Europe Stocks rise as ailing economy increases stimulus pressure
By Bloomberg
European stocks climbed, snapping an eight-day losing streak, as an ailing euro-area economy increases pressure on policy makers to provide more stimulus measures. U.S. stock-index futures rose and Asian shares fell.
Accor SA gained 1.9 percent after reporting sales growth that beat analyst forecasts. Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc slid 7.8 percent after cutting its sales outlook for the full year.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.8 percent to 312.4 at 8:34 a.m. in London. The equity gauge has retreated 7 percent since Oct. 6 as the International Monetary Fund cut its global- growth forecasts. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures advanced 0.4 percent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.7 percent.
The Stoxx 600 fell to a 10-month low yesterday as Spain's failure to reach its maximum target in a bond sale highlighted the fragility of the country's recovery. The index pared its decline after St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said the Fed should consider delaying the end of its bond purchase program.
Europe is leading a rout that has wiped more than $5.5 trillion from the value of equities worldwide as data from industrial production in Germany to U.K. manufacturing have stoked gloom. Still, for the moment, policy makers are holding to the view that the region needs time rather than new stimulus.
Merkel Stance
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers in Berlin yesterday that existing economic aid had been underused and now wasn't the moment to ease up on the fiscal discipline she credits with bringing stability to the continent.
In the U.S., Commerce Department data at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show housing starts increased 5.4 percent to a 1.008 million annualized rate in September, economists forecast. A separate report may show the University of Michigan's consumer-confidence gauge slipped to 84 this month from 84.6 in September.
Accor climbed 1.9 percent to 30.87 euros. Europe's largest hotel operator reported a 4.6 percent increase in like-for-like sales growth, exceeding analysts' estimates of a 3.5 percent rise. Accor confirmed its earnings before interest and taxes forecast for 2014 of 575 million euros ($736 million) to 595 million euros.
Rolls-Royce fell 7.8 percent to 867 pence. The maker of commercial-aircraft engines cut its sales outlook for the full year, saying revenue will fall rather than remain unchanged as customers delay orders and Russian trade sanctions bite. Sales will drop between 3.5 percent and 4 percent, Rolls-Royce said in a statement.