European markets steady as investors weigh earnings

European stocks were steady on Thursday as investors waded through a host of first-quarter corporate earnings while US futures rose ahead of data on the performance of the US economy.

Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 was up 0.2 per cent, the FTSE 100 was flat and France’s CAC 40 index rose 0.4 per cent.

Shares of consumer goods giant Unilever rose 1.5 per cent after it reported record first-quarter revenue of €14.8bn, owing to high inflation making shoppers pay more for the company’s products.

Contracts tracking Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.5 per cent, while those tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were up 0.8 per cent ahead of the New York open.

The moves come as corporate earnings at some of the world’s largest technology companies have held up, even though US interest rates have continued to climb, propping up the wider market. Facebook parent Meta reported strong sales growth in the US, pushing shares up 11 per cent in pre-market trading.

US investors will also be looking ahead to the announcement of first-quarter gross domestic product growth, which is expected to come in at 2 per cent, down from previous forecasts of 2.6 per cent. Separate data is set to point to a rise in unemployment.

US government bonds steadied, with the yield on interest rate-sensitive two-year Treasuries rising 0.05 percentage points to 3.98 per cent. Yields move inversely to prices.

First Republic shares slid for a third day on Wednesday, shedding almost 30 per cent after regulators and big banks held back from stepping in to help the San Francisco-based lender. Its shares plummeted this week after the bank revealed customers withdrew $100bn of deposits during March’s banking turmoil.

The US dollar index weakened 0.12 per cent against a basket of six other currencies, eating into some of the greenback’s gains in the previous session.

Asian stocks rose, with China’s CSI 300 index up 0.7 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gaining 0.4 per cent.