European stocks rose the most in more than two months as the European Central Bank said that interest rates will remain low for an extended period, and Portugal’s political leaders sought to hold their coalition government together. U.S. index futures and Asian shares also climbed.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index surged 2.3 percent to 292.09 at 4:30 p.m. in London, paring the gauge’s retreat from its 2013 high on May 22 to 6 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures rose 0.9 percent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.4 percent. U.S. equity markets are closed today for the Independence Day holiday.

The ECB’s President Mario Draghi predicted that interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time. Speaking at a press conference at the central bank’s offices in Frankfurt’s Eurotower, Draghi said that key interest rates will remain at their current levels or lower for as long as necessary. Policy makers left their main refinancing rate at 0.5 percent at today’s meeting.

In the U.K., the Bank of England signaled that it will leave interest rates at a record low for longer than investors had expected. The central bank left its bond-purchase target at 375 billion pounds ($565 billion) and its key rate at 0.5 percent.

National benchmark indexes advanced in every western-European market except Iceland.

FTSE 100 6,421.67 +191.80 +3.08% CAC 40 3,809.31 +107.30 +2.90% DAX 7,994.31 +164.99 +2.11%  

Banco Espirito Santo SA, Portugal biggest bank by market value, rallied 10 percent to 60.2 euro cents. Banco Comercial Portugues SA, the second largest, surged 9.9 percent to 8.9 euro cents. Portugal’s PSI 20 Index jumped 3.7 percent, paring its 5.3 percent tumble yesterday.

Taylor Wimpey added 7.2 percent to 103.9 pence. The U.K.’s second-largest housebuilder by market value reported an operating-profit margin in its domestic market of more than 13 percent, compared with 11.2 percent a year earlier. It will publish first-half results on July 31.

Persimmon Plc, the country’s largest homebuilder, added 4.5 percent to 1,267 pence. Barratt Developments Plc rose 5.1 percent to 334.3 pence.

Oerlikon rose 3.5 percent to 11.70 Swiss francs after the maker of textile machinery said it will receive 470 million francs ($492 million) from the sale of its natural-fibers business to Jinsheng Group of China.

PSA Peugeot Citroen (UG) surged 10 percent to 6.86 euros, its biggest gain since April 24. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. upgraded the shares of the French automaker to buy from neutral. The brokerage said that Peugeot will probably beat its goals for reducing cash consumption.

European stocks rose, halting a two-day drop, as investors awaited interest-rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, and Portugal’s political leaders sought to hold the coalition government together. U.S. index futures and Asian shares climbed.

The ECB will leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent today, according to 61 of 62 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The central bank announces the decision at 1:45 p.m. in Frankfurt and President Mario Draghi holds a press conference 45 minutes later.

The Bank of England will hold its bond-purchase target at 375 billion pounds ($572 billion) and its key rate at 0.5 percent, separate surveys show. The central bank will announce its decision at noon in London.

Paulo Portas, whose resignation on July 2 threatened to bring down the Portuguese government, will meet with Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho in an attempt to hold the coalition together. An official in CDS, the smaller of the two parties in the government, said that Portas will seek a guarantee that his group can retain an influence on policy.

Banco Espirito Santo SA, Portugal biggest bank by market value, rallied 7.7 percent to 58.7 euro cents. Banco Comercial surged 7.4 percent to 8.7 euro cents. Portugal’s PSI 20 Index jumped 3 percent, paring its 5.3 percent tumble yesterday.

Taylor Wimpey added 4.4 percent to 101.2 pence. The U.K.’s second-largest housebuilder by market value reported an operating-profit margin in its home market of more than 13 percent, compared with 11.2 percent a year earlier. It will publish first-half results on July 31.

Persimmon Plc, the country’s largest homebuilder, added 2.3 percent to 1,241 pence. Barratt Developments Plc rose 2.4 percent to 325.5 pence.

FTSE 100 6,297.1 +67.23 +1.08%

CAC 40 3,730.87 +28.86 +0.78%

DAX 7,874.22 +44.90 +0.57%

Asian stocks outside Japan rose after better-than-estimated U.S. jobs data added to signs that the world’s largest economy is recovering, boosting the earnings prospects for exporters.

Nikkei 225 14,018.93 -36.63 -0.26%

Hang Seng 20,450.16 +302.85 +1.50%

S&P/ASX 200 4,794.7 +50.57 +1.07%

Shanghai Composite 2,006.1 +11.83 +0.59%

CSL Ltd., a maker of blood-derived therapies that gets about 38 percent of sales in the U.S., gained 3.5 percent in Sydney.

Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore energy explorer, added 2.4 percent in Hong Kong as crude oil traded near a 14-month high.

Dentsu Inc., a Japanese advertising company that bought Aegis Group Plc, sank 9.2 percent after saying it will raise as much as 120.1 billion yen ($1.2 billion) selling shares to help pay for the deal.

Nikkei 225 -0,31 -43,18 14,055.56%

Hang Seng 20,197.19 -461,46 -2,23%

S & P / ASX 200 4,744.13 -89,88 -1,86%

Shanghai Composite 1,994.27 -12.29 -0.61%

FTSE 100 6,229.87 -74.07 -1.17 %

CAC 40 3,702.01 -40.56 -1.08 %

DAX 7,829.32 -81.45 -1.03 %

DJIA 14,988.50 56.14 0.38%

S&P 500 1,615.41 1.33 0.08%

NASDAQ 3,443.67 10.27 0.30%