European stocks advanced to the highest level in more than five years, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index gaining for a second month, as better-than-estimated earnings outweighed speculation the Federal Reserve may trim bond purchases sooner than forecast.

The Federal Open Market Committee yesterday kept its monthly bond purchases at $85 billion and said that while it sees signs of strength in the U.S. economy, it would wait for more evidence of sustained improvement before slowing stimulus. In a statement released after a two-day meeting, the FOMC dropped its warning from last month that tighter financial conditions could impair recovery.

The odds for the Fed to start reducing bond purchases in January rose to 45 percent from 25 percent before the statement, Citigroup Inc. said. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg Oct. 17-18 predicted the Fed would wait until March to begin the cuts.

A release today showed fewer Americans filed first-time applications for jobless benefits last week. Economists in another poll predict the Institute for Supply Management will say tomorrow its manufacturing index fell in October.

In the euro area, the inflation rate unexpectedly dropped in October, fueling speculation the European Central Bank will cut interest rates to boost recovery. The ECB holds its next policy meeting on Nov. 7.

National benchmark indexes rose in 11 of the 18 western European markets. Germany’s DAX advanced 0.3 percent to a record, and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.6 percent. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 slid 0.7 percent.

BNP Paribas rose 3.4 percent to 54.54 euros after France’s largest bank posted an unexpected increase in earnings as it set aside fewer provisions for bad debts and pared costs. Net income climbed to 1.36 billion euros ($1.85 billion) from 1.33 billion euros a year earlier, beating the 1.19 billion-euro average estimate of six analysts.

Alcatel-Lucent surged 19 percent to 2.82 euros. The French network-equipment maker said its third-quarter net loss fell to 200 million euros from a 316 million-euro loss a year earlier. Analysts had predicted a 274 million-euro loss, according to data. The company also said it will exceed its full-year target for cost savings.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV gained 2.8 percent to 76.60 euros. The world’s biggest brewer said consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization rose 10.5 percent in the three months through Sept. 30. The median estimate of nine analysts surveyed had called for growth of 5.7 percent.

Ingenico advanced 5.6 percent to 55.46 euros, climbing the most since September 2012. The provider of payment terminals and services said third-quarter revenue rose to 348 million euros from 311 million euros a year ago. The French company also boosted its full-year forecasts.

West Texas Intermediate fell for a third day as U.S. crude stockpiles increased and the dollar strengthened against the euro.

Prices slid as much as 0.7 percent. Inventories rose by 4.09 million barrels to 383.9 million last week, the highest level since June, the Energy Information Administration said yesterday. The euro declined the most since June versus the dollar as inflation in the euro region unexpectedly dropped. WTI’s discount to Brent shrank from the widest in seven months.

WTI for December delivery slid 50 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $96.27 a barrel at 10:43 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It settled at a four-month low of $96.77 yesterday. The volume of all futures traded was 9.5 percent below the 100-day average. Prices have retreated 5.9 percent in October.

Brent for December settlement dropped 91 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $108.95 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 4.4 percent above the 100-day average. The European benchmark’s premium to WTI was $12.68. Earlier, it touched $13.58, the most since April.

Gold prices fell after Wednesday night's U.S. Federal Reserve announced that it will continue its program of incentives, noting some improvement in the U.S. economy.

Gold prices fell by 19% in 2013, while investors expect the U.S. economy will force the gain to curtail the Fed's program to purchase assets. Some investors buy gold as a hedge against the risks of accelerating inflation , which can be a result of the policy of "cheap money " pursued by the central bank.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Committee on the open market operations of the Fed said that it will continue to implement a program to purchase bonds worth 85 billion dollars a month. Fed officials also pointed to the fact that the economy continued to recover at a moderate pace , and the situation on the labor market has improved .

Shopping in the physical markets of Asia, especially in China, has slowed in recent weeks due to the increase and price fluctuations. The prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange below the world because of the fear of shortage of cash.

The cost of the December gold futures on COMEX today dropped to $ 1320.80 per ounce.

