Europe stocks fall at open; EasyJet shares down 3% after earnings

It's ten minutes after the opening bell, and European markets are trading in negative territory.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index is 0.5% lower, with almost every sector in the red.

Looking at regional bourses, the German DAX and French CAC 40 are both down by around 0.5%, while London's FTSE 100 has shed 0.4%.

— Chloe Taylor

EasyJet reported a loss for the first six months of the year, but said current bookings indicate it will meet expectations for full-year profit.

The airline said it made a pre-tax loss of £394 million ($529 million) for the first half of the year, compared with a £350 million loss for the same period in 2024.

The company's shares were down 3% at 08:10 a.m. London time, shortly after the market open.

CEO Kenton Jarvis described the first half — normally a quieter period for airlines — as an "interesting time."

"In the first half, we have two quarters. The first quarter is the October through to December, and in that quarter, we actually performed very well," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Thursday.

"Now in the second quarter, where we did make a slightly larger loss, that's the period where airlines ramp up ... In this quarter, we made important capacity investments and flew further, which helped drive productivity, and that helped reduce our unit costs during the half. But the routes themselves will need a little time to mature, and therefore needed some revenue stimulation."

Jarvis also cited capacity strains affecting all airlines — as both Airbus and Boeing fail to meet their original aircraft delivery schedules — but stressed that "demand is there."

EasyJet said that current bookings mean it was confident it will meet forecasts and report a profit for this financial year.

"Demand looks good for the summer. As you said, our book position for both our third quarter, which ends in June, and our fourth quarter, which ends in September, are ahead of where they were this time last year," Jarvis said.

"We're also seeing very positive bookings in our holidays division, where we're expecting something like 25% passenger growth year-on-year. So demand is looking good for the summer at the moment, and supply is relatively constrained."

EasyJet

The budget airliner is expected to release its second quarter results this morning and analysts are looking forward to commentary on the busy summer holiday season ahead.

Analyst from Bank of America said they are expecting "available seat kilometers" — a metric measuring airline capacity — to increase by 13%, compared to last year. Looking back, the analyst expects the airline to report an 86% load factor capacity for the second quarter.

"Shares trade at 7x [financial year 2025 price-to-earnings], below their 11x historical average, which we see as unjustified, given solid earnings prospect and strong balance sheet," said BofA analysts led by Muneeba Kayani in a note to clients.

Deutsche Bank analysts downgraded British telecom group BT shares weeks ahead of its fourth quarter results, citing the 17% rally in its share price this year.

BT shares "have proven even more defensive than peers at a time of trade war confusion, a weak economy and GBP strength, despite Openreach line losses," said Deutsche Bank's Robert Grindle in a note to clients that downgraded the stock to a "Sell" rating.

Analysts at UBS expect the most upside for British Land following its fourth quarter results, compared to its peers, Great Portland Estates and Land Securities.

"This ultimately stems from the continued strong performance we've seen from the retail warehouse sector, and our expectation that their City office exposure will likely produce a strong beat on the underlying market benchmark numbers," said UBS analyst Zachary Gauge in a note to clients on May 15.

 — Ganesh Rao

Good morning from London and welcome to CNBC's live blog covering the latest action in European markets as well as business news, analysis, earnings and data.

Here are the opening calls on Thursday:

European markets are expected to open lower, with London's FTSE seen opening down 43 points at 8,739, Germany's DAX 135 points lower at 23,984, the French CAC 40 down 48 points at 7,865 and Italy's FTSE MIB down 251 points at 40,331, according to data from IG.

— Holly Ellyatt

There are a couple of big earnings reports and data releases to look out for on Thursday:

Earnings are set to come from EasyJet, BT, British Land and Tate and Lyle on Thursday. Preliminary purchasing managers' index data will be released for France and the U.K.

CNBC will also be bringing you interviews from the Barclays leadership conference, focusing on energy, geopolitics and sector-specific challenges.

— Holly Ellyatt

European markets are expected to follow their global counterparts lower on Thursday as concerns grow over the U.S.' deepening budget deficit.

Asia-Pacific markets fell overnight, tracking declines on Wall Street as investor sentiment soured on fears that a new U.S. budget bill could substantially add to the country's debt.

U.S. stock futures were flat in overnight trading after markets stateside saw a sizable sell-off Wednesday as worries about a ballooning deficit deepened.

In regular trading, the blue-chip Dow slid more than 800 points, while the S&P 500 finished the day 1.6% lower. Equities were pressured by a sharp spike in Treasury yields amid concerns that a new U.S. budget bill would put even more stress on the country's already large deficit.

The rocky negotiations on Capitol Hill over tax and federal budget changes have become a fresh worry for investors after tariff headlines subsided.

— Holly Ellyatt, Yun Li, Lee Ying Shan