By Simon Kennedy
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets rose in early trading Wednesday following gains for most Asian markets and after President Obama used his State of the Union speech to call for a freeze on domestic discretionary spending and a lower corporate tax rate. The gains also came ahead of a Federal Reserve statement on monetary policy, which will come after European markets close. Among stocks on the move, shares in Umicore (BE:UMI 37.85, +2.65, +7.53%) jumped 5% in Brussels after it was upgraded two notches to buy from sell at UBS, while Heritage Oil (UK:HOIL 361.50, -75.10, -17.20%) slumped 14% in London after a drilling update. Among the main indexes, the U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,988, +70.15, +1.19%) rose 0.7% to 5,952.73, the French CAC 40 index (FR:PX1 4,056, +36.28, +0.90%) rose 0.6% to 4,044.02 and the German DAX 30 index (DX:DAX 7,144, +85.35, +1.21%) climbed 0.5% to 7,091.72.
