European stock markets ended the week sharply lower on Friday as Wall Street slumped to five-month lows on weak US data and disappointing tech news that spooked investors.
The London FTSE 100 index fell 1.09 to 4,891.6 points, the Frankfurt DAX dropped 2.04 percent to 4,312.25 points and the Paris CAC 40 slid 1.92 percent to 4,032.28.
The DJ Euro STOXX 50 index of leading eurozone shares tumbled 2.0 percent to 3,013.79 points.
The euro stood at US$1.2930.
Meanwhile, Wall Street extended recent falls as US consumer sentiment faded in April on higher gasoline prices, a weak labor market and sagging stock prices.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 87.7 in mid-April from 92.6 in March, compared with expectations of a drop to about 91.3.
The mood was further dented by news that the spike in crude oil prices pushed import prices up 1.8 percent in March, exceeding the 1.3 percent forecast.
And the April Empire State Manufacturing index, meanwhile, fell to 3.1 in April from 20.2 in March, well below expectations of 17.3.
At London's close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was more than 65 points lower at 10,213.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ composite index was off more than 20 points on the back of a 6 percent slump by IBM, after the information-technology giant disappointed Wall Street with its first-quarter financial report.
In London, metals and mining stocks were the biggest blue-chip losers, mirroring declines in the US and Asia, owing to weak base metal prices and concerns about weaker demand, dealers said.
Anglo American gave back 0.73 percent at ?12.20, and Xstrata skidded 2.46 percent to ?9.90.
Steel company Corus plunged 4.27 percent to ?0.5050 in their wake.
Pharmaceutical stocks dominated a sparse blue-chip risers board as the market welcomed Eli Lilly's victory in its Zyprexa patent case in the US on Thursday.
A US District Court in Indianapolis found that Eli Lilly's patents on its lucrative schizophrenia drug Zyprexa were valid, thereby staving off generic competition for the drug.
AstraZeneca jumped 1.92 percent to ?22.84, GlaxoSmithKline added 0.96 percent at ?12.65 and Shire Pharmaceuticals shot up 2.40 percent to ?6.11.
In Frankfurt, Infineon and Siemens closed deep in the red, with Infineon dropping 3.45 percent to 7.00 euros, after first-quarter results from South Korean semiconductor peer Samsung Electronics came in below expectations.
Siemens closed 1.68 lower at 60.72 euros, after handsets peer Sony Ericsson reported first-quarter results shy of market expectations.
"The news from Sony Ericsson has dampened sentiment toward Siemens," one dealer said.
In Stockholm, Sony Ericsson descended 3.37 percent to 20.10 Swedish kronor after the mobile phone giant reported tumbling first-quarter profits.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Swiss SMI slipped 0.19 percent to 6,018.97 points. The Amsterdam AEX retreated 1.26 percent to 364.26 points, the Brussels BEL-20 fell 0.90 percent to 3,141.89, the Madrid IBEX-35 plunged 2.24 percent to 9,155.2 and the Milan SP/MIB lost 2.37 percent at 31,816.0.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure