European stocks climbed, heading for their biggest weekly gain in two months, as a Federal Reserve official said the bank will keep its low interest-rate policy for a considerable time and Japanese industrial production beat estimates. U.S. index futures and Asian shares rose. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.4 percent to 287.42 at 8:09 a.m. in London. The equity benchmark has increased 2.5 percent this week, halting a five-week decline. The Stoxx 600 has still dropped 4.5 percent this month, paring its gain this year to 2.8 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures climbed 0.5 percent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 2 percent, heading for its biggest rally in nine months. Fed Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart, who has supported stimulus, said investors may have overreacted to Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s announcement the central bank could start scaling back record stimulus this year. “In my view, the comments by the chairman do not constitute an enormous shift in policy,� Lockhart said to the Kiwanis Club of Marietta. “I still anticipate that the very low interest-rate policy will remain in place for a considerable time after the end of asset purchases, and thus policy will remain highly accommodative.� Japan’s economy strengthened in May as factory output rose the most since December 2011 and retail sales climbed, bolstering Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to end deflation. Industrial production advanced 2 percent from April driven by demand from power companies. Retail sales gained 1.5 percent from the previous month. To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Morgan in Frankfurt at jmorgan157@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

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