By Peter Nurse
European stock markets traded slightly lower Wednesday amid weak economic data, while better than expected earnings helped the U.K. to outperform.
At 4:35 AM ET (0835 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 0.1% lower, France's CAC 40 fell 0.2%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index traded up 0.7%.
German factory orders slumped 15.6% in March to their lowest level since records began in 1991, while IHS Markit's final Composite Purchasing Managers' Index for the euro zone, seen as a good indicator of economic health, plummeted to 13.6 in April from March's already dire 29.7, easily its lowest reading since the survey began in 1998.
On a busy day for corporate news, BMW (DE:BMWG) stock fell 3% despite reporting a 133% rise in first-quarter profit. That was mainly due to a one-off provision in the year-earlier period. The German automaker offered up downbeat guidance, saying the impact of the coronavirus could erode demand and profit over the whole year.
Norwegian Air Shuttle (OL:NWC) slumped 11% after saying it would sell new shares at a 79% discount to the latest traded price as it seeks to boost its equity in order to qualify for Norway's government aid package.
Italian bank UniCredit (MI:CRDI) eked out a 1.0% gain despite posting a 2.7 billion-euro loss on soaring provisions.
By contrast, shares in ITV (LON:ITV), Britain's biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, rose over 4% despite saying ad revenue last month fell by 42%, while withdrawing its 2019 final dividend. Investors had worried that the figures could have been worse.
Ocado (LON:OCDO) stock rose 2% after the British online supermarket said retail revenue soared 40% year-on-year in its second quarter to date as shoppers in coronavirus lockdown sought deliveries to avoid venturing out. And pharma company AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) rose 1.4% to another all-time high after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its Farxiga drug for treating heart conditions.
The countdown to Friday’s historic employment report begins Wednesday with a measure of April’s private sector job situation.
ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) issues its payrolls report at 8:15 AM ET (1215 GMT), the first full measure of a month the country spent on lockdown restrictions. Economists expect that private-sector payrolls plunged by 20.05 million, according to forecasts compiled by .
Oil futures edged higher Wednesday, helped by the American Petroleum Institute saying late Tuesday that its measure of inventories for the week ended May 1 rose by 8.4 million barrels, compared with a rise of 10 million barrels the week before.
The Energy Information Administration will post its figures for crude stockpiles for the week ended May 1 at 10:30 AM ET (14:30 GMT).
At 4:35 AM ET, U.S. crude June futures traded 3.3% higher at $25.36 a barrel. The international benchmark Brent contract rose 2.5% to $31.74.
Elsewhere, Gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,708.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded at 1.0801, down 0.4%.
