European stocks close:

European stocks rose for a second day, extending the Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s longest stretch of weekly gains in more than two years, as manufacturing in the New York region expanded more than forecast.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday she hadn’t softened her stance at last month’s summit in Brussels and that a so-called banking union involving a bloc-wide financial overseer will have to include joint oversight on a “new level.”

National benchmark indexes rose in 11 of the 18 western European markets today. Sweden’s OMX Stockholm 30 increased 0.7 percent and Germany’s DAX climbed 0.1, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 fell less than 0.1 percent.

SEB rallied 8.2 percent to 49 kronor, the biggest increase since May 2010. The Stockholm-based bank said second-quarter net income declined to 3.01 billion kronor ($427 million) from 3.36 billion kronor a year earlier, exceeding the average estimate of 13 analysts.

G4S slid 8.7 percent to 254.6 pence as the company estimated its loss on the Olympics contract will be 35 million pounds to 50 million pounds. The U.K. government had to assign 3,500 extra soldiers to Olympic venues last week as G4S said it couldn’t train enough guards.