European stocks fell from a two- month high as China’s export growth slowed and Carrefour SA (CA) cut its full-year profit forecast for the second time in three months. U.S. futures declined, while Asian shares advanced.
Carrefour retreated 5 percent after saying its profit may fall as much as 20 percent this year. Roche Holding AG (ROG) slid 3.4 percent after posting third-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ estimates. Alcatel-Lucent surged 5.9 percent after the Financial Times reported that France’s biggest telecommunications equipment maker will sell its corporate call- center business.
The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.8 percent to 237.34 at 11:59 a.m. in London. The gauge rose 1.7 percent yesterday for its biggest six-day rally since January 2009, surging 10 percent. The Stoxx 600 has tumbled 18 percent from its high on Feb. 17 amid concern that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe will spread from Greece to the larger economies of Italy and Spain.
“It’s too early to conclude that the euro-zone problems will be solved,” said Henrik Drusebjerg, a senior strategist at Nordea Bank AB in Copenhagen. “It’s not the first time European politicians have pledged to handle the problem once and for all.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.3 percent for its biggest six-day rally since May 2009. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures decreased 0.2 percent.
China’s Exports Slow
China’s export growth slowed to its weakest pace in seven months. Officials said that trade faces “severe challenges” as the yuan strengthens and confidence slides in developed nations.
Exports climbed a less-than-forecast 17.1 percent in September from a year earlier, customs bureau data showed in Beijing today. The trade surplus of the world’s second-largest economy fell to $14.51 billion last month from $17.76 billion in August. Imports rose 20.9 percent, also less than forecast.
In the U.S., a Commerce Department report due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show that the country’s trade deficit increased in August as the global economy cooled, prompting American companies to ship fewer goods abroad. The gap widened 2.2 percent to $45.8 billion, according to the median of 81 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. A separate report may show that initial jobless claims increased last week.
Federal Reserve Minutes
Federal Reserve officials moved closer to setting targets for economic performance such as inflation to decide how long to keep interest rates at a record low, according to the minutes of their last meeting.
Most of the central bank’s 17 governors and regional bank presidents “saw advantages” in the approach and judged it would make policy more effective, the Fed said yesterday in the minutes of the Sept. 20-21 meeting in Washington. Some officials wanted to keep more bond purchases as an option, according to the minutes, which were released after European markets closed yesterday.
Carrefour sank 5 percent to 17.02 euros after the world’s second-largest retailer lowered its forecast for the second time in three months, saying this year’s profit may fall further than it had estimated because of a slump in Europe.
“Faced with an increasingly uncertain environment, we are, as a matter of prudence, broadening the range of our 2011 current operating income guidance to a decline of 15 percent to 20 percent,” Chief Executive Officer Lars Olofsson said in a statement. The Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based company forecast in August a 15 percent drop in profit from restated 2010 figures.
Roche, Novartis Slide
Roche dropped 3.4 percent to 142.50 Swiss francs after Europe’s second-largest drugmaker reported revenue that fell 15 percent as the franc gained and revenue declined for the company’s three top medicines.
Group sales dropped to 9.82 billion francs ($11 billion) from 11.5 billion francs a year earlier, the Basel, Switzerland- based company said in an e-mailed statement today. That missed the 10.2 billion-franc average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Novartis AG (NOVN), Europe’s biggest drugmaker, declined 1.1 percent to 51.60 francs.
Alcatel-Lucent surged 5.9 percent to 2.20 euros after the Financial Times reported the company agreed to sell the call- center business for as much as $1.5 billion to private-equity firm Permira Advisers LLP. The newspaper did not say where it got the information. Both companies declined to comment.
Rolls-Royce, Lenders
Rolls-Royce Group Plc (RR/) jumped 6.7 percent to 668 pence for the largest gain on the Stoxx 600 after the jet-engine maker announced it will receive $1.5 billion from Pratt & Whitney. The British maker of engines for the Eurofighter sold its share of the International Aero Engines venture, giving annual operating profit a 140 million-pound ($220 million) boost.
European banks extended losses as the European Central Bank said financial institutions’ involvement in euro-area bailouts through enforced investor losses poses a risk to financial stability and would have “direct negative effects” on the banking sector.
Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) dropped 4.3 percent to 22.26 euros and Commerzbank AG (CBK), Germany’s second- biggest lender, slipped 3.5 percent to 1.78 euros. UniCredit SpA (UCG), fell 3.7 percent to 1.02 euros.
Mitchells & Butlers Plc (MAB) tumbled 12 percent to 223.2 pence as Piedmont Inc. said it won’t proceed with its offer for the owner of pub brands.
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