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Stocks - Europe Seen Lower; Corporate Earnings in Focus

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com - European stock markets are set open lower Thursday, following a jump in the number of people affected by the coronavirus in China. However, a busy corporate earnings session is likely to divert attention.

At 02:30 ET (0730 GMT), the DAX futures contract traded 83 points, or 0.6% lower. France's CAC 40 futures were down 24 points, or 0.4%, while the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 15 points, or 0.2%. Futures on the pan-eurozone index, the Euro Stoxx 50, dropped 22 points, or 0.6%.

China's Hubei province, where the virus is believed to have originated, reported 242 new deaths late Wednesday, double the previous day's toll, and confirmed 14,840 new cases.

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The rise in the number of Hubei cases, which came as officials adopted a new methodology for counting infections, is a ninefold increase from a day earlier.

The new methodology effectively lowers the bar for classifying new infections, contributing to the spike in cases, but this dent to sentiment was enough to present a selling opportunity after several days of gains.

That said, there has been a surge in earnings reports in Europe early Thursday, and these are likely to attract most of the attention.

U.K. bank Barclays (LON:BARC) raised its dividend after a strong fourth quarter and an outlook free of the burdens of payment protection insurance, but the news was overshadowed by the announcement of a probe by the Financial Conduct Authority into the relationship between CEO Jes Staley and the late sex offender Jeffery Epstein.

Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) posted a 69% rise in annual net profit on Thursday, its best numbers since 2010, just as Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam bids farewell to the Swiss banking giant.

Food goliath Nestle (SIX:NESN) expects growth to accelerate over the next two years toward its mid-single digit organic growth target, initially set for 2020, after it hit a four-year high at 3.5% and profitability improved in 2019.

Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) swung to a net loss for the final quarter of 2019 as it booked a restructuring charge related to planned job cuts at the lender. It also lowered its dividend for the year, but these weak figures were still better than expected.

Pernod Ricard (PA:PERP) reported higher net profit and sales for the first half of its fiscal year, but the French premium spirits maker slashed its full-year guidance, saying that it expects the coronavirus outbreak to have a severe impact on its third fiscal quarter.

In some positive economic news, French unemployment fell unexpectedly in the final three months of last year to 8.1%, an 11-year low, from 8.5% in the third quarter, offering President Emmanuel Macron a boost on the economic front.

Elsewhere, the oil market was largely unchanged Thursday, after volatile trading over the last few weeks.

AT 02:00 AM ET (0730 GMT), U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% higher at $51.22 a barrel and the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.1% to $55.72. Additionally, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,576.55/oz while EUR/USD traded at 1.0876, up 0.1|%.

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