European Indexes Higher; German Factory Sales Soar

Arthi Gupta
09 Dec, 2010
New York City

The European indexes rose after German factory turnover surged. French payroll employment rose in the third quarter. Portugal GDP expanded but Greek economy contracted in the third quarter. ASML Holding soared on fourth quarter bookings forecast.

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – The European indexes rose after German factory turnover surged. French payroll employment rose in the third quarter. Portugal GDP expanded but Greek economy contracted in the third quarter. ASML Holding soared on fourth quarter bookings forecast.[/R]

U.S. stocks advanced after weekly jobless claims fell more than estimated and Asian markets traded mixed.

Economic uncertainty has elevated in the euro-zone in the wake of spreading debt worries, the European Central Bank said on Thursday. In its latest monthly bulletin, the central bank said current key interest rates are “appropriate” and monetary policy stance remains “accommodative.”

The Bank of England today maintained the size of the quantitative easing at £200 billion and left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low of at 0.5%.

In Paris CAC 40 Index gained 30.65 or 0.80% to close at 3,862.63 and in Frankfurt DAX Index edged higher 10.58 or 0.15% to close at 6986.45.

German Labor Cost Down; CPI Rises

Germany''s labor cost per hour declined 0.5% sequentially in the third quarter, following a 0.4% rise in the second quarter, the Federal Statistics Office said.

Compared with the same period of 2009, labor costs increased a calendar-adjusted 0.4% in the third quarter, after increasing 0.5% in the prior quarter.

German consumer price index rose 1.5% on a yearly basis in November following the 1.3% increase in October, final data from the Federal Statistics Office confirmed. The inflation is at the highest since October 2008, when consumer prices climbed 2.4%. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.1% in November, same as in the previous month.

German manufacturing sector turnover in real terms increased a seasonally-and-working-day adjusted 4.1% on a monthly basis in October, from a revised 1.4% decline in September, the Federal Statistics Office said. In August, there was a 2.1% increase.

Domestic turnover rose 4% in October after a 1.1% fall in September. Export turnover grew 4.2% in October following a 1.5% drop in September.

Annually, factory sales increased a price-and-working-day adjusted 12.4% in October, as against a 6.9% rise in September.

French Payroll Employment Up

French payroll employment increased 19,200 in the third quarter, the statistics office Insee said. The increase in the second quarter was revised to 38,600 from 24,000.

Jobs in the manufacturing sector fell 15,900 in the third quarter, while it rose 36,600 in services. The construction sector reported a decrease of 800 in the third quarter.

Hungary''s Trade Surplus Narrows; GDP Expands

Hungary''s trade surplus narrowed to €408.1 million in October, from €540.4 million in September, the Central Statistics Office said.

Hungarian gross domestic product rose a seasonal and calendar adjusted 2.2% annually in the third quarter, according to latest data from the statistics office.

The GDP growth of the third quarter was mainly due to the high industrial production and the external trade surplus, the statistics office said.

Czech Inflation Flat

Consumer price inflation in the Czech Republic was unchanged for a third straight month at 2% in November, figures released by the Czech Statistics Office showed.

Food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation soared to 31.6% in November from 24.2% in October.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.2% in November.

Czech gross domestic product rose 1% sequentially in the third quarter, revised down from the initial estimate of 1.1%, final data from the Czech Statistics Office showed.

Portugal GDP Expands

The Statistics Portugal reported on Thursday that gross domestic product expanded 0.3% sequentially in the third quarter, following 0.2% growth in the second quarter.

Portugal''s exports rose 15.4% annually during August to October, Statistics Portugal said. During the same period, imports grew 7.1%.

Greek Economy Contracts

Greek gross domestic product dropped 1.3% between July and September compared to the previous three month period, when the economy contracted 1.7%, according to data released by the Hellenic Statistics Authority.

On an annual basis, the Greek economy shrank 4.6%, compared to the 4% fall in the June quarter

In a separate report the statistics office said Greece''s jobless rate rose to a record high of 12.6% in September from 12.2% logged in August and 9.1% seen a year ago.

The number of unemployed increased by 170,912 persons compared with September 2009 and by 14,607 persons compared with August.

Gainers & Losers

Ablynx NV gained 1.26% to €8.04 after the Belgian bio-pharmaceutical firm announced that Boehringer Ingelheim selected a Nanobody candidate for further development to potentially expand treatment options for cancer patients.

ASML Holding N.V. surged 6.37% to €27.98 after the semiconductor processing equipments maker said that it estimates fourth quarter bookings to be above €2 billion, compared to the third quarter bookings level of €1.3 billion worth of systems.

Bayer AG fell 0.41% to €58.38 after the German drug and chemicals maker plans to significantly expand its capacities for the production of high-grade materials in China by 2016. Investments of around €1 billion are planned at the Shanghai site.

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA edged lower 0.08% to €38.58 after the building materials supplier said it signed a €3 billion revolving credit facility with a large group of 24 banks.

ING Groep NV increased 2.56% to $10.02 after the Dutch financial services company said it sold its 5% stake in Fubon Financial Holding Co. Ltd., to institutional investors for a total amount equal to €395 million. The company expects the deal to result in a pre-tax profit of about €170 million to be booked in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Julius Baer Gruppe AG climbed 1.08% to Sfr42.94 after the Swiss private banking group said it opened a new office in Rome.