Europe midday: Markets rise on M&S profit hopes

The pan-European Stoxx was up 0.04% up 0.19% with major regional bourse mixed.

US Federal Reserve officials reaffirmed a dovish monetary policy stance, while European Central Bank board member Fabio Panetta said the ECB should not reduce the pace of asset purchases from next month.

“Fed speakers stuck to the script, saying they’ll look through transitory inflation spikes, but vice-chair Richard Clarida underscored a change in the tune we have seen since the April meeting minutes were released by saying that the central bank could start tapering in the coming months,” said Neil Wilson at Markets.com.

“So, we have the Fed carefully guiding markets – ‘don't worry about inflation but at the same time we are going to be exiting full emergency mode’. This offers a bit of a muddy picture for the market that’s reflected in the price action showing no real conviction.”

UK retailer Marks & Spencer jumped more than 6% despite reporting a slump in full-year profit as the Covid pandemic hammered clothing sales. The company said it planned to close 30 stores and expected a return to profitability this year.

Shares in British Land fell as the company's annual profit fell by more than one-third and the value of its properties dropped by more than 10% as the Covid-19 crisis took its toll on the commercial landlord.

Underlying profit for the year to the end of March dropped 34.3% to £201m as British Land made provisions for non-payment of rent. British Land said it collected 83% of rent due for the year comprising 99% of office rent and 71% of retail

French food company Danone slipped 1.6% after a downgrade to ‘sell’ by Berenberg.

Inspection, product testing and certification group Intertek was down despite posting year-to-date like-for-like revenue growth of 2.7% and saying it was on track to deliver its 2021 revenue targets.