Europe retakes on previous losses

The European markets seemed to be making back some of their recent losses in mid-afternoon trading on Tuesday.

By mid-afternoon, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.9 percent to 1,072.7. In Frankfurt, the Xetra Dax was at 4,218.70, up by 0.4 percent. In Paris, the CAC-40 was up 0.5 percent to 3,971.05.

These gains were spurred by better news from Wall Street and a positive first-quarter earnings report from Roche, a Swiss pharmaceuticals company.

On the strength of good performances from cancer and flu drugs, Roche’s first-quarter sales were up 17 percent, much better than had been expected.

More good earnings news came from Akzo Nobel, the Dutch chemicals and drug group, which reported that their first-quarter earnings had met expectations.

Positive earnings news from Texas Instruments helped the technology sector, as Infinion was up 1 percent by mid-day, STMicroelectronics rose 1.3 percent, and ASML advanced by 1.1 percent.

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