Stocks rebound as factory output rises

Eurostoxx 50:2,949.98 (+17.65) Frankfurt DAX:7,177.97 (+75.06) Paris CAC:4,006.23 (+29.63)

EUROPEAN STOCKS gained, rebounding from their biggest drop in four weeks, as the region’s factory output rose and JPMorgan Chase and Co reported record profit. Alcatel-Lucent SA jumped 6.5 per cent as Morgan Stanley recommended the shares. ARM Holdings Plc, the designer of chips that help power

Apple iPhone, rallied 6.4 per cent. Building-material shares advanced across Europe after Exane BNP Paribas raised the companies to “outperform.” The Stoxx 600 Europe Index rose 0.8 per cent to 278.44 at 4:31 p.m. in London, the biggest gain since April 1st. The gauge, which slumped 1.7 per cent yesterday as Japan raised its warning on the stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant and Alcoa sales missed analysts’ estimates, has declined 4.4 per cent from this year’s high on February 17th.

“The global economic recovery is about the return in industrial and consumer confidence in the US and western Europe, so the impact of Japan’s problems on European companies is limited,” said Rob Radelaar, a fund manager who oversees €1 billion ($1.5 billion) at ING Investment Management in The Hague.

National benchmark indexes rose in 15 of the 18 western European markets. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index and France’s CAC 40 Index advanced 0.7 per cent, while Germany’s DAX Index climbed 1.1 per cent.

Economic Data European industrial production growth accelerated in February, led by demand for intermediate and capital goods, indicating that the economy is gathering strength. Factory output in the 17-member euro area rose for a fifth straight month, increasing 0.4 per cent from January, when it advanced 0.2 per cent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today.

The median of 34 economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg News survey had predicted a gain of 0.8 per cent. Sales at US retailers rose in March for a ninth consecutive month, showing that the improving job market has helped Americans cope with higher costs for fuel and food. Purchases increased 0.4 per cent following a 1.1 per cent February gain that was larger than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. – (Bloomberg)