LIVE MARKETS-What you need to know before the open

(Corrects STOXX 600 winning streak (longest winning streak in over 3 years, not 2))

* European stocks futures gain

* Asian shares rise, Wall St ends in positive territory

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity

markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Kit Rees. Reach her on

Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: kit.rees.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

CORRECTED-WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE THE OPEN (0647 GMT)

Friday might see a calmer end to a busy week but the STOXX 600 is set for its seventh week

of gains in a row – its longest winning streak in over three years.

Also of note is that European stocks have very nearly recovered all of their losses from

February’s volatility shock as we head back to levels last seen at the end of January.

As the Q1 earnings season winds down, it’s not been bad in Europe – not as good as the U.S.,

but good enough to keep shares bobbing along. Blended Q1 yoy earnings growth is coming in at 16

percent for MSCI EMU (in dollar terms), compared with 26 percent for the S&P 500, according to

Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Today’s focus in that space will be Italian banks following updates from Mediobanca (Milan: MB.MI - news) , Monte

Paschi (Milan: BMPS.MI - news) and UBI Banca (Amsterdam: UF8.AS - news) . Despite recent weakness on political jitters, the Italian banking sector

has seen a strong 2018 so far, up more than 13 percent.

And finally the M&A train steams along in the UK with Silver Lake agreeing to buy ZPG

, which owns property websites Zoopla and Primelocation, for $3 billion – we’ll be

watching for readacross to other British property stocks.

(Kit Rees)

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FUTURES RISE AS STOXX CLOSES IN ON 7TH WEEK OF GAINS (0624 GMT)

European stock futures have opened modestly higher, as the STOXX 600 heads for its seventh

week of gains - its longest winning streak since March 2015. For the FTSE 100, seven weeks will

be its longest weekly winning streak in more than 10 years.

Certainly seems like sentiment among equity investors is improving in Europe.

In further company news, UBI Banca joins the flurry of Italian banks reporting

earnings, and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) reports its Galathea phase III trial for pulmonary disease drug

Fasenra "did not meet its primary endpoint".

(Helen Reid

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EUROPEAN STOCKS EARLY HEADLINE ROUND-UP (0600 GMT)

In terms of earnings, today is set to be a calmer day, though early on we've had traffic

figures from Air France-KLM (LSE: 0LN7.L - news) and a Q1 update from Portugal's EDP, while it looks like a legal

dispute between Saint-Gobain and Sika (IOB: 0QMA.IL - news) has come to an end.

We've also had some figures out from a number of Italian banks, so these will be watched

with interest given the positive reaction to UniCredit (EUREX: DE000A163206.EX - news) 's numbers yesterday and the chunky gains

the sector has seen this year.

Here's a round-up of the early company headlines so far:

Portugal's EDP profit falls on regulatory pressure, forex

Air France-KLM suffers fall in April traffic numbers, blames French strikes

Italy's Mediobanca beats forecasts with Q3 net profit

Monte dei Paschi swings to Q1 net profit of 188 mln euros

ArcelorMittal (LSE: 0NSF.L - news) beats Q1 estimate, bullish on full year

Saint-Gobain to take stake in Sika as construction groups end dispute

(Kit Rees)

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MORNING CALL: EUROPEAN SHARES SEEN OPENING HIGHER (0525 GMT)

Good morning. European stocks are seen rising this morning, according to financial

spreadbetters, following on from a broadly positive session in Asia with equities supported by

easing worries over inflation.

Likewise continued efforts between the U.S. and North Korea to calm geopolitical tensions

have also been well-received by the market. Wall Street closed higher, with Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) heading

towards a $1 trillion stock market value.

In Europe, spreadbetters expect Britain's FTSE to open 14 points higher, Germany's DAX to

gain 19 points and France's CAC to dip 9 points. And the STOXX 600 is on track for its seventh

week of gains in a row!

(Kit Rees)

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