European stocks advance after the open; DAX up 0.59%

Investing.com – European stocks advanced after the open on Thursday, shrugging off a worse-than-expected earnings report from Credit Suisse, while U.S. futures indexes pointed to a higher open on Wall Street.

During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 was up 0.56%; France’s CAC 40 rose 0.71%; while Germany's DAX gained 0.59%.

In earnings news, shares in Switzerland’s second-largest bank Credit Suisse tumbled 3.11% after it said that revenue in the third quarter declined to CHF 6.28 billion, down from CHF 8.92 billion from a year earlier.

Elsewhere, shares in French producer and distributor of spirits and wines Pernod Ricard soared 5.24% after the company said fiscal 2011 first quarter sales rose by 14% from a year-earlier.

Meanwhile, shares in French dairy giant Danone jumped 4.84% after the company reported a rise in third quarter sales that beat analysts’ expectations. The company also lifted its sales forecast for the 2011 fiscal year.

In London, the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 added 0.65%, as miners led gains as metal prices rebounded. Shares in BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining group, rose 1.43%, rivals Rio Tinto gained 1.60%, while Xstrata saw its shares climb 1.39%.

Elsewhere in the mining sector, Anglo American saw its shares jump 2.27% after it reported that its quarterly platinum output rose by 11% as it sought to take advantage of rising prices.   
   
The outlook for U.S. equity markets, meanwhile, was upbeat ahead of earnings reports from the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment Caterpillar and internet giant Amazon. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated an increase of 0.28%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a rise of 0.30% and Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 0.45%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release key weekly data on initial jobless claims, while the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia was due to release a report on the city’s manufacturing sector.