European stocks gained for the first time in five days as a rally in telecommunication and health-care companies overshadowed concern the deteriorating global economy will curb earnings. Asian shares fell, while U.S. futures rose. Vodafone Group Plc, the world’s biggest mobile-phone company, and Fresenius Medical Care AG, the largest provider of kidney dialysis, climbed 1.6 percent as investors bought shares of companies whose profits are less dependent on economic growth. StatoilHydro ASA slipped 1.5 percent on lower crude oil prices. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.8 percent to 194.94 as of 9:29 a.m. in London. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index sank 2.8 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in March rose 0.3 percent. “In an uncertain economic environment, industries that are safe havens are favored,” said Benoit de Broissia, an equity analyst at KBL Richelieu Gestion in Paris, which oversees about $5.6 billion. “Fund managers are reorganizing their funds for the year and are turning to defensives,” he told Bloomberg Television. The Stoxx 600 has slumped 47 percent in 2008, the worst annual performance on record, as credit-related losses and writedowns at financial firms topped $1 trillion. All 19 industry groups in the measure have fallen this year as the U.S., Europe and Japan entered the first simultaneous recessions since World War II. Banks were the biggest decliners, while health-care and telecommunication companies were among the best performers. Earnings Forecasts Analysts have slashed their earnings forecasts, predicting a 16 percent drop in full-year profits at Stoxx 600 companies, compared with 11 percent growth estimated at the start of the year. Earnings in 2009 are expected to rise 0.1 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Vodafone added 1.6 percent to 135.4 pence. Fresenius Medical increased 1.6 percent to 39.90 euros. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the beer company formed in a $52 billion takeover, climbed 2.6 percent to 15.78 euros. Veolia Environnement SA, the world’s largest water company, gained 3.3 percent to 20.78 euros. Statoil lost 1.5 percent to 109.2 kroner as crude oil fell for a second day, with the contract for February delivery declining as much as 2.2 percent to $39.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. “I don’t want to invest in oil stocks right now,” said Stephen Pope, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe in London. “There’s not a great deal of demand for the product they’re offering,” he told Bloomberg Television. Recommendation Cuts Associated British Foods Plc slipped 1.4 percent to 696 pence after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its recommendation for the owner of British Sugar to “neutral” from “buy.” SSAB Svenskt Staal AB lost 2.3 percent to 63.50 kronor as the world’s largest supplier of high-tensile steel was lowered to “hold” from “buy” at Deutsche Bank. “The prospect of recessions in the U.S. and Europe as well as a significant slowdown in emerging markets will lead to cuts in global steel prices and volumes,” the brokerage wrote in a note to clients. Premiere AG declined 7 percent to 3.96 euros. Germany’s biggest pay-television company renegotiated debt facilities of 525 million euros ($734 million) with banks on condition that it sells 450 million euros of new shares in rights offers backed by shareholder News Corp.

Source