[MARKET ANALYSIS] Bourses choppy, BP/ LN bottom line jumps, healthcare hit by Novartis and Bayer - earnings ahead

European bourses (STOXX 600 U/C) spent most of the European morning a touch lower after several geopolitical updates spurred energy benchmarks higher on the day. On the geopolitical front this morning, journalist Mallick said Iran’s Foreign Minister was not returning to Pakistan following his Russia visit - a post which soured the risk tone.
Sectors opened mixed, and continue this way. Energy tops the pile amid BP's stellar Q1 results (see below), while healthcare sits at the bottom amid losses in the sector's second-largest constituent Novartis, alongside Bayer and Gerresheimer.

Key European movers include:

BAYN GY -3.0%: The US Supreme Court appeared divided over whether Bayer can be sued for failing to warn that its Roundup weedkiller may cause cancer
BARC LN -3.0%: Beat on Q1 metrics, but set aside GBP 228mln provision due to the failure of MFS.
NOVN SW -3.0%: Missed on top- and bottom-line, whilst re-affirming guidance.
AI FP -3.0%: Softer than expected headline metrics. Affirmed guidance.
BP/ LN +2.7%: Strong EPS whilst Revenue was short of expectations.
WPP LN +0.4%: Affirmed outlook, Q1 revenue less pass-through costs of GBP 2.26bln (exp. 2.23bln), down 6.7% LFL
GXI GY -4.5%: downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays

Stateside, indices are mixed, though not far from unchanged. NQ (-0.3%) underperforms on tech weakness after a WSJ article said OpenAI recently missed internal targets for new users and revenue. Its CFO was also said to have told employees the co. may be unable to pay for future computing contracts if revenue does not grow fast enough. Elsewhere, WSJ also reported Meta was preparing to potentially unwind its USD 2.5bln acquisition of Manus after China banned the transaction on national-security grounds.
The US day sees earnings updates from Visa (V), Coca-Cola (KO), T-Mobile (TMUS), Corning (GLW), Booking Holdings (BKNG), Welltower (WELL), S&P Global (SPGI), Seagate Technology (STX), Starbucks (SBUX), Spotify (SPOT), Waste Management (WM), UPS (UPS, alongside ADP Employment Change Weekly and CB Consumer Confidence (Apr).