USD/JPY Y97.40, Y97.50, Y97.85, Y97.95, Y98.00, Y98.10, Y98.20, Y98.25(large), Y98.40, Y98.75, Y99.00

EUR/JPY Y135.00

EUR/USD $1.3720, $1.3740, $1.3750, $1.3775, $1.3800, $1.3820,$1.3825(large), $1.3850

GBP/USD $1.5975, $1.6000, $1.6225, $1.6270

EUR/GBP stg0.8520, stg0.8550, stg0.8570, stg0.8575

EUR/JPY Y157.80

USD/CHF Chf0.8900, Chf0.8950, Chf0.9035, Chf0.9150, Chf0.9200

AUD/USD $0.9450, $0.9460, $0.9475, $0.9500, $0.9530, $0.9550, $0.9560, $0.9570, $0.9585

Data

00:00 Australia New Home Sales m / m in September +3.4 % +3.3 %

00:00 New Zealand Business Confidence Index circles from ANZ October 54.1 53.2

00:05 UK consumer confidence index from Gfk October -10 -8 -11

00:30 Australia Building Permits m / m in September -1.6 % Revised to -4.7 % +2.9 % 14.4 %

00:30 Australia Building Permits y / y in September Revised to +11.1 % +7.7 % +1.2 % 18.6 %

00:30 Australia import price index , q / q III m -0.3 % +3.5 % +6.1 %

00:30 Australia Export Price Index , q / q III m -0.3 % +3.4 % +4.2 %

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit m / m in September +0.3 % +0.4 % +0.3 %

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit y / y in September +3.4 % +3.4 % +3.3 %

1:30 Japan Changing the level of wages, y / y in September -0.6 % -0.5 % +0.1 %

1:30 Japan Interest Rate Decision of the Bank of Japan 0.10 % 0.10% 0.10 %

1:30 Japan monetary base Trust Bank of Japan, 270 270 trillion yen

1:30 Comments Japan Bank of Japan Monetary Policy

05:00 Japan homes , y / y in September +8.8 % +12.6 % 19.4

6:00 Report of the Bank of Japan Japan's economic outlook and inflation in October

6:30 Japan Press Conference of the Bank of Japan

07:00 UK house price index from Nationwide, m / m in October +0.9 % +0.7 % +1.0 %

07:00 UK house price index from Nationwide, y / y in October +5.0 % +5.1 % +5.8 %

7:00 Germany Retail sales , seasonally adjusted September +0.5 % +0.5 % -0.4 %

7:00 Germany Retail sales , seasonally adjusted , y / y in September +0.3 % +1.1 % +0.2 %

7:00 Germany 's consumer confidence index from the GfK November 7.1 7.3 7.0

7:45 France Consumer spending in September -0.4 % +0.2 % +0.3 %

7:45 France Consumer Spending y / y in September -0.1 % -0.8 %

10:00 Eurozone Consumer Price Index y / y (preliminary data ) October +1.1 % +1.1 % +0.7 %

10:00 Eurozone unemployment rate in September 12.0 % 12.0 % 12.2 %

12:30 Canada GDP m / m in August +0.6 % +0.2 % +0.3 %

12:30 USA Initial claims for unemployment insurance , th October 350 341 340

The dollar rose sharply against the euro, which has been associated with exit unexpectedly weak report on unemployment in the euro area, as well as data on CPI.

The latest figures from Eurostat, the Statistical Agency showed that in the last month, the unemployment rate in the euro zone rose unexpectedly , returning with a record high at around 12.2%. However, it is worth noting that, given the upward revision index for August - to the level of 12.2% to 12.0% , the unemployment rate remained unchanged. Many experts expect that in September, the unemployment rate will remain at 12.2%. The data also showed that the unemployment rate for the European Union by 11 % in September , remaining unchanged from the previous month for which unemployment was revised upwards .

At Statistics reported that the number of people out of work in the eurozone in September totaled 19.447 million , compared to 19.387 million in August. The total number of unemployed in the EU has been at the level of 26,872 million , compared to 26.811 million a month earlier.

When evaluated in the context of countries, the lowest unemployment rate in the euro area was recorded in Austria - at around 4.9%. Then followed Germany with unemployment at 5.2 % , and Luxembourg - 5.9%. The highest unemployment rate was seen in Spain - 26.6 % , and Greece - 27.6 % (in July).

Meanwhile , we add that another report showed that inflation in the eurozone fell to its lowest level in nearly four years in October , increasing the pressure on the European Central Bank, and forcing soften monetary policy to support the fragile economy of the region.

The yen strengthened against the U.S. dollar after the Bank of Japan decided to leave unchanged the unprecedented easy monetary policy , as the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is trying to overcome 15 years of deflationary pressures on the economy.

Bank of Japan Haruhiko Kuroda and the Council supported the continuation of the expansion of the monetary base by 60 trillion . - 70000000000000 . yen ( $ 711 billion ) a year. The decision in line with expectations of many economists.

