European stocks gained a second week, led by Nokia Oyj and Royal Philips Electronics NV, on optimism economic expansion in the US will boost sales and earnings at companies that do much of their business there.
The Dow Jones Stoxx 50 Index increased 4.95, or 0.2 percent, to 2531.15 for a weekly gain of 1.4 percent. It's at its highest since Dec. 16. The Stoxx 600 increased 0.3 percent to 218.15, also an eight-month high. It's climbed for 11 out of 12 days, adding 2.2 percent since last Friday.
Companies including Nokia, Philips and Siemens AG, with sales in the US, led the Stoxx 50's gains this week, a sign investors are seeking businesses that will benefit most from increased demand in Europe's largest export market. Economic reports on US jobs, housing starts and industrial production boosted optimism among some investors that growth in the country is accelerating.
"Investors want to believe in a rebound," said Marc Renaud, a fund manager at CCR Actions, which oversees US$1.4 billion in Paris.
Shares of Infineon Technologies AG, ASML Holding NV and ASM International NV jumped after Intel Corp, the world's biggest computer-chip maker, increased its third-quarter sales forecast and said its gross margin, or the portion of sales remaining after production costs are subtracted, will widen.
Germany's DAX, the UK's FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 all touched their highest levels in at least nine months during the week. Today, benchmark indexes rose in 10 of the 17 Western European markets. The DAX fell 0.5 percent, trimming its one-week advance to 3.1 percent. The FTSE 100 climbed 0.1 percent, dropping 0.5 percent for the week. The CAC advanced 0.7 percent, for a five-day gain of 1.5 percent.
September futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index of companies based in the 12 countries sharing the euro fell 0.1 percent to 2590. The index increased 0.4 percent to 2593.55.
Philips, Europe's largest consumer-electronics maker, added 4.3 percent to 21.41 euros today, bringing its weekly gain to 9.3 percent. The company makes about 30 percent of sales in the US.
"All multinationals will benefit from an environment of US growth," said Michael Hughes, chief investment officer at Baring Asset Management in London, where he oversees the equivalent of US$32 billion.
Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, climbed 10 percent this week, leading gains on the Stoxx 50. The shares rose 1.5 percent to 14.35 euros today. Nokia made about 16 percent of total revenue in the US last year.
Siemens, Germany's biggest engineering company, added 1 percent to 56.64 euros today, for a weekly gain of 7.9 percent.
It makes about a quarter of its revenue in the US
Semiconductor-related stocks surged after Intel increased its sales forecast to between US$7.3 billion and US$7.8 billion from a previous forecast of US$6.9 billion to US$7.5 billion.
STMicroelectronics NV, Europe's biggest maker of semiconductors, gained 4.2 percent to 21.52 euros today. Infineon Technologies AG, Europe's second-largest, advanced 4.5 percent to 13.05 euros.
ASML Holding, the world's largest maker of machines used to etch circuits on semiconductors, jumped 6.1 percent to 14.03 euros. ASM International, a rival, gained 6.2 percent to 17.05 euros. Technology companies led gains among the Stoxx 600's 18 industry groups this week.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day