European stocks climbed for a second day as companies including BASF SE (BAS) and Unilever NV (UNA) posted results that exceeded analysts’ estimates.

Of the 85 companies that have reported profit so far this season, 43 have beaten estimates, while 41 have missed them.

Britain's GDP today presented a pleasant surprise, registering up third quarter growth of 1.0% q / q, which was above market forecast +0.6%. The results were the highest since Q3. 2007 and broke a streak of three consecutive quarterly declines, suggesting that the UK economy officially emerged from the recession phase.

In the eurozone, the volume of consumer credit continued to fall in September, reflecting a decline of 0.8% y / y vs. -0.6% in August. The growth rate of the M3 monetary aggregate in the region slowed to 3.0% 3m/3m and 2.7% y / y from 3.1% / 2.8% in the previous period. In Italy, the same salary for September rose by 0.1% m / m, with a decline of 1.4% y / y

Unilever gained 3.4 percent to 28.66 euros after the world’s second-biggest consumer-goods company said third-quarter revenue grew 5.9 percent. That beat the 5.3 percent increase estimated by analysts.

BASF added 1.4 percent to 63.54 euros after saying earnings before interest, taxes and one-off items increased 5.4 percent to 2.07 billion euros ($2.7 billion), beating the average analyst forecast of 1.94 billion euros. The world’s largest chemical maker reiterated its full-year target for earnings and sales to increase, while cutting its forecast for economic growth.

Credit Suisse Group AG advanced 2.2 percent to 21.79 Swiss francs after Switzerland’s second-largest bank said it intends to reduce costs by 1 billion francs ($1.1 billion) through the end of 2015. The lender already planned a 3 billion-franc savings program.

FTSE 100 5,827.88 +23.10 +0.40%

CAC 40 3,448.1 +21.61 +0.63%

DAX 7,235.45 +42.60 +0.59%