Stockwatch Daily: Sluggish start for European markets

Nasdaq's overnight gain of almost one per cent did little to stimulate European bourses this morning.

Stateside action on the tech-laden market was driven in the main by chip companies. Following Merrill Lynch's upgrade of the chip industry as a whole, notable overnight gainers included Intel, which was up 4.4 per cent and Texas Instruments, which gained 4.1 per cent.

Yesterday saw Nasdaq close higher for the third time in a row but investors will be keeping a keen eye on US employment data, due out at 13:00(BST), for further indication of the direction the economy is heading in.

Later this morning things could also be set to hot up in Europe following reports this morning in the financial press indicating that Siemens could be about the shed another 5,000 jobs from its network unit.