European stocks rose. Investors wait for the data that may show American jobs made the biggest annual gain since 2005. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.5% to 329.92. The benchmark gauge has risen 0.7% this week.
The main news for today is US payrolls report. US employers hired 197,000 workers last month after adding 203,000 in November, according to the median estimate of economists by Bloomberg News before today’s Labor Department report. The jobless rate held at 7 percent, the least since November 2008, a separate survey showed.
The Labor Department said yesterday the number of first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell by 15,000 to 330,000 last week, the fewest since November.
Swatch climbed 3.7% to 570 Swiss francs. The biggest maker of Swiss watches reported 2013 gross sales of 8.82 billion francs ($9.7 billion), compared with the average analyst estimate of 8.86 billion francs.
Metro increased 3.3% to 35.13 euros. Franz Haniel & Cie. which owns 30 percent of the German retailer, may ask Metro to sell its Real, Kaufhof or Media-Saturn units. Metro chief Olaf Koch opposes the move.
Norsk Hydro ASA, an Oslo-based supplier of aluminum and its products, declined 0.8% to 27.58 kroner.
Alcoa Inc. marked the unofficial start of the U.S. earnings-reporting season yesterday as the largest American aluminum maker reported fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates.
Serco Group Plc lost 2.4% to 490.8 pence after the U.K.’s National Audit Office said it is among the two companies that may have to repay 3 million pounds to 4 million pounds to the government as they “struggled” with 2012 contracts to house asylum seekers.
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