BLBG: Stocks in Europe, Asia, U.S. Futures Gain; Barclays, Banks Rise
Stocks climbed in Europe and Asia as Bank of America Corp. said it’s profitable and Japan and China signaled they will increase efforts to boost growth. The MSCI World Index snapped four weeks of losses with its biggest rally since November, while U.S. futures advanced.
Barclays Plc and Credit Suisse Group AG rose more than 7 percent as Bank of America’s Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis said he expects the biggest U.S. bank to make money this year. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Ltd. added 5.8 percent as Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso ordered a third stimulus package. U.S. Treasuries fell after China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said he’s “worried” about the country’s holdings of American government debt and wants assurances that the investment is safe.
The MSCI World Index of 23 developed nations climbed 1.5 percent at 9:15 a.m. in London as Bank of America joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. in saying that it made money during the first two months of 2009. The MSCI World’s 8.4 percent gain since March 6 erased only one week of losses, leaving the global gauge at the highest since Feb. 26.
“We are getting to a stabilization of the larger financial institutions,” said Lucy MacDonald, London-based chief investment officer of global equities at RCM UK Ltd., which has about $100 billion. “There is a lot of liquidity being pumped into the system. We seem to have found a short-term bottom to the market,” she said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.6 percent, indicating the benchmark index for U.S. equities may extend its weekly surge of 9.9 percent.
Swiss Central Bank
Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index climbed 1.9 percent as BHP Billiton Ltd. and SAS Group jumped. The regional gauge has advanced 6.9 percent this week, led by financial and raw-material shares, as the Swiss central bank cut its interest rate to close to zero and China’s spending on factories increased.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 3.5 percent today, leaving it with a gain of 3.7 percent since March 6. Canon Inc., the world’s biggest camera maker, rose on a profit forecast.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose six basis points to 2.91 percent, according to BGCantor Market Data. China, the U.S. government’s largest creditor, is requesting “the U.S. to maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China’s assets,” Wen said at a press briefing today in Beijing.
Barclays, the U.K.’s third-biggest bank, rose 11 percent to 79.8 pence. Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s second-largest, added 7.1 percent to 30.64 Swiss francs. Bank of America’s comments suggested bank profits are rebounding after the worst year for financial institutions since the Great Depression caused writedowns and losses worldwide to swell to $1.2 trillion.
Aso’s Package
Mitsubishi UFJ rose 5.8 percent to 419 yen. Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-largest bank, gained 4.7 percent to 179 yen.
Japan’s Prime Minster Aso will ask ministers to propose measures and may be ready to announce a package to world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in the U.K. in April, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said in Tokyo today. Yosano also said the government will sink funds into Minami-Nippon Bank Ltd. and Fukuho Bank Ltd.
Governments from Tokyo to Beijing and Washington have stepped up efforts to avert what the World Bank predicts will be the first global economic contraction since World War II.
China can add “at any time” to 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) of stimulus measures to revive the world’s third-biggest economy, Premier Wen told reporters in Beijing. He reaffirmed China’s target for 8 percent growth in 2009.
China Life Insurance Co., the nation’s biggest insurer, jumped 4.4 percent to HK$23.60 in Hong Kong. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. rose 4.4 percent to HK$3.33.
BHP, Rio Tinto
Speculation that China may boost its stimulus measures helped lift raw-material producers.
BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, climbed 2.4 percent to 1,340 pence as copper advanced in Asia and oil traded near $47 a barrel. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third- largest mining company, added 4.3 percent to 2,148 pence.
SAS Group surged 16 percent to 25.60 kronor. The owner of Scandinavian Airlines said it will sell shares at an 88 percent discount after suffering the biggest loss in at least 16 years.
“It’s a relief rally now we know that they’re going to be able to raise the money,” said Erik Gustafsson, an analyst at D Carnegie AB in Stockholm. “The very low price guarantees the shares will be placed.”
Separately, Deutsche Lufthansa AG may be interested in buying SAS Group as the Scandinavian market becomes increasingly important for the German airline, newspaper Berlingske Tidende quoted Aage Duenhaupt, a Lufthansa spokesman, as saying.
Lufthansa is not in concrete talks with SAS and is looking at other airlines, Duenhaupt said, according to the Copenhagen-based newspaper. Lufthansa added 1.4 percent to 8.31 euros.
Canon climbed 8.6 percent to 2,475 yen in Tokyo. The company said yesterday its net income will increase to 150 billion yen in 2010 from this year’s forecast of 98 billion yen. That reflects Canon’s expectations that the global economy will recover next year.
