European markets head for mixed open after Wall Street logs another day of declines – NBC 5

This is CNBC’s live blog covering European markets.

European markets are heading for a mixed open Thursday, with sentiment tempered by declines stateside this week.

U.S. stock futures traded near the flatline on Wednesday evening after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite logged a fourth straight day of losses, with tech stocks weighing on the indexes.

Asia-Pacific markets climbed across the board Thursday, in contrast with Wall Street’s overnight losses which saw the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fall for a fourth straight day.

Oil falls more than 3% despite war risk: ‘Peace may have come to an end, but oil continues to flow’

Crude oil futures fell more than 3% Wednesday as the market dismissed the risk of a wider war between Israel and Iran that could disrupt supplies.

The West Texas Intermediate contract for May delivery lost $2.76, or 3.23%, to $82.60 a barrel. June Brent futures were down $2.87, or 3.19%, at $87.15 a barrel. U.S. oil and the global benchmark are down more than 3.5% for the week.

“Theories of Iran-Israel tension disrupting oil supplies have fizzled out,” said Manish Raj, managing director of Velandera Energy Partners. “Peace may have come to an end, but oil continues to flow,” he said.

— Spencer Kimball

Morgan Stanley, HSBC cutting Asia investment banking jobs this week: Reuters

Morgan Stanley and HSBC are cutting dozens of investment banking jobs in the Asia-Pacific region this week, according to a Reuters report.

Citing sources, Reuters said this comes as the two banks ramp up cost-cutting, with weaker deal-making and sluggish markets in China and Hong Kong weighing on business prospects.

Morgan Stanley is cutting at least 50 investment banking jobs in the region starting this week, according to the report, affecting around 13% of its Asia investment banking workforce of 400.

HSBC reportedly started layoffs on Tuesday, and around 30 dealmakers are expected to leave the company.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: Loads of analysts cut their price targets on these 10 stocks ahead of earnings

Analysts have lowered their expectations on several global stocks this week by cutting their price targets.

The price target changes come ahead of the next earnings season covering the first quarter of this year.

CNBC Pro screened for global stocks in the MSCI World index that have received price target downgrades over the past seven days and are yet to report earnings.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about the 10 stocks here.

— Ganesh Rao

European markets: Here are the opening calls

European markets are set to open mixed Thursday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 17 points higher at 7,872, Germany’s DAX up 5 points at 17,789, France’s CAC 10 points lower at 7,983 and Italy’s FTSE MIB down 8 points at 32,963, according to data from IG.

Earnings are set to come from Nokia, Easyjet and ABB. Data releases include new European car registration figures for March.

— Holly Ellyatt