US investors endured a holiday-shortened week that left stocks mainly static despite weak economic readings that weighed on Wall Street, as hopes of fresh interest rate cuts helped shore up sentiment.
Market participants said the lackluster economic news in recent days was not surprising, but that it has heightened fears of a recession.
In a week shortened by Monday's public holiday, the leading blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday almost unchanged at 12,381.02 points, up 0.27 percent from the prior Friday.
The tech-rich NASDAQ composite fell 0.79 percent for the week to 2,303.35 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up 0.23 percent to 1,353.11.
US stock markets have fallen heavily this year as a two-year-long housing slump shows no sign of abating any time soon and as major financial firms continue to divulge hefty losses tied to ailing mortgage investments and other exotic securities.
Investors said they are eagerly awaiting to hear US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's latest insights when he appears before two congressional panels next Wednesday and Thursday.
Bernanke is due to brief lawmakers on the state of the world's largest economy.
The central bank has slashed borrowing costs aggressively since September in a bid to shore up economic momentum which slowed dramatically during the fourth quarter of last year to an annualized 0.6 percent.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has slashed the central bank's key short-term interest rate to 3 percent from 5.25 percent since September in an attempt to ease tight credit and stimulate GDP growth.
A growing number of analysts believe the Fed will cut borrowing costs by a half point at a March 18 meeting, and more and more economists are signing up to the belief that the economy is or has fallen into a recession.
"The debate is no longer about whether the economy is in recession, in our view, it is about how hard the landing will be," Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg said in a briefing note.
Economists at Goldman Sachs also believe the economy is in a recession.
"Our own view remains that the economy is likely to be even weaker than the FOMC expects, especially in the first half of the year, where we expect an outright contraction in real GDP. This should prompt at least another 50 basis points of Fed easing in coming months," the Goldman economists said in a briefing note.
Bonds weakened over the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 3.79 percent from 3.78 percent a week earlier, while that on the 30-year bond increased to 4.582 percent from 4.595 percent.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS