European stocks pared gains after earlier rebounding from yesterday’s two-month low as Alcoa Inc. (AA) posted a surprise first-quarter profit. U.S. index futures climbed, while Asian shares fell.
Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY) rose 1.2 percent. Givaudan SA (GIVN) advanced 3.2 percent after reporting improved first-quarter sales. Getinge AB (GETIB) slid 8 percent after it said first-quarter profit missed analyst estimates.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.1 percent to 252.38. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.7 percent, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in June advanced 0.3 percent.
According to Bloomberg, European stocks tumbled 2.5 percent yesterday to their lowest level since Jan. 30, amid mounting concern about the region’s debt crisis and as a U.S. report showed employers in the world’s largest economy added fewer jobs in March than forecast.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will address lawmakers of his People’s Party today to explain the deepest budget cuts in three decades. The prime minister will speak today in Madrid.
Spain’s 10-year borrowing costs have jumped more than one percentage point since March 2, when Rajoy announced that the country will miss its 2012 budget-deficit goal approved by the European Union. Euro-region finance ministers on March 12 settled on narrowing the shortfall to 5.3 percent of gross domestic product from 8.5 percent last year, even as the nation battles its second recession since 2009.
