MARKET WRAPS

Stocks:

European stocks rose Thursday as a flurry of earnings pushed around the shares of several blue-chip European companies.

Credit Suisse slid 3.5% after it reported a sharp decline in quarterly profit and said it lost billions from the blowup of family office Archegos due to failures of its management and controls.

Telecommunications-equipment maker Nokia surged nearly 7% after its quarterly revenue and profit beat analysts' estimates. Airbus advanced 3.3% after it lifted its guidance for full-year profit and deliveries. Danone rose 4.8% after the food company reported higher net profit in the first half of the year.

Beer making giant Anheuser-Busch InBev tumbled 6.8% after it posted earnings that came in below analysts' expectations and said it was facing headwinds from tight supply chains.

Investors were also digesting the latest communication from the Federal Reserve. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the U.S. economy had progressed and signaled that the central bank may taper bond-buying programs this year.

"The essence of the message is that they're not in a hurry," said Sebastien Galy, a macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management. "We'll likely see a relatively slow pace of tapering and one that the market can anticipate."

In Asia, most major benchmarks rose. The Chinese government sought to reassure global banks and investors about the recent volatility in markets, saying that Beijing would consider the market impact of future policies.

U.S. Markets:

Stock futures edged up ahead of fresh data on economic growth and the labor market that are expected to provide insight into the state of the recovery.

Earnings season is under way with Hershey, Comcast, Mastercard and Carlyle Group scheduled to report ahead of the opening bell. Amazon. com and T-Mobile are expected to post earnings after markets close.

"Most companies are in a pretty positive situation. They have cash, they have demand. It's something that was a bit expected already from last quarter, but we're still having positive surprises," said Ludovic Subran, chief economist at Allianz.

Facebook posted sharp growth in quarterly revenue and profit late Wednesday but shares declined 3.5% in after hours trading after the company said it expects revenue growth to slow in the second half of the year.

Popular investing platform Robinhood will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday, after pricing its IPO at $38 a share, at the bottom of its expected range.

The latest data on gross domestic product in the U.S. in the second quarter is slated to go out at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Economists are forecasting an almost 9% jump on an annualized basis. Jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, are also scheduled to go out at 8:30 a.m.

"Spending by American families has certainly skyrocketed over the past couple of months and GDP should capture that," said Mr. Subran.

Forex:

The dollar fell to its lowest in three weeks against a basket of currencies as the Fed remained cautious at Wednesday's meeting.

A message that the central bank is moving closer to scaling back asset purchases wasn't enough to lift the currency, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell said "we're not there yet" and there is "some ground to cover to get there," said Lee Hardman, currency analyst at MUFG.

"Last night's FOMC meeting failed to provide the fresh bullish trigger required to regain upward momentum [in the dollar] in the near-term," Hardman said, adding that the Fed's policy update was "largely in line with expectations."

The euro won't enjoy much of a boost from the Fed's cautious tone at Wednesday's policy meeting, ING said.

While the dollar weakened after the Fed's meeting, pushing EUR/USD higher, the euro will be the "laggard" among G10 currencies along with other low yielding currencies with "dovish" central banks including the Japanese yen and Swiss franc, ING analysts said.

"This is because the Fed will eventually be ahead of the European Central Bank in normalising policy, particularly next year when the Fed fully ends quantitative easing and starts hiking [interest rates]."

EUR/USD will struggle to "persistently and meaningfully" rise above 1.20, the analysts said.

Optimism over the recent decline in U.K. coronavirus cases could prompt speculators to rebuild bets on a stronger sterling, ING said.

"Sterling continues to reap the benefits of the slowdown in Covid-19 cases, in turn reversing the prior market concerns about another meaningful wave," ING analysts said.

There is room to rebuild sterling long positions, which expect the currency to appreciate, following a meaningful decline over the past few months, they said.

Bonds:

In bond markets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note slid to 1.249%, from 1.259% Wednesday.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell did not provide much in the way of new information that would help the markets to pin down the timing of the tapering announcement, said Brian Rose, senior economist for Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Powell also made it clear that no decisions had been made yet, and "all of this suggests a tapering announcement is not imminent," Rose said. Based on that, UBS Global Wealth Management maintains the view that the Fed will be dropping "stronger and stronger" hints in the months ahead, with December the most likely timing of the formal tapering announcement.

