European Factors to Watch on Thursday, April 16

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Financial spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open 1 point lower to 2 points higher, or mostly flat, Germany's DAX .GDAXI to open 2 to 9 points lower, or down 0.1 percent, and France's CAC 40 .FCHI to open 2 to 4 points lower, or down 0.1 percent.

MAJOR EUROPEAN COMPANIES REPORTING: Diageo PLC

DGE.L

Q3 2014 Interim Management Statement Release SABMiller PLC

SAB.L

Q4 2015 Trading Update WH Smith PLC

SMWH.L

Half Year 2015 Earnings Release Persimmon PLC

PSN.L

Interim Management Statement Release Sodexo SA

EXHO.PA

Half Year 2014/2015 Earnings Release Elisa Oyj

ELI1V.HE

Q1 2015 Earnings Release Unilever PLC

ULVR.L

Q1 2015 Unilever PLC Trading Statement Release Debenhams PLC

DEB.L

Interim 2014/2015 Earnings Release Accor SA

ACCP.PA

Q1 2015 Corporate Sales Release

MAJOR U.S. COMPANIES REPORTING RESF/US : Q1 2015 Alliance Data Systems Corp (NYSE:ADS)

ADS.N Q1 2015 American Express Co (NYSE:AXP)

AXP.N Q1 2015 BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK)

BLK.N Q1 2015 Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C)

C.N Q1 2015 Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS)

GS.N Q1 2015 W W Grainger Inc (NYSE:GWW)

GWW.N Q1 2015 KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY)

KEY.N Q1 2015 Mattel Inc

MAT.O Q1 2015 People's United Financial Inc

PBCT.O Q1 2015 Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:PM)

PM.N Q1 2015 PPG Industries Inc (NYSE:PPG)

PPG.N Q1 2015 Sherwin-Williams Co (NYSE:SHW)

SHW.N Q1 2015 Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB)

SLB.N Q1 2015 UnitedHealth Group Inc (NYSE:UNH)

UNH.N

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0556 GMT:

LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500

.SPX

2,106.63

0.51 %

10.79 NIKKEI

.N225

19890.11

0.1 %

20.35 MSCI ASIA EX-JP

.MIAPJ0000PUS

515.18

1.06 %

5.38 EUR/USD

EUR=

1.0678 -0.06 % -0.0006 USD/JPY

JPY=

119.35

0.18 % 0.2200 10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR

1.905

--

0.01 10-YR BUND YLD

EU10YT=RR

0.108

--

0.00 SPOT GOLD

XAU=

$1,202.00

0.06 %

$0.70 US CRUDE

CLc1

$56.28

-0.2 %

-0.11

> GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks follow global surge, dollar defensive MKTS/GLOB

> US STOCKS-Wall St ends higher as jitters about earnings and oil recede .N

> Nikkei down as drugmakers, food firms retreat hopes .T

> TREASURIES-Bonds steady after weak data, ECB purchases boost demand US/N

> FOREX-Aussie jumps on jobs data surprise; dollar nurses losses FRX/

> PRECIOUS-Gold extends gains on softer dollar, sluggish U.S. data GOL/

> METALS-London copper prices firm as weak US data drags on dollar MET/L

> Brent crude hits 2015 highs as U.S. production slows O/R