In Europe, the stock markets opened on Thursday with a mixed performance. The Euro Stoxx 600 general index was down 0.3 percent at the time of review, while London’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.5 percent and Germany’s DAX index was down 0.4 percent. Stockholm’s OMXS30 index also saw a decline of 0.3 percent.
Thursday marked a significant day for several large European companies, including Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Nestle, and Airbus, as they prepared to release their earnings reports. Deutsche Bank reported a profit increase to 1.275 billion euros in the first quarter, which was a 10 percent rise compared to the previous year. Analysts had predicted a result of 1.23 billion euros, but Deutsche Bank managed to exceed expectations with its net sales also rising by 1 percent year-on-year to 7.8 billion euros, close to the forecast of 7.73 billion euros.
Barclays also surprised analysts with its first-quarter profit fall to £1.55 billion pounds, down from £1.78 billion pounds last year