Saturday, March 5, 2011
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell after U.S. wages failed to keep pace with a surge in energy costs and oil climbed as investors speculated that pro-democracy protests in North Africa will spread to the Arabian peninsula. Carrefour SA, the world’s second-largest retailer, slid 4.4 percent after Citigroup Inc. advised investors to sell the shares. WPP Plc declined 2.6 percent after posting sales growth that failed to match its competitors. SBM Offshore NV, the world’s biggest producer of floating oil rigs, jumped 6.3 percent after earnings beat analysts’ projections. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.6 percent to 281.87 at the 4:30 p.m. close in London. The measure lost 0.8 percent this week as concern that popular protests will spread to Saudi Arabia offset better-than-estimated corporate earnings and signs that the global economy is strengthening. Stocks erased earlier gains today after a U.S. Labor Department report said average hourly earnings failed to grow in February. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast 0.2 percent growth.
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