1:00AM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European stocks closed higher, helped by Unilever and Royal Dutch Shell.
European stock markets were volatile but finished in the positive territory on Thursday, helped by better-than-expected U.S. economic data and strong profits. A court ruling on takeover target ABN Amro also contributed to the gains. Royal Dutch Shell rose 1.9% after it said that its Q1 profit rose 6% to $7.28 billion, with improving profit in its gas and power, oil products and chemicals units offsetting declining profits at its largest arm, exploration and production.

Unilever climbed 3.9% after it posted an unexpected Q1 profit. In the financial sector, ABN Amro rose 1.9% after a Dutch judge blocked the sale of its LaSalle unit to Bank of America. Shares of Barclays climbed 3%, RBS lost 0.7%, while Fortis rose 1.1%. Prudential rose 5.6%.

In other deal news, Dutch supermarket chain Ahold rose 3.2% after it agreed to sell its U.S. Foodservices business to private equity firms for $7.1 billion. The indexes touched 6 and 61/2-year highs, with the French CAC-40 breaking though 6,000 level for the first time since December 2000 ahead of the weekend''s elections. The CAC closed up 0.2% at 6,004.28, the German DAX 30 added 0.3% at 7,479.40 and the U.K. FTSE 100 rose 0.8% at 6,537.80.


11:30AM U.S. stock averages traded higher, driven by strong economic reports.
U.S. market averages traded higher, helped by upbeat economic data which managed to offset news that General Motors Q1 profit fell 90%. Optimism about the economy sent the S&P''s 500 past 1,500 for the first time since September 2000. GM (GM: chart) weighed on the Dow, falling 3.8% after its quarterly results missed forecasts. At the same time, the blue-chip average was supported by 3% increase for Verizon Communications (VZ: chart) and 1% gain in the shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM: chart), Microsoft (MSFT: chart), and Pfizer (PFE: chart).

Among the most notable movers, Hanson (HAN: chart) climbed 18%, while IPSCO (IPS: chart) rose 6% after the Swedish steel firm SSAB Svenskt Stal announced that it was buying the company for $7.7 billon. The $160 per share offer represents a 7.7% premium to IPSCO''s closing price on Wednesday. The deal needs the approval of two-thirds of the votes cast by IPSCO shareholders as well as Ontario court approval.

By sector, airlines, transportation and software stocks led advancers, while gold, biotechnology and oil services declined. In late morning trading, the Dow Jones rose 23.24, or 0.18%, to 13,235.12. The S&P 500 index rose 5.75, or 0.38%, to 1,501.67. The Nasdaq composite index rose 9.44, or 0.37%, to 2,265.28.

U.S. service sector grew at a faster rate in April.
Thursday morning, the Institute for Supply Management released its report on business activity in the service sector in the month of April. The report showed that the pace of growth in the sector accelerated more than economists had expected. The ISM said that its index of activity in the sector rose to 56.0 in April from 52.4 in March, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had been expecting a more modest increase to a reading of 53.0. The faster pace of growth in the sector was partly due to an acceleration in the pace of new orders growth, with the new orders index rising to 55.5 in April from 53.8 in March. The report also showed some improvement in pace of employment growth, as the employment index rose to 51.9 in April from 50.8 in the previous month. Prices rose at a faster pace than in the previous month, according to the report, with the prices index edging up to 63.5 in April from 63.3 in March.


9:45AM U.S. markets opened higher, boosted by productivity report.
Wall Street started trading moderately higher on Thursday, as stronger-than-expected Q1 productivity growth and a modest increase in labor costs helped generate some optimism about the outlook for interest rates. However, the upside move was limited by 3% decline for General Motors (GM: chart) amid 90% profit drop. Among other earnings-related movers, CBS (CBS: chart) added 0.6% after it said quarterly profit fell 5.9%, hurt by a tax charge selling radio stations and lower TV syndication income. At the same time, its adjusted earnings per share were slightly above analyst expectations.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO: chart) posted wider Q1 loss, weighed down by a charge associated with production of its syndicated TV program. The multimedia empire reported a loss of 23 cents per share, compared with a loss of 13 cents per share last year. Company''s stock dropped 1.7%. European largest oil company Royal Dutch Shell PLC ((RDS-B)) said its Q1 earnings rose 5.7%, despite falling oil prices and declining profit at its production and refining arms.

In corporate news, Russia''s Norilsk Nickel, the world''s largest nickel producer, offered to buy Canada''s LionOre Mining International for $4.8 billion in cash, seeking to break up Xstrata''s agreement to buy the company. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7 points at 13,218. The S&P 500 was up 1.75 points at 1,497, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6 points to 2,558.


Labor productivity rose 1.7% in Q1.
The Department of Labor released its preliminary report on productivity and labor costs in the first quarter on Thursday, showing productivity growth that exceeded economist expectations and labor cost growth that slowed substantially from the fourth quarter. The report showed that productivity in the non-farm business sector rose 1.7 percent following a revised 2.1 percent increase in the fourth quarter. Economists had expected productivity growth of 0.8 percent compared to the 1.6 percent growth originally reported for the previous quarter.

The stronger than expected productivity growth came as output increased by 1.4 percent, while hours worked decreased by 0.3 percent. In the fourth quarter output and hours increased by 2.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. The first quarter productivity growth also reflected a 2.7 percent increase in productivity in the manufacturing sector, which compares to a 1.9 percent increase in the fourth quarter.

The Labor Department added that the pace of growth in unit labor costs slowed to 0.6 percent in the first quarter from a revised 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter. The unit labor cost growth in the fourth quarter was originally reported at 6.6 percent. The increase in unit labor costs in the fourth quarter was due in large part to big bonuses paid to high-income workers.

First-time jobless claims dropped 21,000.
Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended April 28, showing that jobless claims unexpectedly fell compared to an upwardly revised reading for the previous week. The report showed that jobless claims fell to 305,000 from the previous week''s revised figure of 326,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 325,000 from the 321,000 originally reported for the week ended April 21. The Labor Department also said that the less volatile four-week moving average fell to 328,750 from the previous week''s revised average of 333,250. Additionally, the report showed that continuing claims in the week ended April 21 dropped to 2.495 million from the preceding week''s revised level of 2.588 million. The unexpected decrease in initial jobless claims may generate some optimism about the April employment report that is due to be released on Friday. Economists expect the report to show an increase of about 100,000 jobs.

9:30AM FTSE 100 rallies on strong earnings results from Unilever, Royal Dutch Shell.
The UK benchmark hit a new record on Thursday.

The FTSE 100 hit 6,530.4 in early exchanges, its highest level since 2001. By mid-day, the FTSE 100 index advanced 30.6 points to 6,515.2.

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