European shares failed to retain early gains for the second session in a row on Friday and turned in their worst weekly performance since the start of the Iraq war four years ago on a host of concerns, ranging from China's economy to US mortgages.
The French CAC 40 index dropped 0.6 percent at 5,424.70 and the German DAX 30 index slipped 0.6 percent at 6,603.32. The UK FTSE 100 index closed a fraction of a percentage point higher, at 6,116.20.
Jeremy Batstone, at stockbroker Charles Stanley Securities in London, said it's too early to call a bottom to the market. Investors are still very nervous after a string of bad news, including the stock market falls in China, problems at subprime lenders and a broader economic slowdown.
"This is the first time that the Chinese tail has wagged the broader market dog," Batstone said.
Telecom stocks were among the biggest decliners after a downgrade for Deutsche Telekom extended the sector's decline from the previous session. Deutsche Telekom fell 2.4 percent after Merrill Lynch downgraded its to sell from neutral, citing deteriorating results, a lack of new cost-cutting measures, minimal disposals and the possibility of acquisitions.
Deutsche Boerse shares advanced 2.1 percent after the German exchange reported a 54 percent increase in the number of trades on its XETRA market last month, with Feb. 28 setting an all-time record for most trades in a single day.
Shares in Adecco, the world's largest staffing company, fell 4.6 percent after it reported revenue growth slightly below forecasts.
Italy's Mediaset dropped over 5 percent after the company's surprise announcement that annual gross advertising revenue fell 4 percent. Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's family has a controlling interest in the media group.
SAP slipped 2.2 percent, giving up some of the previous session's gains, which came on the back of a report that the firm's founders may sell their 32 percent stake to Silver Lake Partners. Analysts at UBS, however, said they think such a move is unlikely.
Airbus owner EADS dropped 4 percent as UPS said it would formally cancel its order for A380 freighter planes. On Thursday, Airbus said it would stop work on the A380 freighter version to concentrate on the A380 passenger version.
Shares in UK supermarket operator Tesco added 2.1 percent after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed it has built a 2.9 percent stake.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by