Power-plant operators were more or less flat as traders rotated out of dividend-oriented, defensive sectors into the areas of the market most leveraged to the rate of economic growth. One of the effects of quantitative easing is to encourage investors to buy risky stocks as, in the latest development, the Japanese central bank steps in to buy stocks itself.

State-owned nuclear engineering and uranium mining group Areva SA said Friday its revenue contraction will slow down in the fourth quarter after falling 14% in the first nine months of the year.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com