European stocks declined for a sixth week after economic reports and earnings from the US deepened concern the world's largest economy is sliding into a recession.
Dexia SA, the biggest lender to local governments, and Commerzbank AG led financial shares lower. Hypo Real Estate Holding AG had its biggest slump ever after the German commercial property lender said pretax profit fell last year. Burberry Group PLC, the maker of US$3,100 metal-studded Knight handbags, dropped after saying it may miss profit estimates.
The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index sank 4.7 percent to 327.53, the biggest decline since the week ended July 27. The last time the measure fell for six or more consecutive weeks was the period ended Oct. 9, 1998.
"We see the specter of the slowdown, with data from the US confirming that it's a strong one," said Alexandre Iatrides, who helps oversee about US$7.3 billion at Richelieu Finance in Paris. "Now companies are lowering guidance. We're worried about earnings. That's weighing on stocks."
The STOXX 600 is down 18 percent from a six-and-a-half-year high reached on June 1 on concern a US housing slump and credit market losses will curb economic expansion and slow profit growth. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland and Sweden have extended their losses from highs reached last year to more than 20 percent, the common definition of a bear market.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's manufacturing index slumped to a six-year low, data released on Thursday showed. Citigroup Inc, the largest US bank, this week reported its biggest loss ever and Intel Corp, the world's biggest chipmaker, forecast sales that fell short of analysts' estimates.
National benchmarks dropped in all of the 18 western European markets. Germany's DAX Index lost 5.2 percent, as did France's CAC 40. The UK's FTSE 100 sank 4.8 percent. The STOXX 50 decreased 5.3 percent, and the Euro STOXX 50, a measure for the euro region, tumbled 5.5 percent.
"We are still avoiding the banks," said Stuart Fraser, who helps manage about US$42 billion at Brewin Dolphin Securities Ltd in London. "You generally want to avoid the very cyclical names, those exposed to the economy."
Hypo Real Estate plunged 34 percent, the worst performance in the STOXX 600. The company said on Tuesday that full-year pretax profit fell 27 percent to 890 million euros (US$1.32 billion) and plans to slash its dividend for last year to 0.50 euros a share from 1.50 euros for 2006.
Commerzbank retreated 16 percent on speculation it may report further writedowns. Germany's second-biggest bank has asset-backed securities totaling 19.9 billion euros, including US subprime investments and collateralized debt obligations, a presentation in September showed.
A sub-index for banks in the STOXX 600 fell 7.4 percent this week, the biggest drop among the 18 industry groups. That was the steepest decline since the week ending July 12, 2002.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS