By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch Dutch bank ING Groep NV said it will
cut 1,700 jobs
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks rose Tuesday, with
German equities extending gains after data confirmed modest
quarterly growth for the eurozone's largest economy.
In Frankfurt, Germany's DAX 30 index climbed 1% to 6,880.21, the
move pushing the index's year-to-date gain to 6%. Germany's
Destatis statistics agency said gross domestic product rose 0.1% in
the third quarter. The agency earlier this month issued a
preliminary GDP reading of 0.1% growth. The contraction in the
second quarter was revised to 0.1% from a previous estimate of
0.2%.
Germany's narrow avoidance of recession in the third quarter was
aided by more spending among consumers as investment fell,
particularly in machinery and equipment.
ECB executive board member Benoît Coeuré said, in an interview
with Bloomberg Television on Monday, the central bank will discuss
the possibility of additional stimulus measures at their meeting in
December and assess what impact actions such as recently launched
purchases of asset-backed securities are having on the broader
economy.
On Friday, ECB President Mario Draghi signaled the central bank
is set to expand its asset-purchase program, spurring speculation
the ECB may start buying government bonds.
The effect of the "dovish" comments are "broadly why the DAX is
up strongly," along with France's CAC 40 index, said Richard Perry,
market analyst at Hantec Markets, in an interview Tuesday.
Utilities E.ON SE and RWE AG topped the DAX as they roe 3.9% and
3.7%, respectively, and financial-sector heavyweight Deutsche Bank
AG rose 3.3%. All but four of the DAX's 30 components were higher
in afternoon trade. In Paris, the CAC 40 index rose 0.6% to
4,396.16.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on
Tuesday warned that the eurozone needs a basket of measures to
stave off the threat of deflation, and that weak confidence in the
eurozone is among the risks facing the global economy.
The ECB is likely to decide to launch full-blown quantitative
easing, but when it will happen remains in question, said
Perry.
"The Germans and Austrians are very much against it and keep
saying as much," said Perry. "You've got good German data come out
recently and that's probably not going to help the drive towards
QE. Although on Friday, you've got inflation data and I think it's
going to dip back down to 0.3%. The longer inflation stays at this
very low level, then the argument for QE just comes evermore," he
said. A decision to launch QE would likely not be made until next
year, Perry said.
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4% to 347.09.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.2% to 6,743.52, but shares of
Kingfisher PLC dropped more than 5% following a decline in profit
and sales at the home-improvement retailer.
Among other corporate developments, Spain's Banco Santander SA
rose 1.8% after the company named former chief financial officer
José Antonio Álvarez its new chief executive. Álvarez replaces
group chief executive Javier Marín who served less than two years
in that role.
Dutch bank ING Groep NV (ING) said it plans to cut 1,700 jobs
over the next three years as it moves to ramp up its
digital-banking operations.
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opportunities in Europe
Will you be in London on Dec. 3? Then you're invited to our
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Governments are in trouble, reform efforts have stalled,
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Our panel will be led by MarketWatch Columnist Matthew Lynn, a
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joined by Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch columnist and editor of the
Hulbert Financial Digest.
This event is free, but RSVPs are required. It will be held
Wednesday evening, Dec. 3, in London. For more information or to
RSVP, send an email to marketwatchevent@wsj.com.
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