(Bloomberg) -- European shares rebounded after their worst week since February as the Federal Bureau of Investigation reiterated its assertion that U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton didn't break any laws in her handling of e-mails.
HSBC Holdings Plc led banks to the best performance in a broad-based rally that saw all of the Stoxx Europe 600 Index's 19 industry groups gain. The lender climbed 4.6 percent after posting a surprise jump in adjusted profit and a regulatory decision boosted its key capital ratio. BHP Billiton Ltd. paced miners higher as metals advanced.
The Stoxx 600 jumped 1.2 percent to 332.69 at 10 a.m. in London. The equity gauge on Friday capped its 11th consecutive day without gains for the first time since 1994 after a particularly difficult week dominated by angst about the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.
FBI Director James Comey said Sunday in a letter to Congress that the FBI maintained its opinion that Clinton's handling of e-mails while secretary of state didn't constitute a crime, after reviewing new communications potentially related to the Democratic candidate. His statement just over a week earlier that the bureau was looking into more e-mails sparked a selloff in U.S. and European risk assets.
The initial announcement provided a fillip to Donald Trump's campaign for the White House at a time most polls showed Clinton well ahead. The race has since tightened, though the Democrat holds a 2.2 percentage-point lead, according to an average of polls by RealClearPolitics.
The Stoxx 600 is still trading close to a four-month low amid investor skepticism toward the region. Mixed earnings reports, concern over the U.S. election and Brexit, as well as ongoing worries about the strength of the economic recovery and the willingness of central banks to maintain accommodative monetary policies have hurt sentiment since the equity gauge reached a four-month high in September. It is on course for its first annual decline since the height of the sovereign-debt crisis in 2011.
Earnings will also be in focus again Monday. About 60 percent of Stoxx 600 companies that have reported so far this season have beaten profit projections, while 48 percent topped sales estimates, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Analysts forecast a 4.3 percent contraction in net income this year.
Among stocks moving on corporate news, Ryanair Holdings Plc rose 5.2 percent after announcing plans to buy back as much as 550 million euros ($608 million) of stock after record passenger numbers over the summer helped second-quarter profit beat analyst estimates.
Actelion Ltd. was among the best-performing drug stocks, gaining 2.1 percent after saying a treatment for a type of pulmonary hypertension met its primary endpoint target.
Tesco Plc fell 1.2 percent after its banking operation decided to temporarily stop online transactions from current accounts after confirming some customers had been subject to criminal activity.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alan Soughley in Frankfurt at asoughley@bloomberg.net, Julie Edde in London at jedde2@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net, Alan Soughley
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