Johnson Matthey Share News (JMAT)

Markets closer firmly in negative territory on Thursday after corporate earnings came in mixed, but the FTSE 100 finished well off its intraday lows following a surge from Shire and upbeat economic data in the States.London's benchmark index finished 32 points lower at 6,588.Investors gave a pretty muted reaction to UK growth figures this morning, which showed that the economic recovery gained pace as expected in the second quarter.Instead, markets were preoccupied with mixed results and trading updates from a raft of heavyweight stocks, including Rolls-Royce, Reed Elsevier, Capita, SABMiller and Unilever, to name a few. An upgrade to full-year profit guidance from pharmaceuticals firm Shire this afternoon helped trim losses on the Footsie by the close.Sentiment was also boosted late on by a relatively stable US jobless claims figure for last week - claims rose marginally to 343,000 - and a massive 4.2% jump in American durable goods orders in June, well ahead of the 1.4% increase expected due to a big hike in commercial aircraft and defence orders.UK recovery gathering paceThe initial UK gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate for the second quarter of the year was bang in line with forecasts, with growth accelerating from 0.3% in the first three months to 0.6%."While the Government and policymakers will declare this first estimate of second-quarter GDP as a major step forward, deep down the markets will be disappointed by the rate of growth," said Marcus Bullus, Trading Director at MB Capital."0.6% is double what we had in the previous quarter but it still shows that the recovery is meek, not mind-blowing," he said.FTSE 100: Markets react to barrage of earningsShire reported better-than-forecast second-quarter results on Thursday afternoon as it lifted its full-year profit guidance ahead of previous estimates. The company now expected to deliver "double-digit" earnings growth this year, better than its initial guidance of 9.3%.Rolls-Royce Holdings rose strongly after reporting a 34% jump in pre-tax profits to £840m for the first half as the engine maker secured more orders. Reed Elsevier also impressed with strong growth from its key academic publishing and legal solutions businesses as margins continued their upward trend.Heading the other way was outsourcing giant Capita after it saw margins shrink in the first half despite the booming market for its services. Consumer products giant Unilever also fell after admitting in its interim results that the economic environment remains tough and growth in the emerging markets is starting to slow.Telecoms titan BT scored a solid rise in underlying profit but recorded a slight pullback in revenue in the first quarter, causing the stock to take a hit today.Chemicals firm Johnson Matthey was under the weather after saying that its performance in the second quarter will be lower than the first due to planned summer shutdowns in the auto industry.Meanwhile, engineering firm GKN was falling sharply this afternoon on rumours of a bid for US-listed Sprint Aerospace "and concerns that they may overpay for the acquisition", according to Ronnie Chopra, Head of Strategy at Tradenext.Chip designer ARM Holdings was extending losses made yesterday after its interim results, as analysts at Sanford C Bernstein said that the stock's valuation could fall in the second half.Mining stocks were dampened by falling metals prices, with Fresnillo, Anglo American and Glencore Xstrata among the worst performers.FTSE 100 - RisersShire Plc (SHP) 2,339.00p +5.50%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,240.00p +5.08%Reed Elsevier (REL) 834.50p +4.18%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 850.00p +1.43%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,034.00p +1.27%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,762.00p +1.15%United Utilities Group (UU.) 717.50p +0.99%easyJet (EZJ) 1,396.00p +0.79%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,189.00p +0.76%Barclays (BARC) 322.50p +0.61%FTSE 100 - FallersGKN (GKN) 326.80p -4.19%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,025.00p -4.12%Capita (CPI) 996.50p -3.91%Anglo American (AAL) 1,389.00p -3.41%ARM Holdings (ARM) 859.00p -3.32%Wolseley (WOS) 3,144.00p -2.87%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 968.00p -2.81%SABMiller (SAB) 3,160.00p -2.47%British Land Co (BLND) 597.00p -2.37%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,086.00p -2.30%FTSE 250 - RisersHowden Joinery Group (HWDN) 288.50p +4.72%Lancashire Holdings (LRE) 816.00p +4.21%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,866.00p +3.96%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 190.50p +2.92%Halma (HLMA) 536.50p +2.68%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 580.00p +2.47%Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 767.00p +2.27%Ladbrokes (LAD) 210.00p +1.89%Ocado Group (OCDO) 325.90p +1.84%Chemring Group (CHG) 305.00p +1.57%FTSE 250 - FallersKazakhmys (KAZ) 263.30p -6.30%COLT Group SA (COLT) 101.00p -6.13%AZ Electronic Materials SA (DI) (AZEM) 307.50p -5.85%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 165.00p -5.66%Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 535.00p -4.04%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 166.00p -3.94%Diploma (DPLM) 575.00p -3.36%Homeserve (HSV) 275.00p -3.31%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 413.00p -3.23%Evraz (EVR) 102.70p -3.02%BC