Europe Stocks Seen Flat; Portugal Takes Center Stage

European shares were seen opening broadly flat Wednesday after strong demand for Spanish short-term government debt dispelled some of the fears of another imminent euro zone debt crisis, despite a spike in yields compared to a previous auction.

The FTSE 100 was seen opening the trading day slightly lower by 2 points [ .FTSE 5766.95  +100.67 (+1.78%) ], the DAX [ .GDAXI 6801.00  +175.81 (+2.65%) ] was called up by 7 points and the CAC [ .FCHI 3292.51  +0.00 (+0.00%) ] was indicated higher by 6 points.

Strong corporate earnings in the U.S. helped to bolster U.S. stock markets Tuesday.

Goldman Sachs [ GS 116.86  -0.87 (-0.74%) ], Johnson & Johnson [ JNJ 64.22  +0.24 (+0.38%) ] and Coca-Cola [ CCE 28.52  +0.54 (+1.93%) ] all beat forecasts as did technology titans Intel [ INTC 28.47  +0.065 (+0.23%) ] and IBM [ IBM 207.45  +4.73 (+2.33%) ].

Warren Buffett, chief executive at Berkshire Hathaway, told CNBC that he is feeling “100 percent” after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

A report in the Financial Times that the Canadian central bank governor, Mark Carney, is being lined up to replace Mervyn King, as Bank of England head was dismissed by both central banks.