BLBG:Europe Stocks Rise With Commodities as Euro, Aussie Climb
European stocks advanced with U.S. equity index futures and oil led commodities higher as Chinese manufacturing grew more than analysts estimated. The euro pared gains against the dollar and the Norwegian krone strengthened.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent by 10 a.m. in London as Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.3 percent. Chinese stocks fell as the benchmark money-market rate jumped the most since June. Norway’s krone advanced against all of its 16 major counterparts and the euro gained 0.1 percent to $1.3789. Italian and Spanish bonds declined. The S&P GSCI (SPGSCI) gauge of 24 commodities added 0.3 percent, as oil climbed 0.6 percent.
A preliminary gauge of Chinese manufacturing strengthened to 50.9, compared with a projected 50.4 reading, according to data from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics and a Bloomberg survey. Stocks and the euro pared gains after a report showed euro-area services and factory output grew less than expected this month. Dow Chemical Co., Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Microsoft Corp. are among U.S. companies reporting today and the Labor Department releases data on jobless claims.
“China’s economy is still on course for decent growth, not the kind of spectacular growth that we were used to in the past but enough growth to keep it above the government’s bottom line,” Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in Hong Kong, said on Bloomberg Television. “They would like to see rebalancing over time.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose for the 10th time in 11 days. Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, and ABB Ltd., the world’s largest maker of power transformers, climbed more than 2.5 percent after profit beat projections. Celesio AG jumped 5 percent after McKesson Corp. agreed to buy the German drug wholesaler for 3.9 billion euros ($5.4 billion).
Profit Misses
Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) lost 2.2 percent after the second-biggest Swiss bank posted profit that missed analysts’ estimates. Husqvarna AB plunged 9.1 percent in Stockholm, the most in two years, as the biggest maker of powered garden tools reported profit that trailed projections.
S&P 500 futures signaled the U.S. gauge will rebound after falling 0.5 percent from a record yesterday. Symantec Corp. (SYMC) plummeted 12 percent in pre-market New York trading as the maker of security software gave forecasts for profit and sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates.
Some 47 companies in the S&P 500 are due to release results today. Earnings have beaten projections at 76 percent of the 181 companies that have posted results so far this reporting period, while 52 percent exceeded sales projections, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
China Rates
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell for a second day, losing 0.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.9 percent and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong slid 1.3 percent. The seven-day repurchase rate, a gauge of funding availability in the banking system, surged 65 basis points to 4.67 percent.
The euro gained as much as 0.3 percent to $1.3822, the strongest level since November 2011. The 17-nation currency rose 0.1 percent to 134.30 yen. The dollar was little changed at 97.41 yen.
Norway’s krone rose 0.5 percent to 8.1141 per euro after the central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and said the currency had depreciated since its last meeting.
Spain’s 10-year bond yield rose two basis points to 4.16 percent and Italy’s climbed four basis points to 4.15 percent.
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was little changed at 2.50 percent after dropping to 2.47 percent yesterday, the lowest since July 22.
West Texas Intermediate oil advanced for the first time in four days to $97.42 a barrel. China is the biggest energy user. Wheat rallied 0.8 percent, the third consecutive gain, on signs demand for U.S. supplies will increase.
----With assistance from Emma O’Brien in Wellington, Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo, Claudia Carpenter, Paul Dobson, Andrew Rummer and Shelley Smith in London. Editors: Stephen Kirkland, Stuart Wallace
To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at Swallace6@bloomberg.net
