Japan stocks rose to a two-week high after a drop in interest rates
charged between banks raised speculation lending may recover as credit
markets ease.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc., a bank that last week
more than halved its profit forecast, jumped 7.1 percent, while Orix
Corp., the nation's biggest non-bank financial company, climbed 7
percent. Sanyo Electric Co. soared 34 percent on reports Panasonic
Corp. will buy the company. Nissan Motor Co. sank 11 percent, the most
since Oct. 16, after scrapping its dividend.
The Nikkei climbed
537.62, or 6.3 percent, to close at 9,114.60 in Tokyo, while the
broader Topix index rose 43.58, or 5 percent, to 910.70. Both
benchmarks climbed to the highest level since Oct. 21. Japan's markets
were closed yesterday for a national holiday when MSCI's Asian stock
index jumped 2.1 percent.
European stocks advanced
for a sixth day as results from Clariant AG and Marks & Spencer
Group Plc eased concern about profit growth, while money-market
interest rates declined.
Clariant jumped 23 percent and Marks
& Spencer rose 7.7 percent after the companies reported earnings
that topped analysts' estimates. Societe Generale SA and Allianz SE
both rallied more than 11 percent after a leading money-market
indicator slid to the lowest level.
Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600
Index added 4.5 percent to 233.50. The six-day rally is the longest
stretch of gains since August 2007 when the credit crisis got under
way.
U.S. stocks advanced in the biggest presidential
Election Day rally in 24 years, led by energy and banking shares, on
rebounding commodity prices and speculation the Treasury will bail out
more financial companies.
General Electric Co. added 7.1 percent
and CIT Group Inc. and Principal Financial Group Inc. climbed more than
16 percent after people briefed on the matter said the government may
broaden the focus of its rescue program. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron
Corp. led all 40 energy shares in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index
higher as oil gained. Archer Daniels Midland Co. rose as much as 22
percent after profit more than doubled at the world's largest grain
processor.
Today's advance in the S&P 500 and Dow average are
the biggest for a presidential Election Day since the NYSE first opened
for trading during a presidential vote in 1984. The S&P 500
advanced on four and fell on two of the previous presidential election
days since then, averaging a 0.3 percent gain.