Stocks Rebound in Europe

PARIS — Stocks rebounded Friday in Europe, just hours after euro zone leaders reached an agreement to tighten fiscal discipline and strengthen measures to resolve the sovereign debt crisis. Trading in index futures indicated Wall Street would get a bounce at the start.

Officials from the 17 euro area nations, and others that may still join at some point, agreed to sign a treaty that would require them to enforce stricter fiscal and financial discipline, and agreed to bolster their bailout funds.

Britain, concerned about the impact on the London financial center, refused to sign on to any treaty changes, meaning the deal’s legal basis is uncertain for now among the broader, 27-nation European Union.

The E.C.B. president, Mario Draghi, gave his blessing to the arrangement, however, saying: “It is a very good outcome for euro area members and it’s going to be the basis for a good fiscal compact and more disciplined economic policy in euro area countries.”

After declines in Asia, European markets opened hesistantly but picked up steam later in the day.

Carsten Brzeski, an economist in Brussels with ING, warned in a note that the crisis was not over yet.

“The euro zone is on a good way towards a fiscal compact and hopefully saving the euro,” he said. “However, given the complexity and uncertainty surrounding last night’s decisions, the E.C.B. will have to continue, if not to step up, its role as euro-zone fire brigade.”

In afternoon trading, the Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of euro zone blue chips, gained 1.9 percent, while the FTSE 100 index in London was up about 1 percent.

Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose, suggesting stocks would rise at the opening bell in New York. On Thursday, the S.&P. 500 fell 2.1 percent.

The bond market was calm, though bond yields rose for some euro-zone nations seen as most vulnerable to market stress. Italy’s 10-year yield rose 8 basis points to 6.51 percent, while Spain’s rose 9 basis points to 5.84 percent. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percent.

United States 10-years rose 5 basis points to 2.06 percent, and German 10-years added 6 basis points to 2.07 percent.

Markets were unmoved by news that Moody’s Investors Service on Friday cut its credit ratings on the three largest French banks: Société Générale, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole. The three banks have suffered as American money-market funds have withdrawn financing. But the shares of all three institutions gained 1 percent or more on Friday.

The dollar was trading mixed against other major currencies. The euro rose to $1.3409 from $1.3341 late Thursday in New York, while the British pound rose to $1.5712 from $1.5629. The dollar fell to 0.9205 Swiss francs from 0.9261 francs. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar was little changed, trading at 77.65 yen from 77.64 yen.

Asian shares were lower across the board, hurt by signs that Europe’s woes were spreading.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 2.7 percent. The benchmark index in Australia fell 1.8 percent, and in Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average closed 1.5 percent lower.

The South Korean central bank on Friday reinforced concerns about the impact of a slowdown in the West, cutting its 2012 growth forecast for South Korea to 3.7 percent, from an earlier projection of 4.6 percent.

In Japan, revised gross domestic product data showed that the economy grew by less than initially expected during the past quarter: 5.6 percent annual growth from a previous estimate of 6 percent, and 1.4 percent quarterly growth from the previous estimate of 1.5 percent.

And data from China showed industrial output growth in November slowed to 12.4 percent from a year earlier, weaker than analysts had expected.

Combined with a sharp slowdown in inflation to 4.2 percent in November, the data raised expectations that Beijing would use its monetary and fiscal firepower to prop up growth. The mainland stock market nevertheless fell. The Shanghai composite index finished the day 0.6 percent lower.