LONDON -- Today European stock markets are seeing the seventh consecutive day of losses, taking direction from the Asian markets after Australian payroll data came in weaker than expected overnight. Coupled with a number of downbeat corporate stories, attention is once again focused on fears surrounding economic growth. Early premarket trade has the S&P 500
Even on such a negative day, it is possible to find some individual names outperforming. Here are three American depository receipts that are set to beat the S&P today.
Nokia
The Finnish technology group is seeing a second day of gains Thursday, up more than 3.5% after yesterday's news that Nokia Siemens Networks has won a contract to deliver a wireless network on the Indian Kolkata subway worth 30 million euros.
Today's gains come despite warnings by Gartner that Chinese demand for phone handsets is falling. Gartner notes that Nokia's Chinese sales plunged 62% during the first quarter, indicative of wider sector performance.
ING Groep
The Dutch financial has been seeing some strong performance in Europe this morning, up 2% following news that Blackstone Group is leading a set of investors in a bid for ING's Asian insurance business.
Reports suggest that the investors may make a bid between 5 billion euros and 6 billion euros by July 16, when the deadline closes, and also note there are a number of rival bidders that could still make an offer.
WPP Group
WPP is bouncing back from yesterday's sell-off and climbing around 1% in London, buoyed by news that Japanese firm Dentsu would buy rival marketing group Aegis for 3.2 billion pounds, valuing the company at 50% over Wednesday's close price.
The news now offers some hopes to others in the sector, such as WPP, that the prospect for advertising and marketing may be more positive than previously thought. WPP received an upgrade from JPMorgan earlier this week due to improved outlook.
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