The Bank of Japan will continue to buy government bonds in the 7 trillion . yen a month . Since April, the Central Bank buys government bonds with all maturities , including 40 - year bonds , the average maturity of government bonds on the balance sheet of the controller has been increased from 3 to 7 years. Today, the Bank of Japan kept its goal to increase Japanese bonds on the balance sheet at around 50 trillion . yen per year , securities exchange traded funds at the level of $ 1 trillion. yen, and the Japanese real estate funds - at 30 billion yen.

The Bank of Japan intends to buy corporate bonds and commercial paper as long as the end of the year, volumes do not amount to 3.2 trillion . and 2.2 trillion yen . yen , respectively , after which the amount of these assets on the balance sheet of the bank will be maintained at this level .

The weak yen and higher energy prices helped push prices up 0.7 percent last month, but the regulator to achieve the goal of inflation of 2 percent is still far.

EUR / USD: during the European session, the pair fell to $ 1.3626

GBP / USD: during the European session, the pair rose to $ 1.6051

USD / JPY: during the European session, the pair fell to Y98.15

At 13:45 GMT the U.S. Chicago PMI index will be released in October.

EUR/USD

Offers $1.3830/35, $1.3810/20, $1.3800, $1.3780/85, $1.3750, $1.3720

Bids $1.3660, $1.3650, $1.3625/20, $1.3600, $1.3560/50

GBP/USD

Offers $1.6180, $1.6160/65, $1.6140/50, $1.6120, $1.6100/05, $1.6080, $1.6050

Bids $1.6000, $1.5980, $1.5965/60, $1.5950/40

AUD/USD

Offers $0.9645/50, $0.9620/25, $0.9600, $0.9575/80, $0.9545/50, $0.9520

Bids $0.9480, $0.9400, $0.9350

EUR/GBP

Offers stg0.8700, stg0.8650/55, stg0.8600/05, stg0.8585, stg0.85655

Bids stg0.8520, stg0.8505/00, stg0.8470

EUR/JPY

Offers Y135.84, Y135.50, Y135.15/20, Y134.55/60

Bids Y134.00, Y133.50, Y133.00

USD/JPY

Offers Y99.20, Y99.00, Y98.80, Y98.35/40

Bids Y98.00, Y97.80, Y97.50, Y97.20

European stocks were little changed, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index heading for a monthly gain, as better-than-estimated earnings offset speculation the Federal Reserve may trim bond purchases sooner than forecast. U.S. index futures and Asian equities dropped.

The Stoxx 600 fell less than 0.1 percent to 320.68 at 9:55 a.m. in London. The gauge has rallied 3.3 percent this month as U.S. lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to end a fiscal impasse

The Federal Open Market Committee yesterday kept its monthly bond purchases at $85 billion and said that while the U.S. economy shows signs of underlying strength, it would wait for more evidence of sustained improvement before slowing stimulus. In a statement released at the end of a two-day meeting, the FOMC dropped its warning from last month that tighter financial conditions could impair recovery. The odds that the Fed would start to reduce bond purchases in January rose to 45 percent from 25 percent before yesterday’s statement, Citigroup Inc. said.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is pushing unprecedented accommodation into the final months of his term to nurture an economic recovery otherwise hampered by budget cuts, tax increases and a 16-day federal shutdown that probably reduced growth by 0.3 percentage point this quarter.

Alcatel-Lucent surged 15 percent to 2.70 euros, its biggest rally in three months. The French network-equipment maker said its third-quarter net loss fell to 200 million euros ($274 million) from a 316 million-euro loss a year earlier. Analysts had predicted a 274 million-euro loss.

BNP Paribas rose 2.3 percent to 53.98 euros after France’s largest bank posted an unexpected increase in earnings as it set aside fewer provisions for bad debts and pared costs. Net income climbed to 1.36 billion euros from 1.33 billion euros a year earlier, beating the 1.19 billion-euro average estimate of six analysts.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV gained 2 percent to 76.07 euros. The world’s biggest brewer said consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization rose 10.5 percent in the three months through Sept. 30. The median estimate of analysts had called for growth of 5.7 percent.

FTSE 100 6,744.55 -33.15 -0.49%

CAC 40 4,275.6 +1.49 +0.03%

DAX 8,988.57 -21.70 -0.24%

Asian stocks fell, trimming the best two-month rally for the regional benchmark gauge since the start of 2012, after the Federal Reserve fueled bets it may start paring stimulus sooner than previously forecast.

Nikkei 225 14,327.94 -174.41 -1.20%

Hang Seng 23,206.37 -97.65 -0.42%

S&P/ASX 200 5,425.5 -5.36 -0.10%

Shanghai Composite 2,141.61 -18.85 -0.87%

Alacer Gold Corp. sank 4.1 percent in Sydney as the price of the precious metal declined.

