Stocks in Europe, Asia,US Rise.

Reports issued by WorldWatch confirm stocks rallied around the world as Japan's economy grew faster than forecast and companies from Groupe Danone SA to Cap Gemini SA reported earnings that beat analyst estimates. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average had its biggest gain in six years and U.S. index futures increased.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. climbed in Tokyo for the first time in seven days. Danone, the world's largest yogurt maker, and Cap Gemini rallied more than 3 percent in Europe. UBS AG tumbled more than 5 percent on concern there may be more losses after Europe's largest bank by assets posted $13.7 billion in writedowns related to subprime mortgages.

The MSCI World Index added 0.8 percent to 1,457.12 at 10:17 a.m. in London, and Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 4.3 percent, the most since March 2002. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.1 percent. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index gained 0.5 percent, after climbing as much as 1.3 percent.
Japan's economy grew 3.7 percent last quarter, twice the pace economists forecast, as exports to Asia helped companies weather the U.S. slowdown. Shares in the U.S. rallied yesterday following an unexpected rise in retail sales.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 3.7 percent, its steepest advance since Jan. 25. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 3.7 percent.

Mizuho, Japan's third-largest publicly traded bank by market value, added 4.2 percent to 443,000 yen, halting a six-day, 14 percent drop. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., the second- biggest, rose 3 percent to 785,000 yen.
Li & Fung Ltd., which sells goods to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., advanced 3.6 percent to HK$28.70.
Danone climbed 3.1 percent to 55.68 euros. The Evian bottler that bought baby-food maker Royal Numico NV last year said annual profit tripled to 4.18 billion euros ($6.11 billion) on the sale of its cookie unit to Kraft Foods Inc.

Cap Gemini climbed 8 percent to 37.05 euros. Europe's largest computer-services company said 2007 profit jumped 50 percent to 440 million euros, spurred by its acquisition of Kanbay International Inc. and lower financing costs.Analysts had predicted profit of 393 million euros.
UBS fell 5.8 percent to 38.5 francs after posting the biggest ever loss by a bank in the fourth quarter. Europe's largest bank by assets had a net loss of 12.5 billion francs, compared with a profit of 3.4 billion francs a year ago, the Zurich-based company said. UBS reported on Jan. 30 a preliminary loss of about 12.5 billion francs for the period, after increasing writedowns.
Rising metals prices sent mining companies including BHP Billiton Ltd. higher.
BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, rose 1.7 percent to 1,568 pence. Anglo American Plc, the second-largest, climbed 2.4 percent to 3,097 pence.
Copper, lead and nickel advanced in London, and aluminum jumped by the most in 17 months in Shanghai.

Zurich Financial Services AG jumped 4.6 percent 317.75 francs. The largest Swiss insurer said full-year profit rose 22 percent to a record $5.63 billion on premium gains and higher income at its biggest divisions. That beat the $5.4 billion median estimate of 11 analysts.
The insurer also said it would buy back up to 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($2 billion) of shares this year.
Lafarge SA jumped 4 percent to 116 euros. The world's biggest cement maker said fourth-quarter profit increased 36 percent to 375 million euros, driven by construction growth in China and other emerging markets.

However some European countries have to weather the storm since the crude prices continue to be inflated mainly by SPECULATION and by oil companies and governments that all that matters is 200% profit at the expense of the final consumer, therefore Portugal continues to have one of the highest (oil) petrol prices in the world..