Daily market snapshot: Tech giants post robust results

European markets opened in positive territory this morning with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 and the FTSE All-Share both up 0.8%.

This follows strong overnight results from IBM and Google. J Sainsbury's share price was down after a 10% jump yesterday on takeover speculation.US equities finished higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones up 0.5% after breaking to a new high for 2009. The S&P 500 finished up 0.4%. Oil rose above US$77, which led energy shares higher, but the banking sector fell back, despite the Q3 results from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs being ahead of forecasts. Sterling racked up its biggest one-day gain in almost a year yesterday on speculation that the Bank of England may suspend quantitative eas...