LONDON (ShareCast) - -58% of Greek debt holders sign up for bond swap.
-US hiring figures surprise on the upside.
-Markets rebound from Tuesday’s falls.

FTSE-100: 0.44%
Euro Stoxx 50: 0.71%
Dax-30: 0.57%
Cac-40: 0.89%
Ibex 35: -0.06%
FTSE MIB: 1.11%

After investors got the shakes on Tuesday, Wednesday was a return to recent form with most European equity indices finishing the day with gains.

The number of Greek debt holders signing up for the bond swap is growing, at the last count 58%, or €120bn, was committed to the forgiveness program which is a pre-requisite for the country to receive a €130bn bailout from its Eurozone partners.

In the US a closely watched report from ADP Employer Services indicated the American economy added 216,000 jobs in February, up from the 170,000 figure for January. Expectations had been for around 215,000.

The one black spot was an unexpected 2.7% drop in German factory orders between December and January.

Economists at Barclays have indicated that it still too early to know if the unexpected weakness reflects the expiry of tax benefits for investment in capital equipment in the United States or simply a still muted global capex cycle.

EQUTIES

French aerospace and electronics company Thales reported full-year net income of €566m, far above analyst expectations; the stock ended the day 2.7% higher

Deutsche Boerse gained 2.4% after UBS recommended buying the stock.

German sports company Adidas fell 2.85% after its outlook for 2012 fell short of expectations.

The strongest sector on the Stoxx Europe 600 was Travel and Leisure, which gained 1.5%. The weakest was Utilities, which dropped 0.27%.

MACROECONOMY

The Swiss unemployment rate for the month of February has come in at 3.4% (Consensus: 3.4%).

Spanish industrial production contracted at a 4.2% year-on-year pace in January (Consensus: -4.3%).

OTHER MARKETS

Front month Brent crude futures contracts had gained 1.13% by 16:40 in London to hit the $123.36/barrel mark.

The euro/dollar was up 0.3% by 17:54 in Frankfurt at $1.3152.

BS

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