European stock markets ended mixed after a turbulent session on Friday as a profit warning from Intel Corp and concerns over global interest rates were offset by a rally from the UK's top two telecommunications companies, BT Group and Vodafone Group.
The German DAX 30 declined 1.1 percent at 5,721, the French CAC 40 eased 0.40 percent at 4,989 while the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.44 percent at 5,858.
The German stock market in particular saw declines on rising rate fears in the US, Europe and Japan, with that market full of exporters such as Siemens AG, Bayer and DaimlerChrysler.
Chipmakers including STMicroelectronics and Philips Electronics closed lower after the profit warning from Intel, though Infineon Technologies ended in positive territory.
Also higher was Vodafone Group, which jumped 8.5 percent after saying late in the session it's in talks to sell its loss-making Japanese arm to Softbank. Vodafone has struggled to turn around the unit, which is the No. 3 player in the country.
UK fixed-line giant BT Group surged 6 percent after the Times of London reported that it may be a bid target for private-equity firms that could value the company at £20 billion (US$35 billion). BT said it's not in talks with any private-equity bidders.
Adecco SA, the Switzerland-based staffing giant, reversed early losses to trade 1.5 percent higher.
Fortis Bank, which released results early because a briefcase with the draft results was stolen, fell 1.7 percent after it said annual profit rose 32 percent, or up 45 percent when excluding divestments. Its fourth-quarter results before divestments climbed 24 percent.
Carrefour, Danone and Societe Generale all declined after they were reported to have been included on a list of "national champions" that the French government wants to protect from hostile takeovers.
Publicis, the French advertising firm, advanced 0.3 percent after reporting a 39 percent rise in annual profit, at the top end of analyst forecasts. Net new business for the year was US$9.8 billion, which the company said was the highest figure ever recorded in the worldwide advertising industry.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is