By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- After three days mired in the red,
European stock markets rebounded on Wednesday, helped higher by
well-received earnings reports from Swatch Group and Alfa Laval.
Investors also waited for the ADP jobs report to gauge if the U.S.
labor market is improving.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.4% to 318.69, climbing back
after closing at the lowest level since Dec. 18 on Tuesday.
Among notable movers, shares of Swatch Group AG jumped 4.5%
after the watchmaker reported better-than-expected full-year
earnings for 2013 and forecast a rebound in demand from China.
Swedish engineering firm Alfal Laval AB rallied 6.9% after
reporting a 16% rise in order intake and a 9% improvement in net
sales in the fourth quarter.
On a more downbeat note, shares of Syngenta AG lost 2.5% after
the seed and chemical firm said profit dropped in 2013.
More broadly, investors waited for U.S. jobs data out later in
the day. The ADP employment data are out at 1:15 p.m. in London, or
8:15 a.m. Eastern Time, and could indicate whether the
nonfarm-payrolls report out on Friday will show an improvement in
the U.S. labor market. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect
190,000 new jobs were added to the economy in January and that the
unemployment rate dropped to 6.6%.
In Europe, data for Spain showed activity in the country's
services sector increased at the fastest pace in six-and-a-half
years in January, with the first rise in employment since February
2008.
The IBEX 35 index gained 0.5% to 9,805.70.
Elsewhere, France's CAC 40 index was slightly higher at
4,119.13, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index gained 0.3% to 6,466.58.
Germany's DAX 30 index dropped 0.1% to 9,119.78. ThyssenKrupp AG
added pressure in Frankfurt, off 1.3%, after HSBC cut the
industrial conglomerate to underweight from neutral.
ArcelorMittal SA climbed 1.7% in Paris after HSBC lifted the
steel maker to overweight from neutral.
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