Europe Stocks Pare Declines Before ECB as Aussie Weakens

Bloomberg: European stocks rebounded as the region’s central bank held a policy meeting. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures pared losses, and the Czech koruna tumbled after the central bank approved currency sales.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.2 percent to 323.82 at 7:30 a.m. in New York. S&P 500 futures fell less than 0.1 percent. Spanish 10-year bonds rose, with the yield falling one basis point to 4.14 percent after the government sold the securities at the lowest yield in three years. The Czech koruna sank 3.7 percent after the central bank approved its first currency sales in 11 years. The Aussie lost 0.4 percent against the dollar after a jobs report. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3 percent while gold retreated 0.3 percent.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will probably keep borrowing costs unchanged rather than using one of his remaining interest-rate cuts to bolster the economy, analysts said in a Bloomberg survey. U.S. growth probably slowed in the third quarter, another survey showed. Apache Corp. and Walt Disney Co. are among companies set to release earnings today.

“Few would want to take new positions because it’s not clear what the ECB will do,” said Richard McGuire, head of European rates strategy at Rabobank International in London. “It’s not clear if the ECB will cut rates or signal a rate cut at this meeting as some in the market expect.”

ECB Decision

The ECB will announce its interest-rate decision at 1:45 p.m. inFrankfurt, with Draghi scheduled to hold a press conference 45 minutes later. The ECB will leave its benchmark rate at 0.5 percent today, according to all but three of 70 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The Bank of England maintained its key interest rate at 0.5 percent and its asset-purchase target at 375 billion pounds ($603 billion), in line with estimates.

Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second-biggest lender, rallied 11 percent to the highest level since March as third-quarter net income unexpectedly rose. Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, climbed 4 percent after profit beat analyst forecasts. Swiss Re Ltd. rallied 1.5 percent, the most in a month, after earnings exceeded predictions.

CGG tumbled 8.9 percent in Paris as the largest seismic surveyor of oilfields cut its revenue forecast. Securitas AB, the world’s second-biggest guarding services provider, slid 7 percent, the most in 15 months, as earnings missed analyst projections.

Whole Foods

The S&P 500 climbed 0.4 percent yesterday to the highest close in a week. Whole Foods Market Inc., the largest natural-foods grocer in the U.S., fell 8.5 percent in pre-market New York trading after saying fiscal 2014 profit would be less than it previously forecast.

Some 13 companies in the S&P 500 are due to report today. Of the 433 index members that have released results so far, 75 percent topped analyst’s earnings projections and 54 percent beat revenue estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

U.S. Commerce Department data at 8:30 a.m. in Washingtonmay show the world’s biggest economy expanded at a 2 percent annualized rate in the third quarter after a 2.5 percent pace in the previous period, according to the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Payrolls Outlook

Analysts predict data tomorrow will show payrolls climbed by 120,000 in October and the unemployment rate increased to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent in the previous month, according to a separate survey.

Twitter Inc. (TWTR) raised $1.82 billion in its initial public offering yesterday, the largest IPO by a technology company since Facebook Inc.’s debut in May 2012. The short-messaging website sold 70 million shares at $26 each, after offering them for $23 to $25, Twitter said in a message on its service.

The Aussie declined against all but one of its 16 major currencies. Employers cut 27,900 full-time positions last month, the biggest drop since June 2012, the statistics bureau said today. The jobless rate held at 5.7 percent.

WTI climbed to $95.05 a barrel. Gold slipped to $1,314.74 an ounce. Arabica coffee dropped to $1.095 a pound, the lowest since October 2006.

------ With assistance from John McCluskey and Adam Haigh in Sydney, Emma O’Brien in Wellington, Claudia Carpenter, Andrew Rummer, Anchalee Worrachate. Editors: Stephen Kirkland, Justin Carrigan

reporters on this story: Stephen Kirkland in London