By Adam Haigh Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks gained for the first time in three days after President George W. Bush signaled a decision on rescuing American carmakers would be swift, while a rally in oil prices lifted energy companies. Daimler AG advanced 2.2 percent as Bush said deliberations by his government on tapping the bank bailout fund to keep General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC out of bankruptcy “won’t be a long process.” BP Plc and Total SA rose more than 2 percent as crude touched $50 a barrel. BNP Paribas SA sank 7.3 percent after a Belgian court froze the lender’s plans to buy Fortis and the bank said it has as much as 350 million euros ($474 million) at risk from Bernard Madoff’s investment-advisory business. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.4 percent to 198.96 at 2:38 p.m. in London, taking its rebound from a five-year low on Nov. 21 to 9.2 percent as governments and policy makers around the world announced packages to revive economic growth. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said he is planning the most extensive public-works spending package since the 1950s. “In the medium term, the bailout would be a good thing,” said Thomas Haerter, chief strategist at Swisscanto Asset Management AG in Zurich, which manages about $60 billion. “There may be a bailout, but it cannot save the underlying problem,” he told Bloomberg Television. The Stoxx 600 is still down 45 percent in 2008 as almost $1 trillion in bank losses and writedowns froze credit markets and the U.S., Europe and Japan entered the first simultaneous recessions since World War II. Analysts’ Estimates Analysts have slashed their earnings projections for companies in the Stoxx 600, estimating a 15 percent decline this year, compared with 11 percent growth forecast at the start of 2008. Profits in 2009 are expected to rise 0.9 percent. Since Oct. 7, quarterly earnings for the 334 companies in the Stoxx 600 that have reported results fell 15 percent on average, trailing estimates by 6.3 percent, Bloomberg data show. National benchmark indexes gained in 14 of the 18 western European markets today. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.8 percent, while France’s CAC 40 added 1 percent. Germany’s DAX increased 1.6 percent. Bush last night “signaled” his administration is considering using money from the $700 billion fund, saying he’s “not quite ready” to announce any rescue plan. Daimler, the world’s largest truckmaker, gained 2.2 percent to 24.58 euros. Fiat SpA, Italy’s biggest carmaker, advanced 1.4 percent to 5.23 euros. Crude Oil The Senate’s rejection of a $14 billion aid package for carmakers sparked a 2.7 percent decline in the Stoxx 600 on Dec. 12 and sent the dollar sliding against the euro. BP, Europe’s second-largest oil producer, advanced 2.1 percent to 527.25 pence. Total SA, the third-biggest, rose 2.6 percent to 40.81 euros. Crude oil rallied as much as 8.2 percent to $50.05 a barrel in New York after OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said the group needs to make a “sizeable” production cut at this week’s meeting in Algeria. BNP sank 7.3 percent to 40.62 euros as a Belgian court froze the bank’s plans to buy Fortis for 14.5 billion euros. Natixis SA, France’s worst-performing banking stock this year, said it has as much as 450 million euros of client funds invested with Madoff, who allegedly ran a “Ponzi scheme” that cost investors $50 billion. The shares retreated 4.9 percent to 1.41 euros. A report today showed U.S. industrial output dropped 0.6 percent in November after rising 1.5 percent in the previous month, led by a slump at automakers. Manufacturing in New York contracted in December at the fastest pace on record as orders and shipments remained weak, according to separate figures. To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net.

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