Stocks: Tuesday’s review

Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index headed for its biggest gain in a week, as Japan’s largest lenders jumped on speculation a recent share rally will boost profit. Australia’s market climbed after a holiday and Korean shares rebounded from yesterday’s loss.

Nikkei 225 10,866.72 +42.41 +0.39%

Hang Seng 23,655.17 -16.71 -0.07%

S&P/ASX 200 4,888.98 +53.80 +1.11%

Shanghai Composite 2,358.98 +12.47 +0.53%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest bank, rose 3.8 percent in Tokyo. Samsung C&T Corp. gained 6.8 percent in Seoul after the construction and trading company’s operating profit beat estimates.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest lender by market value, slid 1.9 percent in Hong Kong after a term sheet showed Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is seeking to sell a $1 billion stake in the company.

European stocks rose to the highest level in more than 23 months as companies reported earnings and a report showed house prices in 20 U.S. cities increased.

Royal Philips Electronics NV climbed 2.3 percent after the world’s largest lighting manufacturer reported fourth-quarter results that topped analyst estimates. William Hill Plc (WMH) gained 2.1 percent after the bookmaker reporter a jump sales.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 percent to 290.3 at the close in London, the highest level since Feb. 18, 2011.

National benchmark indexes climbed in 12 of the 18 western European (SXXP) markets.

FTSE 100 6,339.19 +44.78 +0.71% CAC 40 3,785.82 +4.93 +0.13% DAX 7,848.57 +15.57 +0.20%

Philips gained 2.3 percent to 22.43 euros after the world’s largest lighting manufacturer reported a 50 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and one-time items to 875 million euros. The estimate survey was for 866 million euros. Sales gained 6.7 percent.

William Hill added 2.1 percent to 374 pence after the U.K. bookmaker said full-year net revenue grew by 12 percent after experiencing a strong fourth quarter. The company, which will release final results on March 1, expects operating profit of 330 million pounds ($518 million).

3i Group Plc (III), Britain’s oldest private-equity firm, rose 3.1 percent to 266.8 pence after saying that activist investor Edward Bramson has been buying its shares.

Software AG tumbled 17 percent to 28.90 after the German infrastructure-software provider reported fourth-quarter profit of 50.7 million euros ($68 million), missing analysts’ estimates of 52.9 million euros. Revenue in the fourth quarter came in at 276 million euros compared with estimates of 289.4 million euros.

Saipem SpA (SPM) fell 3.5 percent to 30.45 euros after Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit placed 9.97 million shares in Europe’s largest oil contractor by market value on behalf of an institutional client, according to the terms obtained by Bloomberg News. The shares were sold at 30.65 euros apiece.

BT Group Plc (BT/A) fell 2.3 percent to 246.2 pence after Bank of America downgraded the U.K.’s biggest fixed-line phone company to neutral from buy saying rising costs from plans to increase sales are endangering earnings growth.

Indexes finished trading mixed dynamics on expectations complete meeting of the Federal Open Market.

Market participants ignored the data on consumer sentiment in the U.S.. Today's report showed that U.S. consumer sentiment indicator in January showed a rapid decrease in the second consecutive month and reached its lowest level in 14 months. However, the U.S. stock indexes did not respond to this statistic, in fact, some time after its publication, even able to significantly recover.

The reason for ignoring the expectations of players include the results of the upcoming meeting of the Fed. From this meeting, market participants want to get more specific information on the timing of the super soft, the Fed's policy.

Decrease in the indices restrict positive assessment by investors of the current season publish quarterly reports. According to Bloomberg, 75% of the profits of companies whose shares are included in the index and S & P have already published financial data for the last quarter was higher than expected. At the same time, selling 67% of the companies had higher expectations.

Most of the components of the index DOW show growth (20 of 30). At the moment, the leader shares in Pfizer (PFE, +3.30%). Maximum loss carry stock Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, -3.11%).

Support the shares of PFE have reported financial results for the last quarter. According to the presented report, Pfizer profit up in Q4 was $ 0.47 per share, versus the average forecast of $ 0.44. Revenue for the period fell by 6.6% y / y to $ 15.7 billion compared with the average forecast of $ 14.37 billion

All sectors of the S & P is in the green zone. Maximum growth demonstrates the basic materials sector (+1.1%). No change is traded service sector and the technology sector.

At the close:

Dow +72.57 13,954.50 +0.52%

Nasdaq -0.64 3,153.66 -0.02%

S & P +7.67 1,507.85 +0.51%