Italy, other European markets close slightly higher

Italian and European markets on Tuesday recovered some of Mondays losses, closing slightly higher as investor focus remained on the outcome of the US elections, likely to be among the closest in history. In Milan, the FTSE MIB index gained 0.9% to close at 15,683.71, helped by advances in blue chip Fiat, which ended the day up almost 3%, and by a generally positive performance by banks, a heavyweight in the index. Industrial giant Finmeccanica also contributed, with a 2.2% gain. Meanwhile, the spread between Italys 10-year benchmark bond and its German counterpart closed at 345 basis points, slightly lower than Mondays closing, while the yield on 10-year Italian paper closing at 4.89%. The spread is an indicator of investor confidence in the outlook for Italys economy and financial markets. Earlier Tuesday the Bank of Italy reported the results of an annual survey which found that up to one third of Italian companies expect to end 2012 in the red and that employment levels are likely to decline further.