European Stocks Advance as EDF, Alcatel-Lucent Rally

European stocks advanced as investors weighed corporate earnings from Electricite de France SA to Barclays Plc and the Federal Reserve began a two-day policy meeting.

EDF, Europe’s biggest power generator, and Alcatel-Lucent SA, a French maker of phone equipment, jumped more than 7 percent as profit beat analysts’ estimates. Barclays sank the most in 13 months after announcing a rights offering and saying income fell. K+S AG, Europe’s largest potash producer, plunged 24 percent as OAO Uralkali ended a deal that controlled supplies of the fertilizer ingredient from the former Soviet Union.