Europe's main stock markets rose on Wednesday in cautious trade before official data that will show whether the British economy avoided recession in the first quarter of the year.
In early morning trade, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index won just 0.13 percent to 5,716.99 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.76 percent to 6,640.42 and the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.57 percent to 3,187.39 points.
The British economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 0.3 percent in the final quarter of 2011.
"Despite the preoccupation with all things Europe this week, the UK will be in focus this morning ahead of the first iteration of UK first-quarter GDP, with hopes high that the UK economy will avoid a double-dip recession and return to growth,"
* Apple Inc's quarterly profit almost doubled, blowing past Wall Street estimates after a jump in iPhone sales, particularly in the greater China region, and soothing fears that the iPhone was past its best days for sharp growth. Its shares in Frankfurt were up 10 percent.
* The Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting on Tuesday that will likely show the central bank is slightly more upbeat on the economy but in little hurry to raise borrowing costs.
* A recent acquisition spurt by Facebook may add about a week to the social network's journey to public markets, a source said on Tuesday. It recently agreed to buy photo-sharing start-up Instagram for about $1 billion and said on Monday it would pay $550 million for hundreds of patents from Microsoft.
* U.S. biotech company Amgen is to buy Turkey's Mustafa Nevzat Pharmaceuticals, a maker of injectable generic drugs, for around $700 million in a deal underscoring Western drugmakers' thirst for emerging markets sales.
* Major companies announcing results include Caterpillar , Boeing, WellPoint, Eli Lilly, Harley-Davidson.
* At 1100 GMT, the Mortgage Bankers Association releases its Weekly Mortgage Market Index for the week ended April 20, versus the prior week. The index read 725.4 and the refinancing index was 3,936.3 in the previous week.
* The Commerce Department releases March durable goods orders at 1230 GMT. Economists expect a 1.7 percent drop in orders, versus a 2.4 percent rise in February.
* Watson Pharmaceuticals aims to announce an agreement to buy Actavis for around $6 billion on Wednesday, in a deal making it one of the world's biggest suppliers of generic drugs, sources familiar with the matter said this week.
* Shares in Cymer Inc were down 7.2 percent after the bell on Tuesday, Fortinet rose 3.4 percent, while Aflac Inc was up 4.8 percent following the release of their results.
* Amgen Inc posted a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Tuesday as sales of arthritis drug Enbrel grew and the biotechnology company bought back more of its shares.
* Nearly half of Mexico's state prosecuting authorities said on Tuesday they had no immediate plans to investigate allegations of corruption by the Mexican arm of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
* The Labor Department releases new seasonal factors/annual revisions to its Employment Cost Index for the last five years at 1400 GMT. In the fourth quarter, the index rose 0.4 percent.
For the latest updates on the stock market, PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market Today For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
No comments:
Post a Comment