BLBG:European Stocks Slip on EADS, BAE Merger; Commodities Decline
Europe’s stock index fell for the first time in three days as European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. and BAE Systems Plc slumped on plans to merge. Commodities slid as investors wait to see if the Federal Reserve will unveil more stimulus today.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.2 percent as of 8:09 a.m. in London. BAE dropped 5.5 percent, while EADS lost 7 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent. The S&P GSCI gauge of 24 raw materials declined 0.2 percent, retreating from the highest level since May led by silver, zinc and lead.
The Fed will today announce more bond purchases, according to almost two-thirds of economists in a Bloomberg survey. EADS, the parent of Airbus SAS, would control 60 percent of the new entity, with London-based BAE owning the rest, the companies said yesterday.
“Markets are slightly nervous in anticipation of quantitative easing,” Lim Say Boon, chief investment officer at DBS Private Bank, said on Bloomberg Television in Singapore. “If we get QE3 then the markets, beyond this period of nervousness, are likely to rally even further.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) added 0.1 percent today, advancing a sixth day, its longest winning streak since July. Trading volumes were lower across Asia, with the number of shares changing hands 15 percent below the 30-day average on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average, which rose 0.4 percent to lead regional benchmarks.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jason Clenfield in Tokyo at jclenfield@bloomberg.net; Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shelley Smith at ssmith118@bloomberg.net