Commodities:

Oil prices rose after Wednesday's Energy Information Administration data mostly confirmed those of the American Petroleum Institute the previous day, said ING's Warren Patterson.

The drop in U.S. inventories revealed by both sets of data comes mostly from lower imports--specifically from Iraq--with stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma, at their lowest since last January.

Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell and TotalEnergies shares are up 3.6% and 2.6%, respectively, after both released second-quarter results. Shell's income and cash generation were well ahead of expectations, while Total investors are enthused by the company's balance between maintaining its dividend, green spending, and its core business, said RBC Capital Markets' Biraj Borkhataria.

Gold prices rose as real yields and the dollar drop following the Fed's FOMC meeting. Real yields are closely correlated with gold prices. Low yields reduce the opportunity cost for holding gold, making it a more attractive asset.

Copper prices gain, lifted by a weaker dollar and supply risks in major producer Chile. Three-month copper on the LME was up 1.5% at $9,801 a metric ton. Demand for the metal is getting a lift as the ICE Dollar Index falls to a four-week low in the wake of the Fed's policy meeting.

The potential of strike action at the world's largest copper mine added to price support. The union at the Escondida mine in Chile urged its members to strike over owner BHP's latest contract offer.

EMEA HEADLINES

Eurozone Economic Sentiment Hits All-Time High in July

Eurozone business and household confidence increased for the sixth consecutive month in July, reaching its highest level on record.

The European Commission said Thursday that its economic sentiment indicator, an aggregate measure of business and consumer confidence, rose to 119.0 in July from 117.9 in June. The indicator beat a consensus forecast from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, who expected the index to come in at 118.9.

Credit Suisse Failed to Act on Archegos Risks, Report Says

Credit Suisse Group AG said top employees failed to act on numerous warning signals before it lost billions from family office Archegos Capital Management in March.

A report released Thursday prepared by a law firm for Credit Suisse detailed how employees failed to adequately address the risk of Archegos's positions as trades repeatedly breached internal loss limits. By March, the trades had swelled to $21 billion in gross exposure.

German Jobless Claims Fell More Than Expected in July

German jobless claims fell considerably more than expected in July, the Federal Employment Agency said Thursday.

Jobless claims fell by 91,000 on the month after declining by a revised figure of 39,000 in June. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a decline of 22,500.

AstraZeneca Loses Money on Covid-19 Vaccine for Second Straight Quarter

LONDON-AstraZeneca PLC narrowed losses from its Covid-19 vaccine in the second quarter, but the shot continued to weigh on the drug giant's earnings.

The British-Swedish drugmaker pledged last year to distribute the shot at no profit during the pandemic. AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said Thursday the company and its manufacturing partners had released more than one billion doses of the vaccine for use in more than 170 countries. That included 700 million doses delivered by the end of June. The vaccine boosted second-quarter revenue by $894 million.

Nokia Raises Guidance as 2Q Earnings Beat

Nokia Corp. on Thursday posted a forecast-beating rise in second-quarter net profit and raised guidance, driven by market share gains and higher sales of its 5G network equipment.

The company's comparable net profit for the quarter rose to 532 million euros ($628.7 million) from EUR311 million a year earlier, as sales rose 4.3% to EUR5.31 billion.

Nestle 1H Profit Rose, Raises 2021 Sales Growth Guidance

Nestle SA said Thursday that net profit rose in the first half and raised its full-year organic sales growth guidance.

The Swiss food and beverage giant said net profit for the period was 5.9 billion Swiss francs ($6.48 billion), up 1.1% compared with the year-earlier period.

Diageo FY 2021 Profit, Revenue Rose Despite Unfavorable Foreign Exchange Effects

Diageo PLC on Thursday reported a rise in pretax profit for fiscal 2021 on higher net sales but warned over possible headwinds in fiscal 2022 related to unfavorable currency movements.

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

07-29-21 0614ET