Italian clothing maker Moncler plans to list shares as early as November in a sale that could raise about 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion), people familiar with the matter have said. French cable-TV operator Numericable SAS also plans an IPO in the third quarter and could be valued at as much as 5.5 billion euros in the sale.

Gross domestic product in the 17-nation euro area rose in the second quarter, bringing to a close six straight quarters of contraction, the longest slump since the euro’s debut in 1999. The euro meanwhile has gained 5.5 percent against a basket of nine major peers in 2013, the biggest jump in the group and poised for its first annual gain in five years, Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes show.

Still, risks remain. While the European Central Bank raised its 2013 euro-zone economic projection this month, it still sees a 0.4 percent contraction and expects only a “gradual” pickup in activity.

‘Subdued Recovery’

A possible resurgence of political tensions, upcoming bank balance sheet assessment and deleveraging all could constrain the region’s recovery next year, according to Philippe Gudin, chief European economist at Barclays in London.

“These headwinds pose some risk to our macroeconomic scenario and reinforce the view that the recovery will be very subdued,” Gudin said.

While U.S. IPO volume lagged behind Europe in the third quarter, it still tripled to more than $11 billion from a year earlier. Sprouts Farmers Market Inc., the grocer partly owned by Apollo Global Management LLC, and Benefitfocus Inc., a benefits- software company, more than doubled in their trading debuts during the quarter as the stock-market rally stoked investors’ confidence and appetite for risk.

That pace of IPO activity may set the stage for sustained momentum through the end of the year as long as the U.S. government doesn’t begin to taper stimulus spending more quickly than investors are comfortable with, according to Ashley Delp, co-head of equity capital markets for the Americas at Jefferies Group LLC.

Twitter, Alibaba

Empire State Realty Trust Inc., whose properties include Manhattan’s Empire State Building, may raise as much as $1.07 billion in an IPO tomorrow. Microblogging service Twitter, which has more than 200 million members worldwide, said on its website Sept. 12 that it filed IPO paperwork confidentially with regulators.