European Factors--Shares seen breaking 9-day winning run

(rewrites with futures, adds company news, updates snapshot table)

FRANKFURT, July 24 (Reuters) - European equities were seen opening lower on
Friday, following poor results from U.S. Microsoft MFST.O and American Express
(AXP.N) after Wall Street's close on Thursday.

At 0638 GMT, futures for the Euro Stoxx 50 STXEc1, Germany's DAX FDXc1
and the French CAC 40 FCEc1 were down by between 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent.

Financial bookmakers in London expected Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open
17 to 21 points lower, or as much as 0.5 percent.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, pushing the Dow industrials above the 9,000
mark for the first time since January, mainly on the back of rebounding home
sales, but index futures dropped in late trading, after Microsoft Corp,
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and American Express posted disappointing quarterly
results.

"We don't trust the upswing as it isn't accompanied by a predictable
possibility of a sustainable upswing in economic activity," Heino Ruland,
strategist at Ruland Research, wrote in a note.

----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0638 GMT------------------------

LAST PCT CHG NET CHG

S&P 500 .SPX 976.29 2.33 % 22.22

NIKKEI .N225 9,944.55 1.55 % 151.61

MSCI ASIA EX-JP .MIASJ0000PUS 418.08 0.06 % 0.23

EUR/USD EUR= 1.4192 0.25 % 0.0035

USD/JPY JPY= 94.71 -0.33 % -0.3100

10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.676 -- 0.01

10-YR BUND YLD EU10YT=RR 3.471 -- 0.00

SPOT GOLD XAU= $949.20 0.22 % $2.05

US CRUDE CLc1 $67.02 -0.22 % -0.15

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Rally lifts Dow above 9,000, but Microsoft sinks late [ID:nN23416023]

* Asia stocks extend gains on upbeat data, earnings [ID:nLO627232]

* Nikkei rises for 8th straight day, hits 3-wk high [ID:nT372099]

* Dollar, euro advance vs yen on recovery optimism [ID:nN23533040]

* Bonds sink on Fed comments, stocks, supply [ID:nLO638731]

* Oil slips back below $67 after surge to 3-week high [ID:nSIN511918]

* Copper pauses after rally, momentum stays [ID:nSHA373944]

* Gold inches up, but off 6-wk high; eyes stocks, oil [ID:nT369361]

COMPANY NEWS:

VODAFONE (VOD.L)

The world's largest mobile phone firm by revenues reported sales in line
with market expectations for the quarter to end-June as strength in India and
Africa compensated for weakness in Europe. [ID:nLN357408]

ERICSSON (ERICb.ST)

The Swedish telecom euqipment maker posted higher-than-expected
second-quarter operating earnings of 6.9 billion Swedish crowns ($913.6
million), excluding restructuring charges and its loss-making joint ventures,
above a mean forecast of 6.0 billion in a Reuters poll and 4.7 billion in the
year-ago quarter. [ID:nSAT006389] [ID:nLG605004]

MERCK KGaA (MRCG.DE)

The drug-maker reported a worse-than-expected decline in second-quarter
operating earnings of 42 percent as it spent more on medical research, even
though its liquid crystals unit saw a recovery. [ID:nWEA2202] [ID:nLN374194]
[ID:nLK121579]

DANONE (DANO.PA)

The food group posted an 8.1 percent first-half operating profit rise to
1.206 billion euros, above the 1.187 billion average of forecasts in a Reuters
poll of analysts, boosted by baby food and medical nutrition. [ID:nLO465871]

SYNGENTA (SYNN.VX)

The world's largest agrochemicals company cut its 2009 outlook after a 9
percent drop in first-half profit as a difficult start to the planting season
hit demand and the stronger dollar weighed. [ID:nLO88574]

BHP BILLITON (BLT.L)

The world's biggest miner said it will boost output at its Mount Arthur
thermal coal mine in Australia to 15 million tonnes a year from 11.5 million
tonnes. [ID:nSYU006903]

POPULAR (POP.MC)

The Spanish bank's bad loans ratio will continue rising over the next few
months but at a slower pace, executive Angel Rivera told Expansion in an
interview.

FIAT (FIA.MI)

The vehicle group raised 1.25 billion euros on Thursday by issuing a
three-year bond that saw huge demand as investors rushed for the high yield the
car maker had offered. [ID:nLN343455]

DEUTSCHE BOERSE (DB1Gn.DE)

ICE Clear Europe and Eurex Clearing AG have been given permission to clear
credit default swaps, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said.
[ID:nN23423736]

PAGES JAUNES (PAJ.PA)

The French phone book company said first half sales rose 1.6 percent,
maintaining its outlook of an annual decline of 2-5 percent, with a gross
operating income of between 500-540 million euros.

ALSTOM (ALSO.PA), SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC (SCHN.PA)

French engineering groups Alstom and Schneider Electric said on Thursday
they were considering a joint bid for the transmission and distribution unit
Areva CEPFi.PA has put up for sale. [ID:nL0395651]

AIR FRANCE-KLM (AIRF.PA)

Air France-KLM posted a 20.5 percent drop in fiscal first-quarter sales on
Thursday as the continuing deterioration in the economic clinate hurt demand for
air travel and air freight. [ID:nLN422112]

YIT (YTY1V.HE)

The Finnish builder reported second-quarter pretax profit of 25.2 million
euros, above the 20 million average in a Reuters poll of analysts.
[ID:nHEL009223]

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz)