Europe midday: Investors look past earnings out of Netflix, Tesla

(Sharecast News) - European stocks edged higher in early trade on Thursday, despite an initially poor reaction to the latest earnings from US heavyweights Tesla and Netflix. At 1148 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 index was edging up 0.27% to 463.22, alongside similar-siez gains for most of the other main regional indices.

Spain's Ibex 35 outperformed, climbing 0.72% to 9,520.60.

Of Tesla, Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that investors were disappointed by the lack of detail surrounding the production of Tesla's much-heralded Cybertruck.

Netflix's second quarter revenues meanwhile fell short of analysts' estimates.

In European equity markets, Publicis rallied as the French advertising giant upgraded its 2023 guidance despite "persistent macro uncertainties".

Hikma Pharmaceuticals surged, with traders pointing to news that a major Pfizer injectables plant in North Carolina was hit by a tornado and heavily damaged on Wednesday. Traders said that, according to Bloomberg TV, the production that will be lost from the Pfizer plant can likely be replaced by Hikma, which produces the same injectables.

Elsewhere, shares of Swedish health and hygiene products group Essity slumped after its second-quarter core earnings missed expectations.

Budget airline easyJet flew lower despite saying it swung to a pre-tax profit in the third quarter amid strong passenger demand, and that it expects to post record profit for the fourth quarter.

On the economic side of things, Eurostat reported a rebound in the euro area's current account surplus from €3.8bn for April to €9.1bn in May.

INSEE reported an unchanged reading for its July manufacturing confidence index of 100 points, although June's print was revised lower.