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Euro stocks mixed in choppy trade
LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets were mixed on Friday morning, bouncing in and out of the red, as bullish statements from drug maker Bayer and investment bank Credit Suisse battled with a decline on Wall Street. London's FTSE 100 was little changed at 3,901.3 but Frankfurt's Xetra Dax slid 1.3 percent to 2,857.92, while the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris dipped 0.3 percent to 2,894.04. The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was down 0.4 percent. German drug maker Bayer (FBAY) rose 2.4 percent to 16.90 euros after saying it had settled 740 cases over its recalled anti-cholesterol drug Baycol out of court. It also predicted double-digit growth after a stronger first quarter. More than 8,500 cases have been filed in the U.S., the company said. (Full story) Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, soared 6.5 percent to 30.90 Swiss francs. The bank said it expects a net profit of 650 million Swiss francs ($475 million) in the first quarter after a record loss in 2002. (Full story) EADS (PEAD), which owns 80 percent commercial jet maker Airbus, climbed 4.8 percent to 8.32 euros after China agreed to buy 30 Airbus jets, striking another blow for rival Boeing. (Full story) The AEX index in Amsterdam fell 1 percent and Milan's MIB30 index dipped 0.2 percent, while the SMI in Zurich was little changed. Europe and the U.S. has been up during the past few days, buoyed by a good bunch of earnings that matched or topped forecasts. But sentiment has been tampered by strategists who said companies' bottom lines had been improved through harsh restructuring measures, and not necessarily rising sales, Reuters said. More improvements in economic and corporate fundamentals were needed before a sustainable market rally was possible, it added. In the U.S. on Thursday, stocks closed the day down, ending a two-day winning streak, as investors caved in to some mixed corporate profit reports, worse-than-expected jobless data and company profits. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.9 percent, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.6 percent. The S&P 500 index ended the day 0.8 percent lower. Wall Street was expected to open slightly higher Friday.
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