* BNP Paribas beats forecasts
* EADS posts strong results despite Airbus delays

The nice decade is over, according to the Bank of England which painted a
bleak view of the immediate future in its quarterly inflation report. Its
governor, Mervyn King, predicted inflation could near 4 percent and the
economy could even contract for a quarter or two.

Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, saying

"In our forecast published today we see growth slowing sharply over
the next year but then recovering in the second year. We see there will be a
squeeze in living standards over the next couple of years, consumer spending
will not grow rapidly in the next couple of years. It's going to be a
difficult period of adjustment for the country."

But the central bank report left little scope for rate cuts to boost a
slowing economy.

Meanwhile, addressing parliament Prime Minister Gordon Brown, sought to
reverse a slump in popularity by vowing to clamp down on inflation and keep
interest rates low to help Britain's troubled housing market and families hit
by an economic downturn.

//

In banking, France's biggest listed bank, BNP Paribas beat expectations
despite a 21 percent fall in first-quarter to $3.1 billion. Growth at its
retail bank cushioned an almost $800 million writedown at its investment arm
due to the impact of the credit crunch.

The FTSEurofirst 300 was up over half a percent. European shares were
powered by U.S. inflation data, a record share price for BHP Billiton after
China take-over talks and strong results from aerospace and defence company
EADS after first-quarter profit beat expectations despite fresh delays to its
A380 superjumbo. Airbus said it was unable to boost production as quickly as
it hoped as it tries to recover from production delays caused by wiring
problems.

Stefanie McIntyre, Reuters