European stocks advance for second day
Sunday, 6 September 2009
LONDON, Sept.5 (Bloomberg): European stocks rose for a second day, trimming the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index's weekly decline, as strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS AG increased their year-end forecasts for the region's equity gauges.
Lonmin Plc, the world's third-largest platinum producer, and Kazakhmys Plc jumped more than 3 per cent after analysts recommended the shares. PSA Peugeot Citroen rallied 7.3 per cent as the French automaker signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to develop electric cars.
The Stoxx 600 advanced 1.4 per cent to 233.85. The measure has fallen 1.5 per cent this week on concern that a six-month surge has outpaced the prospects for earnings and economic growth. The regional gauge is valued at 44.7 times profit, near the highest level since September 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The rally "does not mean that the market can make no further progress," Peter Oppenheimer, a London-based strategist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a report, raising his year-end forecast for the Stoxx 600 to 260 from 235. "Investors may now generally require new information for the market to move higher, but we think the better news will come."
The Stoxx 600 has climbed 48 per cent since March 9 as companies from L'Oreal SA to GlaxoSmithKline Plc reported higher-than-estimated profits and the German and French economies unexpectedly expanded. UBS strategist Nick Nelson boosted his year-end target for the FTSEurofirst 300 Index to 1,100 from 1,000 today. The gauge added 1.3 per cent to 962.42.
A Labor Department report showed employers in the US cut 216,000 jobs in August, a smaller drop in payrolls than economists had forecast. The unemployment rate increased to 9.7 per cent, the highest since 1983.
"There is nothing that would make me change my position in that data," Ian Richards, a London-based strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, said in a phone interview. "It is not hugely surprising but it is another milestone in the gradual progression of the data to a level in the economy that is consistent with growth."
Economic policy makers are signaling they plan to leave emergency stimulus in place even as the global economy pulls out of recession, delivering what Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp. call a "sweet spot" for financial markets.
Lonmin Plc, the world's third-largest platinum producer, and Kazakhmys Plc jumped more than 3 per cent after analysts recommended the shares. PSA Peugeot Citroen rallied 7.3 per cent as the French automaker signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to develop electric cars.
The Stoxx 600 advanced 1.4 per cent to 233.85. The measure has fallen 1.5 per cent this week on concern that a six-month surge has outpaced the prospects for earnings and economic growth. The regional gauge is valued at 44.7 times profit, near the highest level since September 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The rally "does not mean that the market can make no further progress," Peter Oppenheimer, a London-based strategist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a report, raising his year-end forecast for the Stoxx 600 to 260 from 235. "Investors may now generally require new information for the market to move higher, but we think the better news will come."
The Stoxx 600 has climbed 48 per cent since March 9 as companies from L'Oreal SA to GlaxoSmithKline Plc reported higher-than-estimated profits and the German and French economies unexpectedly expanded. UBS strategist Nick Nelson boosted his year-end target for the FTSEurofirst 300 Index to 1,100 from 1,000 today. The gauge added 1.3 per cent to 962.42.
A Labor Department report showed employers in the US cut 216,000 jobs in August, a smaller drop in payrolls than economists had forecast. The unemployment rate increased to 9.7 per cent, the highest since 1983.
"There is nothing that would make me change my position in that data," Ian Richards, a London-based strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, said in a phone interview. "It is not hugely surprising but it is another milestone in the gradual progression of the data to a level in the economy that is consistent with growth."
Economic policy makers are signaling they plan to leave emergency stimulus in place even as the global economy pulls out of recession, delivering what Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp. call a "sweet spot" for financial markets.