European stocks fell, even as the Stoxx Europe 600 Index completed its second straight monthly rally, after companies including BP Plc and UBS AG posted earnings that missed forecasts and investors awaited the outcome of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting.

The German Finance Ministry said it sees no need to award a banking license to the euro-area’s permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism.

National benchmark indexes retreated in 16 of the 18 western-European markets today. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slid 0.8 percent, while Germany’s DAX Index added 0.2 percent. France’s CAC 40 Index fell 0.6 percent.

BP lost 4.4 percent to 425.05 pence, the most since Sept. 22. Europe’s second-biggest oil company reported a loss in the second quarter as the company wrote down the value of U.S. assets and production dropped.  BP reported a net loss of $1.4 billion compared with a profit of $5.7 billion a year earlier, the London-based company said today in a statement. Excluding one-time items and changes in inventories, profit missed analyst estimates.

UBS retreated 5.9 percent to 10.29 Swiss francs, the biggest decline since October. Switzerland’s biggest bank reported second-quarter profit that fell 58 percent, missing analysts’ projections, as its investment bank lost money on the Facebook Inc. share sale. Net income declined to 425 million francs ($434 million) from 1.02 billion francs a year earlier.

U.S. stocks are mixed as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) climbed 3.04% after the world’s largest drugmaker said it will file in mid-August to sell as much as 20% of its animal-health unit in an initial public offering. The company also reported profit that beat analyst estimates as a result of cost cutting.
Currently:
Dow 13,064.95 -8.06 -0.06%
Nasdaq 2,951.12 +5.28 +0.18%
S&P 500 1,384.33 -0.97 -0.07%

U.S. stock futures advanced after companies from U.S. Steel (X) Corp. to Pfizer Inc. reported earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
Global Stocks:
Nikkei  8,695.06 +59.62 +0.69%
Hang Seng 19,796.81 +211.41 +1.08%
Shanghai Composite 2,103.63 -6.28 -0.30%
FTSE  5,679.32 -14.31 -0.25%
CAC 3,317.91 -2.80 -0.08%
DAX 6,807.06 +33.00 +0.49%
Crude oil $90.02 (+0,27%)
Gold $1623.40 (+0.21%)

Trading in Europe opened growth futures. Positives came from the expectations of the new measures to stimulate the economy, which may declare at a meeting of the ECB (August 2 this year). U.S. Fed meeting will be held on August 1. Special attention to the investors are the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting at which a decision will be made public by the level of the base interest rate.

Negative trading background has provided economic data on unemployment in Germany in July 2012 So, according to the Federal Employment Agency of Germany, the number of unemployed in Germany, seasonally adjusted, in July 2012 increased by 7 thousand from the previous month.

At the moment:

FTSE 100 5,688.67 -4.96 -0.09%

DAX 6,814.67 +40.61 +0.60%

CAC 3,326.30 +5.59 +0.17%

Net profit of BP in the I half 2012 fell by 2.9 times compared to the same period last year, in connection with the shares were down 3.37%.

Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index headed for a second monthly gain, on speculation the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank may signal their readiness to stimulate growth amid signs of a global economic slowdown, boosting the earnings outlook for exporters.

Nikkei 225 8,695.06 +59.62 +0.69%

S&P/ASX 200 4,269.2 +23.49 +0.55%

Shanghai Composite 2,103.67 -6.24 -0.30%

Canon Inc., the world’s biggest camera maker, advanced 5.8 percent in Tokyo on a share buyback plan, pacing gains among information technology shares.

Hokuriku Electric Power Co. soared 14 percent, leading Japanese utilities higher after raising its sales forecast.

Campbell Brothers Ltd., a provider of laboratory services for the mining industry, slumped 10 percent in Sydney after saying volatility and uncertainty in the global economy may have a negative earnings impact.

Asian stocks headed for the biggest three-day gain in seven weeks, as financial firms advanced amid optimism European policy makers will support the euro and after companies including Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. reported earnings.

Nikkei 225 8,635.44 +68.80 +0.80%

S&P/ASX 200 4,245.7 +35.93 +0.85%

Shanghai Composite 2,112.67 -16.09 -0.76%

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia’s biggest lender by market value, gained 1.8 percent in Sydney after the cost to protect Asian bonds against default declined.

Konica Minolta, an imaging-equipment maker that gets 28 percent of its sales in Europe, jumped 5.8 percent in Tokyo after operating profit almost doubled from a year earlier.

Iluka Resources Ltd. surged 9.2 percent in Sydney after Morgan Stanley raised the mining company’s investment rating.

European stocks rose to their highest level since April amid optimism the European Central Bank will win support from policy makers for a plan to ease the euro area’s debt crisis.

ECB President Mario Draghi proposes using the euro area’s temporary rescue fund to buy government bonds on the primary market, while the central bank purchases securities on the secondary market to ensure the transmission of its record-low interest rates, two central bank officials said on July 27 on condition of anonymity.

European stocks rose for an eighth consecutive week last week as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande joined Draghi in promising to do everything to protect the euro.

Air France surged 19 percent to 4.62 euros, its biggest gain in two decades, after posting a narrower second-quarter loss as a restructuring program helped to reduce operating costs. Europe’s second-largest airline by sales reported an operating loss of 66 million euros compared with 145 million euros a year earlier. That beat the average estimate for a 163 million-euro operating loss of three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 4.5 percent to 6.5 billion euros.

International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, the parent company of British Airways Plc, rose 7.2 percent to 162 pence. Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s biggest airline by sales, gained 3.2 percent to 10.41 euros.

National benchmark indexes climbed in western-European market except Iceland. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and France’s CAC 40 Index jumped 1.2 percent, while Germany’s DAX Index gained 1.3 percent.

Change % Change Last

Nikkei 225 8,635.44 +68.80 +0.80%

S&P/ASX 200 4,245.7 +35.93 +0.85%

Shanghai Composite 2,112.67 -16.09 -0.76%