Stocks: Tuesday review

European stocks climbed, halting a four-day decline for the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index, as yields on benchmark Spanish bonds slipped amid speculation that the country’s government will soon ask for a bailout.

Euro-area finance ministers gave Greece an extra two years to cut its budget deficit to 2 percent of gross domestic product, pledging to plug the resulting financing gap to prevent the country from leaving the single currency.

Finance ministers put off until Nov. 20 a decision on how to cover additional Greek needs of as much as 32.6 billion euros ($41 billion) and left unclear whether the International Monetary Fund will continue to contribute. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde disagreed with a decision by the representatives of the 17-nation currency zone to postpone the goal of getting Greece’s debt down to 120 percent of GDP by two years, until 2022.

National benchmark indexes gained in 14 of 18 western- European markets today. France’s CAC 40 (CAC) rose 0.6 percent, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.3 percent. Germany’s DAX climbed less than 0.1 percent.

UniCredit SpA climbed 4.4 percent to 3.52 euros. Italy’s biggest bank reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates after a record loss a year earlier because of writedowns. Net income increased to 335 million euros, compared with a net loss of 10.6 billion euros a year earlier when the Milan-based lender booked goodwill impairments of 8.7 billion euros. Profit surpassed the 99 million-euro average estimate of 13 analysts.

EON slumped 12 percent to 14.64 euros, its biggest retreat in 20 years, after saying  its forecast of 3.2 billion euros to 3.7 billion euros of underlying net income next year “no longer seems achievable” because gas-fired power plants aren’t making money. The company also said it will consider cutting dividend payments.

Vodafone slid 2.5 percent to 162.5 pence as the announcement of the 5.9 billion-pound ($9.4 billion) impairment outweighed its decision to start a 1.5 billion-pound buyback plan. Verizon Wireless will pay an $8.5 billion dividend to its co-owners, Vodafone and Verizon Communications Inc., by the end of 2012, enabling Vodafone to finance the share buyback.

K+S AG  sank 4.5 percent to 34.29 euros. Europe’s largest potash maker said it expects sales and profit in 2012 to only reach the bottom of its targeted range as delays on Chinese and Indian contracts restrain market prices for fertilizer.

Yesterday session, the major U.S. stock indexes started and ended in the red, but in the middle of trading were able to retreat from session lows thanks to some concerns about the weakening of the situation in Europe, as well as a strong quarterly report from the company Home Depot (HD).

Reduce concerns about the situation in Europe contributed to the words of the Minister of Finance of Greece, who said that the talks with the troika of international lenders were constructive and that he expects to receive a final positive decision regarding the provision of the next tranche of financial aid to 20 November.

In turn, a quarterly report of Home Depot (HD) was slightly better than expected, in addition, the company raised its outlook on the financial performance for the next year. Market participants perceived strong quarterly report Home Depot, which is the largest network in the world for the sale of tools for repairing and building materials, as an additional signal of stabilization and even improvement in the U.S. housing market.

However, the prerequisites for significant growth index is not: even if a positive decision on the allocation of a new tranche of financial aid, it does not solve the problems of Greece, and the report of one of the many companies, albeit rather large and important from the point of view of the situation in the real estate market, does not substantially alter the overall picture of the current season of quarterly reports, which is quite disappointing.

Market nervousness adds the problem of "fiscal cliff" in the United States. After his re-election President Obama has been actively engaged in this issue, but so far no results, and the continued high chance that a compromise on this issue can not be achieved. The result will be a decline in U.S. GDP growth to 0.5% and an increase in unemployment to 9%. In any case, the forward-looking voices Congressional Budget Office. Although the true negative effect of the "fiscal cliff" may be more significant.

Most of the components of the index DOW declined. Maximum loss incurred stock Microsoft (MSFT, -3.88%), which provides the pressure leaving the company one of the top managers. Shares rose more than other The Home Depot (HD, +3.91%), which are due to a strong quarterly report today updated the historical maximum.

Most sectors of the S & P is in the red. Below is the rest of the basic materials sector (-0.8%). The leaders of the sector of consumer goods (+0.3%) and utilities (+0.3%).

At the close:

Dow 12,756.18 -58.90 -0.46%

Nasdaq 2,883.89 -20.37 -0.70%

S&P 500 1,374.53 -5.50 -0.40%