Europe Stock-Index Futures Rise on China Production Data
European stock-index futures advanced, indicating equities may snap two days of losses, as China’s industrial output growth unexpectedly accelerated. U.S. index futures and Asian shares were little changed.
Novartis AG (NOVN) may move after agreeing to sell a unit to Grifols SA for $1.68 billion. A gauge of automakers may be active as a report showed China’s passenger-vehicle sales last month surpassed analysts’ estimates. RSA Insurance Group Plc may be active after suspending three top executives at its Irish unit and saying 2013 results will miss analysts’ forecasts.
Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index expiring in December climbed 0.3 percent to 3,038 at 7:04 a.m. in London. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index has risen for five straight weeks as the European Central Bank unexpectedly lowered its key interest rate and the Federal Reserve maintained bond purchases. Contracts on the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index added 0.5 percent today. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost less than 0.1 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent.
In China, industrial production jumped 10.3 percent in October from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Nov. 9. That was higher than September’s 10.2 percent and exceeded the 10 percent median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Inflation was a less-than-forecast 3.2 percent and producer prices fell 1.5 percent.
President Xi Jinping and top Communist Party leaders have gathered in Beijing for a meeting known as the third plenum to outline a blueprint to sustain growth and drive urbanization in the world’s second-biggest economy. The meeting of about 370 officials will conclude tomorrow.
Confidence Vote
In Greece, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras survived a vote of no confidence brought by the main opposition party as his government remained locked in talks with the country’s creditors. Greece’s 300-seat parliament rejected the measure with 153 votes against and 124 votes for. The Pasok party, part of Samaras’s coalition, expelled a lawmaker who voted for the motion, reducing the party’s caucus to 27 seats.
Novartis may be active after the drugmaker said it is selling its blood-transfusion diagnostics unit to Grifols for $1.68 billion. The deal will be completed in the first half of 2014, according to a statement.
Automakers in the Stoxx 600 may be active. Wholesale deliveries of cars, multipurpose and sport utility vehicles in China rose to 1.61 million units last month, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. That exceeded the median estimate of 1.5 million units by three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
RSA may be active after the U.K.’s biggest non-life insurer by market value said late Nov. 8 that it suspended three top executives at its Irish unit amid a probe into finance and claims functions.
“As a result of these issues, RSA estimates that its 2013 operating result will be 70 million pounds lower than current market expectations,” the company said in a statement.
Shire Plc may move after the drugmaker agreed to buy ViroPharma Inc. for about $4.2 billion in cash.
Source: Bloomberg
