ROME: European stocks climbed, resuming a rally that had stalled earlier this week, as focus turned to Mario Draghi’s monetary policy.
The European Central Bank President, who has signaled that officials will consider more stimulus at next month’s meeting, is scheduled to speak at 1:15 p.m. in London. A rally in the region’s stocks lost steam in the past two days amid worsening data from China and the prospect of higher U.S. rates, before picking up today.
“The overall tone is upbeat and we’re normalizing,” said Christian Gattiker, head of research at Julius Baer Group Ltd. in Zurich. “We’ve seen quite some profit taking after revisiting the Fed themes that were a concern a couple of months ago. The focus will now be more on monetary policy with Draghi speaking later today, which may give additional support to European stocks.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.8 percent at 9:13 a.m. in London. The gauge has rebounded 12 percent from a September low, and is heading for its best annual performance since 2013.
Beer companies advanced. SABMiller Plc gained 1.7 percent after Anheuser-Busch InBev NV made a formal offer to buy it for about $107 billion. Carlsberg A/S climbed 7.9 percent after reporting profit that beat estimates and announcing job cuts to reduce costs.
TalkTalk Telecom Group Plc jumped 11 percent after reporting sales that beat estimates and forecasting full-year results in line with estimates before the company’s network was hacked. Henkel AG climbed 6.2 percent after raising its annual profit projection.
Vivendi SA slid 7.7 percent after posting profit that missed analysts’ estimates. Mediaset SpA slipped 7.5 percent after reporting a wider-than-forecast net loss. Osram Licht AG tumbled 18 percent after analysts said they were disappointed by the company’s 2016 projections.
