European shares closed higher following some better-than-expected earnings reports, and upbeat manufacturing data from German.
LONDON, May 7- HSBC reported a near doubling in first quarter earnings on Tuesday, demonstrating the benefits of a three-year restructuring, cost cuts and a big drop in bad debt charges.
Shares in Commerzbank, Societe Generale, Natixis. Commerzbank is up 3.4 percent, SocGen up 4.2 percent, Natixis up 1.8 percent and Credit Agricole up 0.9 percent, outperforming the euro zone's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 index which is flat.
France's No. 2 listed bank is to cut 900 million euros in costs over the next three years after a weak domestic economy and one-off charges halved quarterly earnings.
*HSBC, SocGen, Credit Agricole, Commerzbank report Q1. *HSBC profit seen up 87 pct to $8.1 bln. LONDON/ PARIS, May 7- HSBC is expected to almost double first quarter profits to about $8 billion on Tuesday helped by a fall in costs and bad debts and showing the benefits of a three-year restructuring that is nearly complete.
ADECCO SA Q1 ALSTOM SA FINAL CREDIT AGRICOLE SA Q1 CARLSBERG A/S Q1 COMMERZBANK AG Q1 ENDESA SA Q1 ENEL SPA Q1 EUTELSAT COMMUNICATIONS SA Q3 SALES GAS NATURAL SDG SA Q1 GJENSIDIGE FORSIKRING ASA Q1 HANNOVER RUECK SE Q1 HSBC HOLDINGS PLC Q1 TRADE LAFARGE SA Q1 LEGRAND SA Q1 LUNDIN PETROLEUM AB Q1 MUNICH RE Q1 SKANSKA AB Q1 SOCIETE GENERALE Q1 MAJOR U.S.
LONDON, May 1- French bank Credit Agricole. cleared the final hurdle to exit the British gas market when energy regulator Ofgem on Wednesday approved the bank's request to cancel its UK gas trading licence. Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley are all winding down trading activity.
Peugeot and U.S. peer General Motors GM.N are studying an alliance to market vans outside of Europe that would allow the French car maker to boost sales volumes and reap royalty revenues, according to Les Echos newspaper. FRANCE TELECOM France's industry minister said he had blocked Yahoo Inc's. Dailymotion is owned by France Telecom.
ATHENS, May 1- Greece's third-biggest lender, Alpha Bank, said on Wednesday it found enough investors to back its recapitalisation plan, thus avoiding falling under state control as part of the country's international bailout.
LONDON, May 1- French bank Credit Agricole. The so-called gas shipper licence, needed by anyone who trades gas in Britain, will become invalid on May 30, Ofgem added. Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and Morgan Stanley are all winding down trading activity.
European shares finished lower Monday, after comments from the head of the Eurogroup who said a Cyprus bailout deal could be a new template for resolving euro zone banking problems.
U.S. stock index futures briefly dipped Wednesday following a weaker-than-expected housing starts report, but rebounded into positive territory ahead of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting and a day after all three major averages closed at fresh multi-year highs,