European stocks close:

European stocks advanced for the third time in four days after lenders including Credit Suisse Group AG reported profits that beat estimates, while minutes showed the Bank of England may reconsider the case for an interest-rate cut.

In the U.K., minutes from the Bank of England’s recent July Monetary Policy meeting showed policy makers voted 7-2 to increase stimulus and said they may reconsider the case for an interest-rate cut after assessing the impact of new lending and liquidity measures on the economy.

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne outlined plans to encourage as much as 51 billion pounds ($80 billion) of spending on infrastructure and exports in the latest effort pull the economy out of recession.

National benchmark indexes rose in all western European markets except Finland and Iceland. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 1 percent. France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.8 percent and Germany’s DAX advanced 1.6 percent.

Credit Suisse advanced 4.5 percent to 17.91 Swiss francs. The bank announced measures to cut costs and boost capital by 8.7 billion francs ($8.9 billion) after a central bank report last month called for an increase in equity. The cost savings target was increased to 3 billion francs from 2 billion francs, the bank said.

ASML paced gains among European technology companies, rising 6.8 percent to 44.23 euros, as Chief Executive Officer Eric Meurice said on a conference call that he expects a “steady increase in profitability,” even as the producer of machines for chipmakers joined Applied Materials Inc. and Intel Corp. in predicted a weaker chip market.

Nordea rose 2.4 percent to 62.05 kronor after saying second-quarter profit jumped 17 percent as an increase in lending income outweighed higher loan losses. Net income rose to 820 million euros from 698 million euros a year earlier, the Stockholm-based lender said in a statement. That beat the 722 million-euro average estimate of analysts.