Some highlights:

Procter & Gamble reported better than expected sales in the fourth quarter of its delayed fiscal year due to increased demand for its cleaning products in the context of the global health crisis.

Comcast reported higher-than-expected sales on Thursday thanks to a sharp increase in broadband subscriptions, which helped offset the slowdown in advertising revenues.

Qualcomm was up 12% in the pre-stock market after announcing a better than expected revenue forecast for the fourth quarter and a licensing agreement with Huawei, ending a dispute between the two groups.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev: the brewer's profits declined in the second quarter, in particular due to a write-down on its African operations, which was not fully offset by the capital gain on the disposal of the Australian subsidiary.

Assicurazioni Generali: the Italian group's net profit was halved to €774 million in the first half, compared with a consensus of €824 million.

AstraZeneca: the laboratory confirmed its 2020 forecast on the sidelines of the publication of second quarter earnings per share slightly above expectations.

BAE Systems: the UK aerospace and defense group reported earnings per share slightly below expectations in the first half.

Credit Suisse: The bank's pre-tax profit rose 19% to CHF 1.6 bn. The consensus was only CHF 675 m.  It will pay the second part of its dividend, equivalent to the first distribution of CHF 0.1388 per share.

Enel: the Group has reduced its profit forecast for 2020, despite good resistance in the first half of the year.

Nestlé: the Group achieved organic growth of 2.8% in the first half. The recurring operating margin improved to 17.4%. Full year organic growth is expected to be between 2 and 3%, with an improved margin.

PayPal: Adjusted earnings per share reached $1.07 in the second quarter, compared to the consensus position of $0.87, thanks to higher than expected transaction volumes.

Royal Dutch Shell: Quarterly results were better than expected. The current quarter is expected to be more impacted by the crisis due to the lagged price adjustment of LNG contracts in particular.

Samsung: quarterly results are better than expected.

Shopify: the company's revenues nearly doubled in the previous quarter, boosted by the online shopping craze.

Standard Chartered: First-half results are higher than expected thanks to lower than expected write-downs.

Volkswagen: the German manufacturer saw its results go into the red in the first half, with a pre-tax loss of €1.4 billion. It announced a reduction in its dividend. The group has reiterated its annual projections, i.e. sales significantly lower than in 2019 and a significantly lower operating result.

In other news. In the United States, parliamentarians accuse the tech giants (Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook, Google) of abusing their dominant position to crush competition. Qualcomm blazes after the closure of Wall Street, thanks to the signing of a huge contract with Huawei, yet persona non grata in the United States. Huawei temporarily becomes the world's number one smartphone retailer, with 55.8 million devices sold in the second quarter, compared to 53.7 million for Samsung. Eastman Kodak continues its surge after the authorities provided the company with a line of financing to produce pharmaceutical ingredients to combat coronavirus.