LIVE MARKETS-Before the bell: futures steady but another month of gains

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com.

BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES STEADY BUT ANOTHER MONTH OF GAINS

European shares were little changed on Friday but still looked set for a fourth straight month of gains after upbeat earnings from Amazon and Apple buoyed broader equity markets.

EURO STOXX 50 futures STXEc1 and German Dax futures FDXc1 were flat, while FTSE futures FFIc1 were 0.2% lower.

Amazon's stellar earnings AMZN.O sent its shares up a staggering 13% after the bell, which added over $300 billion to its market value. Apple AAPL.O rose 2.3% after its outlook on iPhone sales topped estimates.

That offset the drag from Meta META.O and Microsoft MSFT.O given the worries over their surging AI spending.

Traders were also taking stock after European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, at 2% for the third meeting in a row on Thursday and repeated that policy was in a "good place" as economic risks recede.

In London, Princes Group is set to float at a valuation of 1.16 billion pounds ($1.56 billion) on Friday in one of London's largest initial public offerings this year, pricing its shares at the lower end of the marketed range in a sign of investor caution.

Investors also focused on a trade truce reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, which led to reduced U.S. tariffs on imports of Chinese goods, resumed U.S. soybean purchases by Beijing and continued rare earth exports from China.

(Joice Alves)

EARLIER ON LIVE/ MARKETS:

NO TRICKS, SOME TREATS FOR MARKETS CLICK HERE