German industrials get earnings boost European stocks moved cautiously higher on Thursday, as investors tried to put aside the post-US election jitters of the previous session and focus squarely on the earnings of a number of key industrial stocks. Siemens was in focus as the German industrial conglomerate said it expected no help from economic growth in 2013. The gloomy outlook from Peter Löscher, chief executive, echoed the European Commission's assessment of the region's economy as it downgraded on Wednesday its eurozone growth forecasts for 2013, including cutting Germany's outlook from 1.7 per cent annual growth to 0.8 per cent. Shares in Siemens, however, climbed 3.5 per cent to €81.64 after it beat estimates with its third-quarter earnings and announced €6bn in cost reductions over the next two years. The company said it had already set aside hundreds of millions of euros for redundancy payments and had taken €700m out of order book due to sanctions on Iran. Meanwhile, shares in HeidelbergCement climbed 3.1 per cent to €43.14 after it beat forecasts with a 15 per cent rise in operating profit to €649m thanks to price increases and cost cutting. The company said it was already well ahead of its planned savings of €200m for 2012, having already cut annual costs by €241m. Germany's Xetra Dax, which lost 2 per cent in the previous session, clawed back 0.5 per cent to 7,268.45. The pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.2 per cent to 1,101.63. In Amsterdam, insurance group Aegon climbed to the top of the Eurofirst with a gain of 4.7 per cent to €4.52 after higher trading returns helped it to a forecast beating quarterly net profit of €374m. Belgian financial services group KBC gained 2.9 per cent to €18.83 after its third quarter underlying profit exceeded expectations, while reinsurer Swiss Re followed the trend of rivals Hannover Re and Munich Re in posting better than expected earnings. The Zurich-based company also indicated it would propose a special dividend after a $600m cash windfall from the sale of Admin Re. Shares gained 1.8 per cent to SFr67.10. EADS , the aerospace group, was the biggest loser on the pan-European index after it hit an impasse over funding with the German government. Although quarterly profit was better than forecasts, the funding row contributed to a €3bn cash flow deficit, the company said. The shares fell 4 per cent to €26.15. Banks were broadly higher in spite of some scary looking numbers, particularly from Société Générale , which reported an 86 per cent decline in third-quarter profit due to the one-off costs of exiting its Greek banking business. Shares were up 1.1 per cent to €25.87 as investment banking profits rose. Commerzbank , however, fell 3.7 per cent to €1.45 as it warned of rising loan losses and said it would not pay a dividend until at least 2014.