LONDON -- European stock markets seem to have forgotten yesterday's stimulus efforts by central banks, with shares generally trading lower as risk appetite in the continent fades. Fears surrounding the eurozone debt crisis have resurfaced after Spain's 10-year bond yields once again reached the 7% level.
Meanwhile, today's U.S. non-farm payroll numbers are again being looked at for some signs of recovery, with hopes that the consensus estimate of a 90,000 increase may be beaten. Early premarket trade has the S&P 500 (INDEX: ^GSPC ) down around 0.2%.
Despite this weakness, however, there are a number of stocks that the S&P is on track to outperform today. Here are three ADRs the index looks set to beat.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (NYSE: BBVA )
BBVA is suffering some of the deepest losses today, down around 5% after HSBC downgraded the Spanish bank's stock to "neutral" from "overweight" on general concerns surrounding the sector. The downgrade comes as 239 million of the company's new shares began trading today after their issuance earlier this week as a partial conversion of a December 2011 convertible bond.
CRH (NYSE: CRH )
The Irish cement maker is putting in a poor performance on Friday, down about 2.7% as profit-taking pressure leads to a sell-off following some decent gains yesterday. Earlier this week the company announced it had spent 250 million euros in the first half of this year on 18 acquisitions and investment initiatives, 155 million euros of which was spent in its European division.
The company's chief executive, Myles Lee, said these deal were in line with CRH's strategy of "completing acquisitions which fill out our regional and product level positions," as well as bringing about greater integration throughout the company.
SAP (NYSE: SAP )
The German technology group is losing ground today after a broader report by Berenberg Bank said that it expects information technology companies to lower earnings forecasts this year. SAP announced earlier this week that the completion of its planned $4.3 billion purchase of Ariba will probably be delayed after the U.S. Department of Justice asked for more information. SAP is down about 2.6% in European trading.
As always, this morning's European trading saw some stocks lose ground -- and perhaps provide European buying opportunities. Indeed, legendary investor Warren Buffett has recently spent more than $1 billion buying a European large-cap stock that's currently trading well below its 2012 high.
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