Stocks: Weekly’s review

European stocks climbed for a third day as a report showed the U.S. economy added more jobs than predicted and Greece’s private creditors agreed to a debt swap.

Greece’s government said that bondholders tendered 152 billion euros of Greek-law bonds, or 85.8 percent, for the debt swap. The Mediterranean nation will swap their holdings for new securities under the debt exchange. Creditors also tendered 20 billion euros of foreign-law bonds, according to the country’s Finance Ministry. Greece’s use of collective-action clauses forcing investors to take part in the sovereign restructuring should trigger $3 billion of insurance payouts under rules governing credit- default swap contracts.

National benchmark indexes rose in 12 of the 18 western- European markets. Germany’s DAX Index gained 0.7 percent. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.5 percent, while France’s CAC 40 Index advanced 0.3 percent.

London Stock Exchange Group Plc surged 6.4 percent to 955 pence, its biggest increase in eight months. The owner of Europe’s oldest independent bourse agreed to buy a majority stake in

Straumann Holding AG and Nobel Biocare Holding AG, two Swiss makers of dental implants, surged 8.7 percent to 153.80 Swiss francs and 8.1 percent to 11.40 francs, respectively, after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its recommendations on the companies.

Lagardere plunged 6.1 percent to 22.32 euros. The owner of the Europe 1 radio station posted full-year adjusted net income of 226 million euros, compared with 284 million euros a year earlier. The publisher forecast flat Ebit this year.

Hermes International SCA, the French maker of Birkin bags and silk scarves, lost 2.1 percent to 264.60 euros. The stock was cut to underweight from neutral at HSBC.

U.S. stocks advanced, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index toward its fourth weekly rally, after data showing stronger-than-forecast growth in payrolls last month bolstered optimism in the world’s largest economy.

Equities rose today amid the best six-month streak of job growth since 2006. The 227,000 increase in payrolls last month topped the median projection of economists. The jobless rate held at 8.3 percent. The latest pickup in employment may not be convincing enough for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who last week said the labor market remains “far from normal,” a sign policy makers continue to see merit in keeping interest rates low for several years.

Investors also watched developments in Europe’s attempts to tame its debt crisis. Greece pushed through the biggest sovereign restructuring in history after cajoling private investors to forgive more than 100 billion euros ($132 billion) of debt, opening the way for a second rescue package.

Dow   12,922.02     +14.08 +0.11%, Nasdaq      2,988.34       +17.92 +0.60%, S&P 500   1,370.87       +4.96       +0.36%

JPMorgan (JPM) advanced 1.46 percent, the most in the Dow, to $41.35. Citigroup increased 0.59 percent to $34.70.

Lennar increased 3.08 percent to $25.87, while D.R. Horton climbed 6.25 percent to $15.48. The shares were raised to the equivalent of buy at Credit Suisse.

Pall Corp. fell 3.1 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $59.28. The supplier of filters for drugmakers and refineries was cut to neutral by Wedbush Securities, citing softness in markets including China.