LIVE MARKETS-Early morning headline round-up

May 22 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to

you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Helen Reid. Reach her on Messenger to

share your thoughts on market moves: helen.reid.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

EARLY MORNING HEADLINE ROUND-UP (0544 GMT)

With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) results season winding down in Europe, there are fewer company updates for investors to

get their teeth into, but here is today's harvest so far, including some regulatory and M&A

news, while Swiss hearing aid maker Sonova reports earnings. Of course the dollar and oil prices

will also be ones to watch:

Sonova boosts full-year profit, helped by EMEA region

British court dismisses charges against Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) over 2008 Qatar deal

Britain unlikely to investigate Comcast (Swiss: CMCSA.SW - news) bid for Sky (Frankfurt: 893517 - news) , says minister

Carrefour (LSE: 0NPH.L - news) could close 227 DIA (EUREX: 13086668.EX - news) stores in France after June 4

Italian president hesitates as novice put forward as premier

Dialog Semiconductor (LSE: 0OLN.L - news) gets new Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) orders - Euro am Sonntag

Zurich Insurance (IOB: 0QP2.IL - news) says completes share buyback programme

Oil prices edge up on Venezuela, Iran supply worries

(Helen Reid)

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EUROPEAN STOCKS SET FOR A MUTED START AS ASIA SKIDS (0526 GMT)

Worries over a strong dollar and rising oil prices are likely to drag on European trading,

after they weighed on Asia overnight.

Italy will remain in the spotlight, after the country's president Sergio Mattarella sought

further consultations over the appointment of political novice Giuseppe Conte as prime minister

of the 5-Star and League coalition government.

"A very last minute failure cannot be rule out, in our view, but a government between 5SM

and L seems very likely at this stage," wrote Barclays analysts late yesterday. "We expect

President Mattarella to take centre stage to make sure Italy remains strongly committed to its

European and Atlantic (Shanghai: 600558.SS - news) ties," they added.

Asian shares skidded on Tuesday as a strong dollar sapped demand for emerging market assets

while surging oil prices stoked concerns about a flare-up in inflation and faster U.S. interest

rate increases.

Germany's DAX is catching up with European benchmarks after a holiday yesterday, and set for

a strong rise.

Spreadbetters call the DAX 74 points higher at 13,152, while the CAC 40 is called down 2

points at 5,636, and the FTSE 100 4 points lower at 7,855.

(Helen Reid)

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(Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Helen Reid, Kit Rees and Julien Ponthus)