Honda Motor Co. lost 1.3 percent after Japan’s third-largest carmaker reported second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates amid slowing motorcycle sales in Southeast Asia.

Котировки акций National Australia Bank Ltd. упали на 2,5%, поскольку крупнейший банк Австралии по объему активов объявил о росте расходов.

The dollar rose for a fourth day against the euro before U.S. data forecast to show jobless claims decreased. First-time applications for jobless benefits probably decreased to 338,000 in the week ended Oct. 26 from 350,000 the previous week, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of the data today.

The greenback was still set for monthly declines against most major peers as concern the partial U.S. government shutdown will affect the economy underpins a Federal Reserve decision to keep buying $85 billion of bonds a month.

The BOJ maintained a pledge to expand monetary base by 60 trillion to 70 trillion yen ($71 billion) a year.

In New Zealand, the central bank left the official cash rate unchanged at a record-low 2.5 percent today, in line with economists’ estimates. Sustained strength in the kiwi holding inflation in check gives the bank “greater flexibility as to the timing and magnitude of future increases” in interest rates, Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler said in a statement released in Wellington today.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $ 1.3685

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $ 1.6005-40

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair fell to Y98.25

Nationwide house price data at 0700GMT the early domestic interest, though Germany retail sales at same time could overshadow. US weekly claims into the afternoon and the Chicago Report the afternoon focus, along with end month fixings which are expected to prompt dollar sales.

GOLD 1,344.00 -1.50 -0.11%

OIL (WTI) 96.72 -1.48 -1.51%

Nikkei 225 14,502.35 176,37 1,23%

Hang Seng 23,304.02 457,48 2,00%

S & P / ASX 200 5,430.85 15,33 0,28%

Shanghai Composite 2,160.46 31,60 1,48%

FTSE 100 6,777.7 +2.97 +0.04%

CAC 40 4,274.11 -3.98 -0.09%

DAX 9,010.27 -11.77 -0.13%

Dow 15,618.76 -61.59 -0.39%

Nasdaq 3,930.62 -21.72 -0.55%

S&P 500 1,763.31 -8.64 -0.49%

(pare/closed(00:00 GMT +02:00)/change, %)

EUR/USD $1,3736 -0,07%

GBP/USD $1,6035 -0,07%

USD/CHF Chf0,8992 +0,08%

USD/JPY Y98,44 +0,25%

EUR/JPY Y135,23 +0,18%

GBP/JPY Y157,83 +0,18%

AUD/USD $0,9481 +0,02%

NZD/USD $0,8264 +0,07%

USD/CAD C$1,0476 +0,09%

00:00 Australia HIA New Home Sales, m/m September +3.4%

00:00 New Zealand ANZ Business Confidence October 54.1

00:05 United Kingdom Gfk Consumer Confidence October -10 -8

00:30 Australia Building Permits, m/m September -4.7% +2.9%

00:30 Australia Building Permits, y/y September +7.7% +1.2%

00:30 Australia Import Price Index, q/q Quarter III -0.3% +3.5%

00:30 Australia Export Price Index, q/q Quarter III -0.3% +3.4%

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit, m/m September +0.3% +0.4%

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit, y/y September +3.4% +3.4%

01:30 Japan Labor Cash Earnings, YoY September -0.6% -0.5%

01:30 Japan BoJ Interest Rate Decision 0.10% 0.10%

01:30 Japan Bank of Japan Monetary Base Target 270

01:30 Japan BoJ Monetary Policy Statement

05:00 Japan Housing Starts, y/y September +8.8% +12.6%

06:00 Japan BOJ Outlook Report October

06:30 Japan BOJ Press Conference

07:00 United Kingdom Nationwide house price index October +0.9% +0.7%

07:00 United Kingdom Nationwide house price index, y/y October +5.0% +5.1%

07:00 Germany Retail sales, real adjusted September +0.5% +0.5%

07:00 Germany Retail sales, real unadjusted, y/y September +0.3% +1.1%

07:00 Germany Gfk Consumer Confidence Survey November 7.1 7.3

07:45 France Consumer spending September -0.4% +0.2%

07:45 France Consumer spending, y/y September -0.1%

10:00 Eurozone Harmonized CPI, Y/Y (Preliminary) October +1.1% +1.1%

10:00 Eurozone Unemployment Rate September 12.0% 12.0%

12:30 Canada GDP (m/m) August +0.6% +0.2%

13:00 U.S. Treasury Sec Lew Speaks

13:45 U.S. Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index October 55.7 344

13:45 U.S. Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index October 55.7 55.1

22:30 Australia AIG Manufacturing Index October 51.7