- US lawmakers return to Washington to tackle budget
- BMW reports healthy 2012 profits
- Euro rises against dollar

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European equities began moving moderately higher Thursday following news US leaders had returned from the Christmas break in a bid to reach a budget deal.

Republican House leaders are holding a press conference later today to discuss the issue of avoiding the fiscal cliff - more than $600m in tax increases and spending cuts.

President Obama is pushing for lawmakers to come to a decision on the budget by January. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter to congress Wednesday that the federal debt limit would be reached on December 31st and his department would start using "extraordinary measures" to finance $200bn in deficits into early 2013, according to Bloomberg.

Clariant rakes in profit

Swiss chemical company, Clariant, will receive 460m francs in cash for selling the textile chemicals, paper specialities and emulsions business to SK Capital Muttenz. Shares may move following the news. The deal is due for completion by end of the second quarter of 2013.

BMW shares may be active after the automaker announced it had sold about 1.8 million vehicles for the year. Chief Financial Officer Friedrich Eichiner told Die Welt the company had met targets and he was confident they had surpassed last year's profit.

Adidas said revenue in 2012 would exceed €14.5 bn and the company expects growth in sales during the New Year.

Euro rises against dollar

The euro climbed 0.33% to the 1.3267 dollar at open Thursday.

Front month Brent crude futures fell by 0.316 to the 110,720 dollar mark on the ICE.

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