European Stocks Extend Advance as U.S. Jobless Rate Falls

European (SXXP) stocks extended gains, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index heading for its first weekly advance in three, after a report showed U.S. payrolls rose by 114,000 and the jobless rate fell to 7.8 percent in September.

The Stoxx 600 climbed 1 percent to 273.98 at 1:31 p.m. in London. The index is heading for a 2.1 percent weekly gain and has rallied 17 percent from this year’s low on June 4 as European Central Bank policy makers agreed on an unlimited asset-purchase program and the Federal Reserve announced a third round of quantitative easing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adria Cimino in Paris at acimino1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net.