London (CNN Business) 1. Shell earnings: Shares in Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) moved higher in London after the company's first quarter profit topped analyst expectations.

While net income declined slightly from the previous year to $5.4 billion, the energy giant reported strong growth in its trading and natural gas businesses.

Crude oil prices zoomed higher in the first three months of 2019, but they were still much lower on average than the same period a year ago.

Exxon Mobil XOM BP BP That has weighed on results from rival producers includingand, both of which reported steep profit declines for the first quarter.

2. Volkswagen's resilience: German auto giant Volkswagen VLKAF German auto giantdelivered fewer cars in the first quarter, but a strong performance by its financial services division led to a revenue increase of 3.1%.