European stocks retreated as officials said they plan to return to Athens next week to complete a review of the Greek economy. Asian shares and U.S. index futures gained.
PSA Peugeot Citroen and Volkswagen AG (VOW) led a decline in automakers. BNP Paribas (BNP) SA slid 5.5 percent. Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) lost 4.2 percent as Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) downgraded Europe’s second-biggest airline. SAP AG (SAP), the biggest maker of business software, rose 1.9 percent after competitor Oracle Corp. (ORCL) reported profit that topped estimates.
The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.5 percent to 228.08 at 11:36 a.m. in London. The gauge rose for the fifth day in six yesterday as Greece described its debt talks with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund as “productive” and investors speculated the Federal Reserve will provide more stimulus at today’s meeting. The Stoxx 600 has still fallen 22 percent from this year’s peak on Feb. 17 amid concern the global economic recovery is at risk.
“There is still nervousness in the market,” said Heinz- Gerd Sonnenschein, an equity strategist at Deutsche Postbank AG in Bonn. “There’s fear about what will come out of the FOMC meeting and about what’s coming up with Greece. The Greek problems will need time to be solved. We still have a long and difficult way to go.”
Asian, U.S. Shares
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2 percent after a gauge of economic indicators signaled that growth in China is maintaining momentum. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures also advanced 0.2 percent.
A “full mission” will return to Athens next week after Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos made “good progress” in talks with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the EU said after a telephone conference late yesterday.
The Federal Open Market Committee may decide today to replace short-term Treasuries in its $1.65 trillion portfolio with long-term bonds in a bid to lower rates for mortgages, auto and consumer loans, according to 71 percent of 42 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The central bank is scheduled to issue its statement at 2:15 p.m. in Washington.
Bank of England officials considered ways of adding stimulus to the economy this month and most of them said an expansion of their 200 billion-pound ($314 billion) bond purchase program is “increasingly probable.” The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to maintain the current size of the bond plan and were unanimous in keeping the benchmark rate at a record low of 0.5 percent. Minutes of the Sept. 8 meeting show the decision on whether to expand stimulus was “finely balanced.”
‘Near the Bottom’
“The ball is in the court of the policy makers,” said Markus Steinbeis, head of equity portfolio management at the Unterfoehring, Germany-based unit of Pioneer Investments KGmbH, which oversees about $221 billion globally. “The market is hoping for any kind of reaction from the Fed. We’re probably near the bottom in the short term.”
Policy makers battling Europe’s debt crisis shouldn’t rule out issuing joint euro-area bonds and must develop integration tools to make that possible, even if German opposition means it can’t be done immediately, European Commission President Jose Barroso said.
“The commission believes we should look also at that option,” Barroso said in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. “We are not saying it is immediately. This is a matter that must be discussed, but we should not exclude that option either.”
U.S. Economy
An increase in sales of previously owned U.S. homes in August probably failed to make up for the prior month’s decline as rising unemployment and foreclosures weighed on the industry, economists said before a report today.
Purchases climbed 1.7 percent to a 4.75 million annual rate after falling to a 4.67 million pace in July that was the slowest since November 2010, according to the median of 74 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
Peugeot, Europe’s second-largest automaker, declined 3.9 percent to 17.36 euros and Volkswagen preferred shares sank 1.6 percent to 112.15 euros. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Daimler AG, the world’s biggest makers of luxury cars, declined 1.5 percent to 56.78 euros and 2.6 percent to 35.82 euros, respectively.
Fiat SpA (F) fell 3.2 percent to 4.17 euros as Moody’s Investors Service downgraded its corporate family rating and probability of default rating. A gauge of auto-industry shares dropped 1.9 percent for the largest retreat among 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600.
Banks Decline
BNP Paribas, France’s biggest bank, lost 5.5 percent to 23.55 euros, extending its decline in the past four days to 26 percent. That’s the largest four-day drop since January 2009.
Societe Generale (GLE) SA declined 2.4 percent to 16.73 euros. Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea told Le Figaro in an interview that U.S. monetary funds have progressively withdrawn money from the European bank financing market for regulatory reasons since the start of 2011.
Deutsche Bank retreated 1.4 percent to 24.10 euros as Chief Financial Officer Stefan Krause said Germany’s biggest bank is “fighting” to meet its target for 10 billion euros ($13.7 billion) in operating pretax profit this year.
Lufthansa fell 4.2 percent to 9.89 euros, the lowest price since May 2010, as the airline was downgraded to “sell” from “hold” at Deutsche Bank. The company expects fuel expenses to climb to 6.4 billion euros this year, according to a presentation on its website today.
SAP Gains
SAP added 1.9 percent to 38.07 euros, the highest in almost three weeks. Oracle shares rose in German trading after the software maker reported profit that topped analysts’ estimates, boosted by increased spending on database programs and applications that help run businesses.
Metro AG (MEO) rallied for a second day, climbing 2.4 percent to 31.63 euros. There was no “power struggle” at the retailer’s supervisory board over the extension of Chief Executive Officer Eckhard Cordes’s contract, according to the top management of Franz Haniel & Cie GmbH, one of the retailer’s largest shareholders, the Financial Times Deutschland reported today.
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