European stocks rebounded after Le Monde reported that the European Central Bank is preparing to buy Spanish and Italian debt yesterday. Asian shares and US index futures gained.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.2% to 257.12 at 10.49am in London, erasing an earlier drop of 0.3%. The gauge is still heading toward a 0.4% weekly drop amid worse-than-expected economic data in the US and Europe and a surge in Spanish bond yields above 7% reignited concern that Europe’s debt crisis is yet to be contained.

The Stoxx 600 on Thursday posted the biggest advance in almost a month after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers will do whatever it takes to preserve the euro.

In the US, a report at 8.30am (New York time) may show that the world’s biggest economy expanded in the second quarter at the slowest pace in a year as a weaker labour market prompted Americans to cut back on their spending.

Japan shares rose for a second day, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average posting its biggest gain in a month. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.5% to 8,566.64 at the close of trading in Tokyo, paring this week’s decline to 1.2%.

US stock futures climbed as a report said the European Central Bank will prepare debt purchases with governments, while investors awaited an update on gross domestic product growth in the world’s largest economy. Facebook Inc. sank 9.3% in early New York trading after the world’s biggest social network published a slower increase in sales and a narrower profit margin in its first earnings report as a public company.