European markets traded near the flat line at mid-day dealings, pressured by slightly rising crude-oil prices and mixed earnings reports, including declining building-materials maker Lafrage and gaining luxury retailer PPR. The German DAX 30 was unchanged, the French CAC 40 lost 0.3%, and London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%.

ENERGY, METALS, CURRENCIES

Crude-oil prices started rising ahead of U.S. data, expected to show a sharp decline in crude and product stocks. Light sweet crude gained 57 cents to $64.94 a barrel. London Brent climbed 65 cents to $63.54.

Gold advanced sharply, lifted by strong demand and inflation fears. Gold for December delivery climbed to $453.90 per troy ounce on the Nymex.Silver December contract was up 3.7 cents to $7.155.

Copper for December delivery edged up 0.3 cents to $1.65 a pound.

The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts in European trading. The euro was quoted at 1.2413, down from $1.2416. The dollar bought 110.48 yen, up from 110.06. The British pound traded at $1.8369, up from $1.8356.

EARNINGS NEWS

SWS Group, (SWS: chart) investment and financial-services holding company, expects to post 4Q net income of $5.3 million, or 30 cents a share, up from the year-ago period when the company recorded a net loss of $4.3 million, together with an $8 million charge to settle an anticipated regulatory enforcement action.

Powell Industries,(POWL: chart) manufacturer of electricity management equipment, posted 3Q net income of 19 cents a share, up vs. 7 cents in the same period last year on strong revenue growth to $66.9 million from last year's $52.8 million, beating analyst estimate of 13 cents a share.

InBev , (BE: chart) brewer, announced first-half adjusted EBITDA advanced 20.8% to 1.36 billion euros, on 6.8% revenue growth up to 5.22 billion euros. The company announced that it’s going to meet EBITDA margins of 30% by 2007, after posting adjusted EBITDA margins of 26.1% in the first half.

PPR, (PPR: chart) luxury goods retailer, reported that first-half net income climbed 12.5% to 169.6 million euros, with sales up 3.1% to 8.1 billion euros, on a strong performance at its Gucci and Bottega Veneta brands.

Havas, (HAVS: chart) French media company, announced that first-half net income rose 52% to 8 cents a share despite a sales decline of 6.4%, mainly due to changes in scope and exchange rate variations. Sales advanced 2.2% on a comparable basis.

CORPORATE NEWS

eBay Inc. is in talks to acquire Internet-telephony company Skype Technology for $2 billion to $3 billion. So far Skype has been in deal talks with other companies but none of them has proved successful.

Bear Stearns (BSC: chart) and Calpine (CPN: chart) said they have reached a deal to form an energy marketing and trading venture, which will be called CalBear Energy LP and is going to focus on physical natural gas and power trading. Trading operations are scheduled to start in 4Q, according to the companies