2014 Top Stocks Market, Best Stocks Investment In 2014, Top Stocks For 2014: European Stocks Gain for Fourth Straight Week on Spain, Italy Debt Sales

European stocks rose for a fourthweek, the longest winning streak since October, as decliningborrowing costs at sales of Italian and Spanish debt outweighedworse-than-forecast data on U.S. jobs and retail sales.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc climbed the most in twoyears, leading gains in financial shares. UniCredit SpA, Italy��sbiggest bank, advanced 11 percent, rebounding from the previousweek��s 38 percent tumble. ING Groep NV, the largest Dutchfinancial-services company, rallied 11 percent. Retail stockssank the most since August as Tesco (TSCO) Plc plunged after reportingChristmas sales that missed analyst estimates.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.7 percentto 249.18 this past week, even after falling 0.1 percentyesterday on concern that rating companies may downgrade severaleuro-area countries. The gauge has advanced 1.9 percent in 2012as declining bond yields across Europe��s peripheral nationstempered concern that the region��s debt crisis is worsening.

��For all the talk of debt downgrades, the truth is thatbond auctions have shown that the most worrisome countries canaccess credit,�� said Francisco Salvador, a strategist at FGA/MGValores in Madrid. ��This has comforted investors.��

National benchmark indexes rose in 13 of the 18 westernEuropean markets. France��s CAC 40 climbed 1.9 percent andGermany��s DAX advanced 1.4 percent, while the U.K.��s FTSE 100Index fell 0.2 percent.

Debt Sales

Spain auctioned 10 billion euros ($12.7 billion) of bondsmaturing in 2015 and 2016 on Jan. 12, twice the maximum targetset for the sale. The yield on the three-year notes was 3.384percent, compared with 5.187 percent when the nation soldsimilar securities in December.

Italy issued 12 billion euros of Treasury bills, meetingits target as its borrowing costs plunged. The Rome-basedTreasury auctioned 8.5 billion euros one-year bills at a rate of2.735 percent, down from 5.952 percent at the last auction.

U.S. reports this week showed j! obless-b enefit claimsclimbed more than forecast while retail sales in December roseless than economists had projected. Germany, Europe��s largesteconomy, may be on the brink of recession after the economycontracted in the final quarter of 2011, according to anunofficial estimate from the Federal Statistics Office.

France and Austria face downgrades at Standard & Poor��s,government officials and people familiar with the matter saidyesterday. France will lose its AAA rating for the first time,Agence France-Presse reported. Italy��s credit rating was cut twolevels by S&P, a European Union official said.

Greek Talks

Talks between Greece and its creditor banks were put onhold after negotiations in Athens failed to yield an agreement.A proposal put forward by the steering committee representingfinancial firms has ��not produced a constructive consolidatedresponse by all parties,�� the Institute of InternationalFinance said.

The Stoxx 600 finished the week higher even after decliningon four of the five days. The gauge jumped 1.8 percent on Jan.10, the most in three weeks.

RBS rallied 18 percent this week. Britain��s biggestgovernment-owned lender is to cut about 4,800 jobs including3,500 at the investment bank as it jettisons unprofitable units,citing volatile markets and the cost of new U.K. regulation.

UniCredit rose 11 percent. Analysts at UBS AG and CitigroupInc. recommended buying the shares after they fell to a recordlow on Jan. 9. Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl gained 15 percent,the most since September, and ING increased 11 percent.

Commerzbank Climbs

Commerzbank surged 16 percent. Germany��s second-largestlender plans to raise capital to levels required by the EuropeanBanking Authority without asking taxpayers for aid, said twopeople with knowledge of the matter.

The EBA may this year postpone the annual stress test forbanks usually published in July, Handelsblatt reported.

Rio Tinto Group led mining companies higher as copperadv! anced. T he shares added 7.5 percent, the most in more than amonth. Vedanta Resources Plc climbed 7.9 percent.

Retail stocks posted the biggest decline on the Stoxx 600this week. Tesco plunged 19 percent in London trading as theU.K.��s biggest supermarket chain canceled predictions for 10percent earnings growth in the 2013 financial year. Smallerrival J Sainsbury Plc dropped 4.9 percent.

Home Retail Group slid 7.8 percent after the owner of theArgos and Homebase chains forecast a drop in annual profit andsaid it plans a ��significant�� dividend cut.

Delhaize Group fell 7.7 percent in Brussels trading, themost since August. The Belgian owner of the U.S. Food Lionsupermarkets reported sales that missed analysts�� estimates andsaid it will close 146 unprofitable stores.

Metro AG, Germany��s largest retailer, declined 6 percentafter UBS cut the stock to ��sell�� from ��neutral��.

Elsewhere, Repsol YPF SA sank 6.2 percent after Spain��sbiggest oil company sold 1.39 billion euros of shares at the lowend of a pricing range.

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