European stock-index futures advanced and Asian shares rallied as billionaire investor Warren Buffett said his company is buying equities and higher commodity prices lifted raw-material producers. U.S. futures gained. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, increased 2 percent in Sydney as copper, lead and nickel climbed on the London Metal Exchange. KBC Group NV may rise after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised buying shares of the Belgian bank. Inditex SA will probably gain after first-half net income at Europe’s largest clothing retailer beat analysts’ estimates. Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index added 0.6 percent at 7:23 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is set to open 25 points higher, according to inter-dealer broker BGC Partners. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index surged 1.5 percent. Europe’s Stoxx 600 has rallied 53 percent since March 9 as earnings at companies from Goldman Sachs to Roche Holding AG topped estimates and the German and French economies unexpectedly exited recessions. The measure has risen eight times in the last nine days. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in December added 0.2 percent after earlier falling 0.1 percent. The gauge increased 0.3 percent yesterday after a government report showed retail sales excluding automobiles gained 1.1 percent last month, while the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its general economic index rose to 18.9 in September. Both reports surpassed economist estimates. Bernanke, Buffett Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who yesterday said the recession has likely ended, may have to accept a slow recovery and high unemployment as the price for defending his inflation-fighting credentials. “Even though from a technical perspective the recession is very likely over at this point, it’s still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time,” Bernanke said in response to questions after a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “That’s a challenge for us and all policy makers going forward.” Buffett told a conference in California yesterday that his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is “buying stocks right as we speak” and he’s getting a “lot for my money” in equities. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said in a broadcast to Tokyo clients of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. today that he’s concerned that lawmakers will hamper U.S. central bank efforts to rein in its monetary stimulus, and that inflation might “swamp” the bond market. BHP Billiton added 2 percent to A$39. Copper climbed for a second day in London, rising 1.4 percent. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest mining company, gained 2 percent to A$60.18. KBC, Inditex KBC may advance. Goldman Sachs rated the shares “buy” in new coverage and placed them on its “conviction buy” list. Inditex will probably rise. Net income fell 7.6 percent to 375 million euros ($550 million) in the six months through July, beating the 349.5 million-euro average estimate of six analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

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