LIVE MARKETS-On the radar: Siemens, ING, Safran, Cellnex

* European futures in positive territory

May 8 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters. You can share your thoughts with Thyagaraju Adinarayan (thyagaraju.adinarayan@thomsonreuters.com), Joice Alves (joice.alves@thomsonreuters.com) and Julien Ponthus (julien.ponthus@thomsonreuters.com) in London and Stefano Rebaudo (stefano.rebaudo@thomsonreuters.com) in Milan.

ON THE RADAR: SIEMENS, ING GROEP, SAFRAN, CELLNEX

A cautiously positive session is expected today amid signs of easing tensions between the U.S. and China and ahead of April U.S. unemployment numbers, which are forecast to show a rate at 16% due to the lockdown.

On the corporate front, Siemens ditched its 2020 guidance, posted an 18% drop in industrial profit and said it expected a stronger impact from the coronavirus pandemic in the weeks ahead, but shares are up 1.8% in early trade.

ING Groep first-quarter pretax earnings fell by 35.7% due to higher bad loan provisions and lower valuations.

Safran laid off 3,000 employees in Mexico as the aerospace industry faces an unprecedented crisis.

Rheinmetall expects significantly lower sales and profits this year but upheld the outlook for its defence division.

Lufthansa confirmed it was negotiating with Germany's government a 9 billion euro ($9.71 billion) bailout.

Instone Real Estate is down 2.2% in early trade after it suspended its guidance. Leonardo braces for higher virus impact in Q2, after posting a loss in Q1.

On a brighter note, Europe's largest mobile phone towers operator, Cellnex, posted a 64% rise in first-quarter core earnings and kept its positive 2020 outlook.

(Stefano Rebaudo)

MORNING CALL: POSITIVE MOOD ON U.S.-CHINA TALKS

European futures are comfortably in the black as fears of a new spat between U.S. and China faded, while stronger than expected export data from China continued to fuel hopes that an economic recovery has already started.

U.S. numbers to be released later on Friday are expected to show that the April unemployment rate jumped to 16%, due to the lockdown.

Chinese state media reports said U.S. and China trade representatives held a phone call and pledged to cooperate in carrying out the countries' Phase 1 trade deal.

The London stock exchange today is closed for a public holiday while continental Europe is open.

(Stefano Rebaudo)

(Reporting by Joice Alves, Stefano Rebaudo, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)