.40%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release key data on initial jobless claims.