10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open

MIKE BIRD

NOV. 14, 2014, 3:30 PM

REUTERS/Daniel Dal Zennaro/Poo

Good morning! Here are the big news stories having an impact ahead of markets opening in London and Paris. 

French GDP Came In Slightly Better Than Expected.Europe’s second biggest economy registered a 0.3% expansion in the third quarter, a slightly higher figure than analysts thought.

Germany Has Avoided Recession By A Hair. The German economy grew by 0.1% in the third quarter. That’s as weak as growth gets.

Twitter Got Junked. Twitter shares fell more than 5% in afternoon trade on Thursday, giving up almost all of their gains from Wednesday, after the company received a “junk” rating from credit agency S&P.

RBS Is Exiting The US Mortgage Business. Royal Bank of Scotland Plc’s securities unit will now exit its US mortgage trading business after originally planning to shrink it by two-thirds.

US Retail Sales Are Coming. That’s the biggest data release from the US today, at 1.30 p.m. GMT. Analysts are expecting a 0.2% boost for October, after an unexpected 0.3% fall in September.

Takata Says It’s Adding Two Lines At A Mexico Plant To Meet Recall Need. Takata said on Friday it would add two new production lines at its Monclova factory in Mexico to meet replacement demand for air bag inflators at the center of a recall of millions of vehicles worldwide.

Airbus Recorded A Boost In Profit. Airbus Group reported a 12 percent rise in nine-month underlying operating profit on Friday led by its planemaking and helicopter divisions, and reaffirmed its profit forecasts for the year.

European GDP And Inflation Are Coming. At 10 a.m. GMT, we’ll get numbers for the eurozone’s GDP and inflation for Q3 and October respectively. Economists are expecting a 0.4% reading for inflation and just a 0.1% rise in GDP.

Asian Markets Are Up. Japan’s Nikkei climbed again, closing up 0.56%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is also currently up 0.13% just ahead of the close. 

David Cameron Is Warning Of More Sanctions On Russia. Russia could face further sanctions if it does not commit to resolving the conflict in Ukraine, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday, as he called Moscow’s actions “unacceptable”.