Shell earnings; Volkswagen's resilience; Central banks on hold

1. Shell earnings: Shares in Royal Dutch Shell moved higher in London after the company's first quarter profit topped analyst expectations. While net income declined slightly from the previous year to $5.4 billion, the energy giant reported strong growth in its trading and natural gas businesses.

Where U.S. stocks are heading Dow Futures   Nasdaq Futures   S&P Futures +46.00   +26.50   +7.50 +0.17%   +0.34%   +0.26%

World Markets Japan   China   U.K. Nikkei 225   Shanghai Composite   FTSE 100 -48.85   +15.84   -3.60 22,258.73   3,078.34   7,381.66 -0.22%   +0.52%   -0.05%

Biggest Winners Church & Dwight Co Inc +1.87%   General Electric Co +1.09%   Linde PLC +0.91%   Bristol-Myers Squibb Co +0.90% Biggest Losers Mosaic Co -3.18%   Qualcomm Inc -2.67%   Intuit Inc -1.57%   Ball Corp -1.14%

News: What you need to know about the markets     Shell earnings; Volkswagen's resilience; Central banks on hold By Charles Riley, CNN Business   1. Shell earnings: Shares in Royal Dutch Shell moved higher in London after the company's first quarter profit topped analyst expectations.   While net income declined slightly from the previous year to $5.4 billion, the energy giant reported strong growth in its trading and natural gas businesses.   Crude oil prices zoomed higher in the first three months of 2019, but they were still much lower on average than the same period a year ago.   That has weighed on results from rival producers including Exxon Mobil and BP, both of which reported steep profit declines for the first quarter.   2. Volkswagen's resilience: German auto giant Volkswagen delivered fewer cars in the first quarter, but a strong performance by its financial services division led to a revenue increase of 3.1%.   Profits of €3.9 billion ($4.4 billion) were in line with analyst expectations.   Volkswagen said it had set aside another €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to cover costs related to its diesel emissions scandal. It also reported lower revenue from its Porsche and Audi brands.   Yet the company stuck with its 2019 forecasts for profit and sales, which call for a slight increase in deliveries over last year. Carmakers are facing tough conditions this year including weakness in China.   Shares in Volkswagen increased 5% in Frankfurt.   3. Central banks on hold: The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its key benchmark rate unchanged despite renewed calls by President Donald Trump for lower interest rates.   Policymakers led by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell unanimously agreed to leave rates alone, sticking with the wait-and-see approach outlined earlier this year.   "We don't see a strong case for moving in either direction," Powell said at a press conference. "The committee is comfortable with our current policy stance."   The Bank of England will announce its latest policy decision on Thursday. The central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged amid continued uncertainty over the outlook for the British economy because of confusion over Brexit.   4. Global market overview: US stock futures were higher.   European markets opened in negative territory. Markets were closed in Shanghai and Tokyo, but stocks in Hong Kong advanced 0.8%.   The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.6% on Wednesday. The S&P 500 shed 0.8% and the Nasdaq declined 0.6%.   Before the Bell newsletter: Key market news. In your inbox. Subscribe now!   5. Earnings and economics: CIGNA, DowDuPont, Dunkin, Hanesbrands, Kellogg, Under Armour and Wayfair release earnings before the opening bell.   The following companies will report after the close: Activision Blizzard, CBS, Con Edison, Expedia Group, GoDaddy, Monster Beverage, Shake Shack, US Steel and US Cellular.   US data on jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Coming this week:     Thursday — Bank of England policy update; Under Armour and Dunkin' earnings; weekly jobless claims; Caixin China manufacturing PMI Friday — Jobs report; Eurozone inflation, Fiat Chrysler earnings

Key Market Stats Latest Today's Change Oil $62.92 -0.68 / -1.07% Gold $1,272.40 -11.80 / -0.92% 10-yr NaN% NaN Euro $1.12 -0.00 / -0.02%

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