Morning MoneyBeat Europe: Doubt Over Fed Timing Support Stocks

        By Peter Nurse
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        The Breakfast Briefing
        Global stock markets were largely upbeat Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve refrained from sending clear signals that it would raise interest rates in September, and with robust corporate earnings providing cause for greater optimism in Europe.
        Many investors globally have been forecasting that the Fed could raise interest rates as early as September. Wednesday's statement, however, also flagged concerns that inflation remains too low.
        That is making officials hesitant on the timing and inclined to raising rates very gradually after the first increase.
        In Europe, shares in Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC rose sharply after the lender reported a rise in second-quarter net profit. Shares in Royal Dutch Shell PLC rallied too after the oil major 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.
        Nokia Oyj shares topped the pan European index, surging more than 8% shortly after the market open, after reporting a better-than-expected second-quarter profit boosted by significantly higher software sales, which offset challenging market conditions.
        Read our full take on the European markets today here.
        -- Josie Cox
        Market Snapshot: At 8.00 a.m. GMT, FTSE 100 up 0.12%, CAC 40 up 0.06% and DAX up 0.06%. Nikkei finished Thursday up 1.1%. Brent crude up 0.79% at $53.80. Gold down 0.70% at $1085.60. EUR/USD down at $1.0966. Ten-year Treasury yield up at 2.30%, Bund yield lower at 0.65%, Gilt yield lower at 1.99%.
        What You May Have Missed on MoneyBeat
        Parsing the Fed: How the July Statement Changed from June : The Federal Reserve releases a statement at the conclusion of each of its policy-setting meetings, outlining the central bank's economic outlook and the actions it plans to take. Much of the statement remains the same from meeting to meeting. Fed watchers closely parse changes between statements to see how the Fed's views are evolving.
        Twitter Down on Concerns About 'Anemic' User Growth : If we had to give this one a hashtag, it'd probably be #onsecondthought. Twitter shares were down sharply, as much as 13.4% in the first minutes of trading, as investors digested the social-media company's second-quarter earnings and its weak user growth.
        The Shaky Foundation for U.S. Housing-Price Growth : Home prices have been rising at twice the rate of income growth and inflation, and something will have to give.
        5 Things to Watch in Thursday's GDP Report : The government on Thursday releases its first estimate of economic growth in the second quarter. It's expected that the economy returned to expansion after a first-quarter contraction. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal are forecasting growth at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.7%. Here's what to look for in the report.
        From The Wall Street Journal
        Shell Posts Sharp Fall in Profit, to Cut 6,500 Jobs: Royal Dutch Shell reported a sharp fall in second-quarter profit and said it would cut 6,500 jobs, illustrating the strain sustained low oil prices are putting on large producers.
        UBS Deal Shows Clinton's Complicated Ties: After Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped settle UBS's legal battle with the IRS in 2009, the Swiss bank increased donations to the Clinton Foundation.
        Facebook, Google Tighten Grip on Mobile Ads: Facebook offered fresh evidence of its allure to deep-pocketed big brands, as it and Google increasingly take the lion's share of the fast-growing mobile advertising market.
        Fed Preps Careful Path for Rate Hike: Federal Reserve officials face a conflict as they plan to start raising interest rates later this year: There has been a lot of progress in their goal for U.S. job growth, but little in their objective of modestly rising consumer prices.
        Plane Debris Consistent With Design of Missing Malaysia Jet: French investigators were trying to determine the provenance of a piece of airplane debris--said by aviation experts to be consistent with the design of the Malaysia Airlines jet that went missing more than a year ago--that washed ashore on an island near Madagascar on Wednesday.
        Chevron and Exxon Get the Plaudits, but Some Smaller Drillers Faring Well: Giant oil companies are weathering the oil slump better than the average shale driller, but even their famous stability is at times being surpassed by much smaller companies that own some of the choicest U.S. oil-and-gas fields.
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 30, 2015 04:04 ET (08:04 GMT)

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