By Investors Hub
European stocks are modestly higher on Friday as a slew of upbeat earnings reports and the dollar’s gains on increased optimism about the prospects for US tax reform helped investors shrug off renewed political uncertainty in Spain.
While the French CAC 40 Index has edged up by 0.1 percent, the UK’s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 0.2 percent.
Spain’s IBEX was marginally lower in choppy trading ahead of a special cabinet meeting Saturday that could trigger process to take control of Catalonia’s powers.
Ericsson shares have soared in Stockholm after the Swedish telecom equipment maker posted a wider than expected third quarter loss on higher charges and weak sales but said it sees positive effects on gross margin in 2018.
Volvo has also jumped after it reported a bigger than expected increase in quarterly core earnings and raised its outlook for truck markets on both sides of the Atlantic this year.
Software AG shares have rallied after the German software company confirmed its recently raised forecast after reporting an increase in third quarter EBIT on an IFRS basis.
Meanwhile, gold miner Acacia Mining has come under pressure after reporting lower production and earnings for the third quarter.
German retailer Metro has also moved to the downside after reporting muted growth in like-for-like sales for the fourth quarter.
In economic news, the euro area current account surplus rose to the highest level in more than a year in August, the European Central Bank said.
The current account surplus rose to 33.3 billion euros in August from 31.5 billion euros in July. This was the highest since May 2016.
The sterling was little changed after data showed the UK public sector deficit fell almost 11 percent in September compared with the corresponding period last year.
