On Thursday European stocks advanced after Spain and Italy sold debt at lower borrowing costs, signaling continued investor appetite for euro-area securities. U.S. index futures climbed, while Asian shares retreated.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc rose 7.4 percent after announcing job cuts. Sulzer, the world’s second-largest maker of pumps, added 5.8 percent after saying full-year orders increased 14 percent. Tesco Plc led retail shares lower after the U.K.’s largest supermarket chain said it was “disappointed” with festive trading. Vestas Wind Systems and Delhaize Group SA tumbled.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.6 percent to 251.43 at 10:51 a.m. in London, after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday confirmed the world’s largest economy continues to grow.

Spain sold Eur9.98 billion of bonds maturing in 2015 and 2016, including a new three-year benchmark security, twice the maximum target of 5 billion euros set for the sale. The yield on the three-year notes was 3.384 percent, compared with 5.187 percent when the nation sold similar notes in December.

Italy sold 12 billion euros of Treasury bills, meeting its target, and its borrowing costs plunged. The Rome-based Treasury sold 8.5 billion euros one-year bills at a rate of 2.735 percent, down from 5.952 percent at the last auction.

The U.S. economic expansion improved last month across most of the country, while hiring was limited and housing remained stagnant, the Fed said in the first edition of its Beige Book in 2012.

Most Asian stocks fell, with a regional benchmark index snapping three days of gains, as weaker Japan trade data added to evidence of a global slowdown, damping speculation slower inflation in China may result in looser monetary policy.