Stocks rise in spite of Trichet interest rate talk

Eurostoxx: 2,968.56 (+9.76) Frankfurt DAX: 7,225.96 (+44.84) Paris CAC: 4,060.76 (+26.44)

EUROPEAN STOCKS rose as better-than-estimated earnings from Anheuser-Busch InBev to Adecco outweighed European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet’s suggestions that the ECB may boost interest rates next month.

AB InBev, the brewer of Stella Artois and Bud Light, and Adecco, the world’s largest supplier of temporary workers, advanced more than 2 per cent.

British Sky Broadcasting Group gained 3 per cent after News Corp won approval to take full control of the company. Banco Santander led banks lower as Trichet said “strong vigilance is warranted” and an “increase of interest rates in the next meeting is possible”.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.3 per cent to 283.55 at the close in London, rebounding from two days of losses. The gauge has climbed 2.8 per cent this year amid better-than-estimated corporate earnings and indications the global economy is gathering strength. The results season has showed “high profit margins and low leverage”, Jan Loeys, the New-Yorkbased chief market strategist at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a report today. “The bullish force of a zero return on cash, combined with fading medium-term uncertainties, remains in place and keeps us significantly long equities to bonds.”

The Stoxx 600 pared an earlier gain of as much as 1.1 percent after Trichet’s remarks. The ECB kept its key interest rate at a record low of 1 percent for a 23rd month today, as predicted by all 53 economists in a Bloomberg survey, as part of an effort to sooth the region’s fiscal woes.

Santander, Spain’s largest bank, fell 1.7 per cent to €8.50. UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest, dropped 1.5 per cent to €1.80 and Banco Espirito Santo, the largest publicly traded lender in Portugal, declined 0.8 per cent to €3.22. National benchmark indexes gained in 13 of the 18 western European markets.

Germany’s DAX Index rose 0.6 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.7 per cent.

Adecco advanced 5.4 per cent to 65 Swiss francs after reporting fourth-quarter net income of €141 million. That exceeded the average analyst estimate of €115 million. BSkyB climbed 3 per cent to 823 pence. – (Bloomberg)