European stocks rose, extending a six-year high, amid better-than-forecast earnings from ThyssenKrupp to Airbus Group.
ThyssenKrupp climbed 5.5 per cent after Germany's biggest steelmaker also raised its full-year earnings forecast. Airbus advanced 5.8 per cent. Telecom Italia SpA declined 3.5 per cent as quarterly revenue missed estimates.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.2 per cent to 341.77 this morning in London. The gauge rose 7.4 per cent from this year's low on February 4th through yesterday, when it closed at the highest level since January 2008, as mergers-and-acquisitions activity increased and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers are ready to take action to support the economic recovery.
Standard and Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.2 per cent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.1 per cent.
"Despite the good run we've seen in European stocks this year and the year before, I'm still positive they will go higher," said Herbert Perus, who helps oversee $36 billion as head of equities at Raiffeisen Capital Management in Vienna. "European companies are in very good shape. Companies with good results are going up, while those with bad numbers are going down. This is a good sign."
The ZEW Center for European Economic Research’s gauge of investor and analyst expectations in Germany fell this month to 33.1 from 43.2 in April.
ThyssenKrupp added 5.5 per cent to €22.44. The company said 2014 profit excluding one-time items will almost double from last year’s €586 million, up from a previous forecast of about €1 billion. The steelmaker also said first-quarter earnings rose to €269 million from a loss of €129 million a year earlier. ThyssenKrupp’s last reported profit was for the third fiscal quarter of 2012.
Airbus gained 5.8 per cent to €52.35. The French planemaker reported that first-quarter earnings before interest, tax and one-time items fell to €700 million euros in the first quarter, and sales rose 5 per cent to €12.6 billion, exceeding projections.
AstraZeneca Plc gained 1.1 per cent to 4,659.5 pence after people familiar with the matter said Pfizer may sweeten its bid for the UK drugmaker. Pfizer and its advisers are working on a new offer that increases the value of its current bid of £50 per share and boosts the cash portion. Pfizer will probably wait until after UK government hearings to raise its offer, they said.
Bloomberg
