European stocks rebound after worst start to year since 2008

By Sofia Horta e Costa

European stocks advanced following their longest weekly losing streak since October.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.8 percent to 340.74 at 9:53 a.m. on Monday in London after earlier paring gains to 0.1 percent. The benchmark gauge fell 1 percent last week for a second decline, posting its worst start to a year since 2008. It closed down 3.7 percent from an almost seven-year high reached Dec. 5 amid a decline in oil prices and Greek equities as the nation is heading for an early election.

?Concerns about oil and Greece have given us a very volatile start to the year, though this was welcome for us,? said Michael Woischneck, who helps manage about $7.3 billion at Lampe Asset Management in Dusseldorf. ?It?s an opportunity to pick up stocks. We increased our equity exposure quite significantly.?

The Stoxx 600 lost 1.3 percent on Jan. 9 amid a slump in Spanish and Italian lenders. The IBEX 35 Index fell the most since September 2012 that day, closing at its lowest level since Oct. 16. At the same time, traders are buying up protection should Greece?s potential exit from the euro trigger a domino drop in Spanish and Italian stocks.

The Spanish equity gauge and Italy?s FTSE MIB Index rose more than 1 percent today. Greece?s ASE Index advanced 0.7 percent. Germany?s DAX Index posted the biggest gain among 18 western-European markets, up 1.3 percent.

Equities ended lower on Jan. 9 after a person familiar with the matter said the European Central Bank is studying models for buying as much as 500 billion euros ($593 billion) of investment-grade assets, raising concern that won?t be enough to shore up the economy. Later in the day, a U.S. jobs report showed earnings for all employees unexpectedly declined.<...