EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Set To Break Three-day Losing Streak

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- After three days mired in the red, European stock markets rebounded on Wednesday, helped higher by well-received earnings reports from Swatch Group and Alfa Laval. Investors also waited for the ADP jobs report to gauge if the U.S. labor market is improving.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.4% to 318.69, climbing back after closing at the lowest level since Dec. 18 on Tuesday.

Among notable movers, shares of Swatch Group AG jumped 4.5% after the watchmaker reported better-than-expected full-year earnings for 2013 and forecast a rebound in demand from China.

Swedish engineering firm Alfal Laval AB rallied 6.9% after reporting a 16% rise in order intake and a 9% improvement in net sales in the fourth quarter.

On a more downbeat note, shares of Syngenta AG lost 2.5% after the seed and chemical firm said profit dropped in 2013.

More broadly, investors waited for U.S. jobs data out later in the day. The ADP employment data are out at 1:15 p.m. in London, or 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time, and could indicate whether the nonfarm-payrolls report out on Friday will show an improvement in the U.S. labor market. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect 190,000 new jobs were added to the economy in January and that the unemployment rate dropped to 6.6%.

In Europe, data for Spain showed activity in the country's services sector increased at the fastest pace in six-and-a-half years in January, with the first rise in employment since February 2008.

The IBEX 35 index gained 0.5% to 9,805.70.

Elsewhere, France's CAC 40 index was slightly higher at 4,119.13, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index gained 0.3% to 6,466.58. Germany's DAX 30 index dropped 0.1% to 9,119.78. ThyssenKrupp AG added pressure in Frankfurt, off 1.3%, after HSBC cut the industrial conglomerate to underweight from neutral.

ArcelorMittal SA climbed 1.7% in Paris after HSBC lifted the steel maker to overweight from neutral.

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