Nokia shares slide after mobile-phone giant posts 73% profit decline By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares advanced for the fourth straight session on Thursday, as strong second-quarter earnings from Swiss drug maker Novartis and U.S. banking giant J.P. Morgan offset a profit drop from Nokia. After trading in a tight range through the morning, the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP 210.07, +0.99, +0.47%) advanced 0.6% to 210.32. On a regional level, the French CAC-40 index (FR:PX1 3,206, +34.68, +1.09%) rose 1.4% to 3,214.84, the German DAX index (DX:DAX 4,964, +35.54, +0.72%) traded up 1.1% at 4,980.26 while the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 4,355, +8.56, +0.20%) rose 0.4% to 4,362.80. U.S. stock futures turned higher after J.P. Morgan added to growing positivity on U.S. banks' earnings trends on Thursday, with the lender posting a 36% profit rise in the second quarter to $2.72 billion. See Indications. European banks climbed after the news, with shares of French bank Societe Generale (FR:GLE 42.38, +1.63, +3.99%) up 4.6%. Citigroup upgraded the firm to buy from hold ahead of its second-quarter earnings report. "We understand that second-quarter (corporate and investment banking) trends are good, with encouraging developments in fixed income and equity derivatives," the broker said. Markdowns are expected to be in line, it added. Rival BNP Paribas (FR:BNP 49.75, +1.39, +2.86%) advanced 3.4%, while Barclays (UK:BARC 315.60, +2.30, +0.73%) (BCS 20.70, +1.10, +5.61%) shares climbed 1% and HSBC Holdings (UK:HSBA 540.25, +9.20, +1.73%) (HBC 44.55, +0.68, +1.55%) shares rose 1.9%. Meanwhile, Novartis (CH:NOVN 43.70, +0.58, +1.35%) (NVS 42.20, +1.25, +3.05%) took positive sentiment on earnings into the pharmaceutical sector on Thursday, trading up 3.8% in Switzerland. The firm's second-quarter net income fell 9.8% to $2.04 billion or 90 cents a share but beat analysts estimates. Novartis also upped its projection of pharmaceutical sales. See full story. Also, shares of Swedish appliance maker Electrolux (SE:ELUXB 116.75, +6.00, +5.42%) climbed 9.4% after the firm reported a big profit jump on Thursday as the Swedish consumer goods manufacturer said it may have seen the worst that North America has to offer. See full story. Still, Nokia (FI:NOK1V 11.10, +0.68, +6.53%) (NOK 14.14, -1.54, -9.82%) shares fell 7.7% after the mobile handset giant detailed a drop in second-quarter profit and said it no longer expects to gain market share in the second half of the year. Also in the technology sector, shares of British software firm Autonomy (UK:AU. 1,197, -121.00, -9.18%) fell 13.1%. The firm posted a sharp jump in second-quarter profit but some analysts expressed disappointment over deferred revenue levels. Read more on Autonomy. Losses from oil producers also added pressure, as oil futures retreated. Shares of Total (FR:FP 37.79, -0.08, -0.21%) declined 0.9%.

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