Last checked at 
* European futures in positive territory
* Crude oil prices jump
* Big Q1 earnings day
Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters
stocks reporters. You can share your thoughts with Thyagaraju Adinarayan
(thyagaraju.adinarayan@thomsonreuters.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com) and
Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London and Stefano Rebaudo
(stefano.rebaudo@thomsonreuters.com) in Milan.
ON THE RADAR: VOLKSWAGEN, DAIMLER, AIRLINERS (0640 GMT)
Futures on European bourses are hovering just above the floating line as the market is set
to pause for breather after a two-day rally.
On the corporate front, expectations for the third quarter results continue to deteriorate,
according to Refinitiv data, but there's some good news coming from German carmakers despite the
coronavirus crisis.
Volkswagen expects to be profitable on a full-year basis even after the plunge in
first-quarter earnings. Daimler sees the operating profit of its
Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans division to be above the prior-year level.
Shares in AMS are up 5.4% in premarket trade after the company said expectations on
coronavirus impact on Q2 are limited.
Provisions against bad loans continue to affect bank results.
Barclays says 2020 target of above 9% Rote remains difficult, after posting a falling Q1
profit. Deutsche Bank swung to a loss in the first quarter. Standard Chartered PLC
first-quarter profit tumbled 12%. Bankia first quarter net profit fell 54%. Nordea
Bank reported a 16% fall in its first-quarter operating profit.
Airliners are in trouble.
Aerospace company Airbus called the coronavirus crisis the "gravest the aerospace
industry has ever known", after posting a 49% slump in first-quarter adjusted operating profit.
British Airways-owner IAG reported a big loss and warned it may cut up to 12,000
jobs in sweeping restructuring measures aimed at weathering the crisis.
Lufthansa's Austrian unit AUA has applied for state aid of 767 million euro. The
parent company is mulling over seeking some form of credit protection from creditors, while it
is talking to the government about a 9 billion euros rescue package.
Spanish airport operator Aena said that traffic in its domestic network plummeted more than
95% in April, following a 59.3% fall in March.
Traffic down also on motorways. Atlantia cut its expected revenue by around 3 billion euros.
Covestro quarterly profit fell by 89%, hurt by weak demand in China.
Norsk Hydro reported a jump in first-quarter operating profit, but cautioned that
the COVID-19 outbreak is hitting global demand for the metal.
Not all the food industry is strong. Carrefour saw revenue growth accelerating in the first
quarter, reflecting strong food sales in March. Remy Cointreau warned it expected sales to fall
by around 50-55% in the first quarter.
(Stefano Rebaudo)
*****
MORNING CALL: SENTIMENT STILL POSITIVE ON LOCKDOWN EASING (0537 GMT)
Futures are slightly higher as sentiment is still positive but European equities seem set to
pause for a breather after a two-day rally fuelled by the prospect of lockdowns being gradually
eased across the continent.
Expectations of massive stimulus from governments and central banks coupled with a better
outlook about the pandemic are propping up the market.
Wall Street and Europe’s volatility indexes are comfortably below 40, as in
March 2009, when the last bull market began, after the global financial crisis.
Crude futures jumped on expectations of a demand increase and after U.S. inventories grew
less than expected in the week to April 24.
(Stefano Rebaudo)
*****
(Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan, Joice Alves, Julien Ponthus in London and Stefano Rebaudo
in Milan)
