martes, 28 de junio de 2011

German Stocks Advance; Adidas, Puma Climb as Nike Profit Beats Estimates - Bloomberg

German stocks advanced, paring four days of losses on the benchmark DAX Index (DAX), as Greece's Prime Minister called on his country's lawmakers to pass a five-year austerity plan.

Adidas AG (ADS) jumped 3.9 percent and Puma AG rose 2.6 percent after Nike Inc. (NKE), the world's largest sporting-goods company, reported fourth-quarter profits that exceeded analysts' estimates after increasing its prices. Commerzbank AG rebounded from a four day slump, rallying 4.6 percent.

The DAX advanced 62.53, or 0.9 percent, to 7,170.43 at the 5:30 p.m. close in Frankfurt. The measure has fallen 4.8 percent from this year's high on May 2 as investors speculated that Greece will fail to repay its debt. The broader HDAX Index gained 0.8 percent today.

"Traders are not getting too far ahead of themselves with the vote on the Greek austerity package nearing," said Giles Watts, the head of equities at City Index Ltd. in London. "Still, optimism is growing that with the wolves at Greece's gates, Europe is uniting at the right time to help the country avoid a default that could send shockwaves throughout the rest of the euro zone."

European Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark told German newspaper Die Welt that he does not expect the international community to finance Greece further after July if the country fails to implement its austerity package.

In Athens, Greeks went on a 48-hour general strike before a vote on June 29 to cut spending, sell state assets and increase taxes. If lawmakers vote against the austerity measures, the cash-strapped nation may default.

On Monday, Papandreou called on lawmakers to obey their "patriotic conscience" and back the ruling Pasok party in the vote.

Consumer Confidence

Market-research company GfK today forecast that its German consumer sentiment index will increase to 5.7 in July from a revised 5.6 in June as the German economy continues to grow because of demand for its exports. Economists had predicted a decline to 5.3 from an initial June estimate of 5.5, according to the median of 25 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

In the U.S., reports today showed that house prices fell in April and consumer confidence dropped to a seven-month low in June. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities fell 4 percent from April 2010, the biggest year-on-year drop since November 2009, according to the median forecast of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Adidas, Puma

Adidas jumped 3.9 percent to 53.78 euros and Puma advanced 2.6 percent to 210.35 euros. Rival Nike reported fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates after raising prices.

K+S AG gained 2 percent to 52.22 euros after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its potash price forecasts for the last half of 2011 and 2012 by 6 to 9 percent.

Commerzbank surged 4.6 percent to 2.88 euros. Deutsche Bank AG gained 2.2 percent to 39.77 euros. Germany's biggest banks and insurers will use a French proposal as a blueprint when they meet with finance ministry officials in Berlin tomorrow to seek an agreement on their role in a Greek rescue, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Siemens AG (SIE), Europe's biggest engineering company, sank 1.9 percent to 91 euros after the company's Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser said sales in its fiscal third quarter won't increase from the preceding three months.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Levring in Copenhagen at plevring1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

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