European stocks ended lower on Friday, with pharmaceutical stocks leading the retreat after a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official raised concerns about five medications on the market.
With few corporate announcements and little macroeconomic data to guide the market, attention was also fixed on the weakening dollar, which has broken through key levels versus both the euro and yen in recent days. According to analysts at ING Financial Markets, a weak US dollar has heightened concern regarding the outlook for activity in the euro zone and Japanese economies given the close link between exports and growth in both economies.
"Further comments in the wake of the G20 meeting over the weekend and central bank officials during the rest of the week, will therefore be keenly analyzed to see if intervention is becoming a growing possibility," they said in a research note.
The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index, which tracks Europe's 600 largest listed companies, was down 0.7 percent at 247.82. The Dow Jones Euro STOXX Index, which tracks companies in countries that joined the common currency, was 0.6 percent lower at 237.46.
At the close of trading, London's FTSE-100 Share Index was 0.9 percent lower at 4,760.8, while in Paris the CAC-40 Index was 0.8 percent lower at 3,798.78. Frankfurt's Xetra Dax Index was down 1.0 percent at 4,134.89.
JP Morgan strategist Rahul Shah commented that the longer-term trends are still positive for equities. He said valuations look well-supported and the outlook for earnings growth remains positive.
"However, in the short term, a weaker dollar may send negative signals to investors," he cautioned.
The big story of the session centered on comments from FDA safety advisor David Graham, who suggested that the regulatory agency has been lax in assessing the health risks of five key industry drugs.
He named Crestor, a cholesterol drug made by AstraZeneca, Accutane, an acne drug made by Roche, and Serevent, an asthma medicine from GlaxoSmithKline, in his list of drugs that require stronger regulatory action.
In Paris, speculation and talks of mergers kept the market active, with Dexia topping the CAC, rising 6.25 percent to 17 euros on the news that it was in discussion with Sanpaolo IMI of Italy over closer cooperation, which could result in a merger. Sanpaolo IMI fell 3.1 percent to 10.21 euros in Milan.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last