Mixed corporate releases shake Europe

Tuesday kicked off quite agitated at the main European bourses, with the Stoxx 600 Europe 0.6 percent higher in early trade,

Germany's DAX rising 1.0 percent, the FTSE 100 adding 0.6 percent in the UK and France's CAC-40 climbed 0.3 percent.

Data compiled by Reuters show a Europe's earnings season mixed so far, with the 22 percent of companies listed on the STOXX Europe 600 index have reported quarterly results, of which 55 percent have beaten or met analysts' expectations, with profits down 3.3 percent on average.

With the majority of earnings reports so far this season missing analyst expectations, investors broadly cheered figures from the likes of Hermès. Demand for luxury goods in Japan has turned into Hermès' first-quarter results best helper. The French fashion group noted an improvement in revenue rose of 10 percent in the quarter.

In Italy, all sights were on Moncler, as the high-end ski jackets maker will present full-year results, the first after it went public.

Elsewhere, in London, Next Plc was expected to issue an interim results update.

Across the Pond, Wolverine World Wide discussed its quarterly results for the first three months of 2014. Blake Krueger, Chairman, President and CEO at the apparel retailer summed up the figures, recounting a “first quarter highlighted by better than expected earnings per share.” “I am obviously pleased with our team’s ability to outperform our bottom-line expectations given some of the challenges facing the US retail market in Q1,” he added.

Krueger summed up the figures and stressed that “As we anticipated and as we guided to in our last earnings all, revenues of 627.6 million dollars was down modestly versus the prior year. The softer top-line results were limited to a few brands in the portfolio and we'll provide further colour in a moment, along with some of the highlights from the quarter.”