Europe eyes solid start as oil profits continue to roll in

EUROPE EYES SOLID START AS OIL PROFITS CONTINUE TO ROLL IN (0740 GMT)

European stocks are set for a solid start with March futures contracts FESX1! up 0.8%, wiping out Tuesday's losses and then some.

Some blockbuster earnings are rolling in from France. Oil major TotalEnergies TTE posted a record adjusted net profit continuing a spate of positive earnings for the sector, which also includes the latest from Norway's Equinor 02NG.

Meanwhile France's third biggest bank Societe Generale GLE posted higher-than-expected profit in the fourth quarter, and another bank - Italian state-owned Monte dei Paschi di Siena BMPS - has also outdone expectations with its larger-than-expected quarterly profit.

In a speech on Tuesday, Fed chair Jerome Powell, while acknowledging that interest rates may need to move higher, still struck a less hawkish tone than had been feared which sent stocks higher on Wall Street overnight and on Wednesday in Asia and weighed on the dollar.

A warning signal came from the UK's largest housebuilder Barratt Developments Plc BDEV, after it flagged persisting market uncertainty as high mortgage rates weigh on demand and a sharp fall in house prices dent margins.

(Lucy Raitano)

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