European shares mixed, defence stocks take a breather

• STOXX 600 up 0.1%
• Miners lead
• Defence stocks edge lower
• Wall St futures down

EUROPEAN SHARES MIXED, DEFENCE STOCKS TAKE A BREATHER

Major European bourses are mixed on Thursday after a steep drop the day before, as investors grapple with a raft of corporate earnings, talks to end the war in Ukraine and continued threat of U.S. import tariffs from President Donald Trump.

The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX is up just over 0.1%, having fallen 0.9% on Wednesday, its biggest one-day drop this year. Bourses in Frankfurt .GDAXI and Paris .FCHI are up 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

Britain's FTSE .FTSE lags, with a number of large-cap companies - including BP BP.L, AstraZeneca AZN.L and Imperial Brands IMB.L - trading without entitlement to their dividend today.

Miners .SXPP are leading, supported by Anglo American AAL.L after its results, which included an agreement to merge its Los Bronces copper mine in Chile with state-backed Codelco's Andina mine.

Meanwhile, aerospace and defence stocks .SXPARO are taking another breather, down 1.2% after a 0.4% drop the day before. Still, the index is up 18% year-to-date on bets Europe will boost its defence spending to boost its security.