Socks in Europe, Asia Rise on Earnings; U.S. Futures Advance

Stocks advanced in Europe and Asia, sending the MSCI World Index to its sixth straight gain, after results from Clariant AG and Marks & Spencer Group Plc eased concern about profit growth, while money-market interest rates declined. U.S. index futures rose. Clariant and Marks & Spencer rallied more than 9 percent after the companies reported earnings that topped analysts' estimates. Societe Generale SA gained 8 percent. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. climbed 7.1 percent as lending costs tumbled the most in almost a decade in Japan. The MSCI World Index added 1.4 percent to 975.15 at 12:24 p.m. in London. The gauge for 23 developed countries rose six straight days for the first time since July, rallying 17 percent from a five-year low on Oct. 27. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index advanced for a sixth day, climbing 2.7 percent, the longest stretch of gains since August 2007, when the credit crisis got under way. ``We have had some earnings at the top end of expectations which has helped sentiment,'' said Richard Hunter, head of U.K. equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, a unit of Hargreaves Lansdown Plc, which has $21.5 billion in assets under management. ``Government intervention across the world is now starting to help and money-market rates are going in the right direction.'' Shares in Asia rose, led by financial companies, as Australia's central bank cut interest rates more than economists expected. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 6.3 percent as trading resumed following yesterday's holiday. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Westpac Banking Corp. gained.