EUROPE MARKETS: Shares Gain In Europe After Report Citi May Be Sold

Stocks in Europe edged higher in early trading on Friday, with a report that Citigroup may be sold helping shares on the Continent to look past the pummeling taken on Wall Street in the prior session.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell to levels not seen since the spring of 1997 as U.S. stocks were crushed again.
But with a report that Citigroup may sell itself, U.S. stock futures surged, with futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 304 points.
The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 rose 0.6% to 187.82, led by the miners and insurers that fell sharply on Thursday.
The U.K. FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to 3,888.77, the French CAC 40 added 0.7% to 3, 002.56 and the German DAX 30 added 0.4% to 4,236.47.
Strategists at Goldman Sachs said earnings estimates have been revised downward for 70% of the companies in the Stoxx 600.
"Equity markets continue to face a steady stream of bad corporate and macroeconomic news. What is worse, the market still sells off on such news, suggesting that it is not all in the price," they said.
"We would wait until the market stops falling on bad news before we turn positive."
Of stocks in the spotlight, Barclays (BCS) rose 3.3% as one of its top shareholders, Legal & General, said it would support the 7 billion pound ($10.4 billion) fund-raising plan because of the "exceptional circumstances" that a failure to raise the money could bring. But it said in the future it will "vote against capital raisings that disregard preemption rights."
Legal & General , which has been erratic through the week, rose 4.5%.
Sacyr-Vallehermoso shot up 16.7% after a report that a Libyan investment fund may want to buy Sacyr's 20% stake in Repsol (REP).
Meanwhile, Lukoil also is said to be in talks to buy Repsol stakes both from Sacyr and from Criteria .
Repsol and Criteria shares were both halted by the Spanish securities regulator.
SolarWorld rose 8.4%, recovering some of the losses from its heavily criticized attempt to buy four plants from the Opel unit of General Motors.