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EG: Global Markets Waver as Investors Eye Earnings
 
By Josie Cox And Corrie Driebusch
Global stock markets were steady Thursday as investors focused on the latest batch of corporate earnings and digested a first reading for second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product.

European stocks rose slightly in recent trading, while U.S. stock futures hovered near the flat line. The Stoxx Europe 600 recently rose 0.6%. In the U.S. futures contracts showed the S&P 500 opening 0.3% lower. Futures don't always accurately predict moves after the opening bell.

U.S. economic output for the second quarter expanded at an annual rate of 2.3%, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected the rate of growth to be 2.7%. The government also said in the first quarter GDP, or the broadest sum of goods and services produced across the economy, grew at a 0.6% rate, an upward revision from a previously reported 0.2% contraction.

U.S. stock futures remained slightly lower after the release of GDP data.

Wednesday's U.S. Federal Reserve policy statement, in which it didn't give a clear signal on when it would raise interest rates, put data back in focus.

"The FOMC didn't produce a clear signal on when the first rate hike will be," said Craig Bishop, lead strategist of U.S. fixed-income strategies at RBC Wealth Management. "Between today's GDP number and the jobs numbers we get a week from tomorrow, that will be key to what the Fed does or doesn't do."

Many investors had expected the Fed to raise interest rates as early as September but Wednesday's statement from the central bank flagged concerns that inflation remains too low.

U.S. stocks rose Wednesday in response to the Fed statement, with both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advancing 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite closing up 0.4%. On Thursday, however, futures contracts showed the S&P 500 opening slightly lower. Futures don't always accurately predict moves after the opening bell.

In corporate news, earnings season continued to move individual stocks.

Procter & Gamble Co.'s core earnings topped consensus views but guidance was underwhelming. Shares fell 2.6% premarket.

Facebook Inc. shares fell 2.5% premarket after the social networking company posted a 39% increase in quarterly revenue but said expenses grew faster than revenue.

Shares of Whole Foods Market Inc. tumbled 14% premarket after the natural-foods grocer said sales growth slowed sharply last month.

In Europe, the earnings season was also in sharp focus.

Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC rose after the lender reported a rise in second-quarter net profit.

Shares in Royal Dutch Shell PLC rallied too. The oil company reported a sharp fall in second-quarter profit and said it would cut 6,500 jobs, illustrating the strain that sustained low oil prices are putting on large producers.

In Asia on Thursday, the Shanghai Composite closed down 2.2% after snapping a three-day losing streak on Wednesday, while the Nikkei Stock Average ended the session up 1.1%, helped by a weaker yen.

Elsewhere in currency markets, the euro edged lower against the dollar to $1.096. In debt markets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was at 2.31% compared with 2.279% on Wednesday.

In commodity markets, crude-oil futures rose 0.4% to $48.99 a barrel. Gold lost 0.7% to trade at $1,084.50 per ounce.

Write to Josie Cox at josie.cox@wsj.com and Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Source