European stocks declined for a second week amid concern economic growth may be held back by the resurgent sovereign-debt crisis and measures by China to tame inflation.
Basic-resource shares led declines as copper slid on concern demand may weaken. Petroleum Geo-Services ASA fell 11 percent after raising 1.6 billion Norwegian kroner (US$267 million) selling stock. Actelion Ltd jumped 12 percent as Amgen Inc considers a takeover offer for the Swiss drugmaker.
The benchmark STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.3 percent this week, the biggest drop this month and extending the 0.7 percent fall from the previous five days.
“The two main concerns are the sovereign-debt crisis in Ireland and the inflation bubble risk in China,” said Philipp Musil, who helps oversee about US$10 billion at Semper Constantia Privatbank AG in Vienna. “Global growth depends on the resolution of those two problems.”
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is edging toward accepting a rescue package that may threaten the country’s low-tax policies and put voters on the hook to repay loans the central bank says may be worth “tens of billions” of euros.
Officials from the EU and the IMF are in Dublin assessing the books of Ireland’s banks. The Irish government estimated rescuing the financial services industry alone might cost as much as 50 billion euros (US$68 billion).
In the UK, a report showed inflation unexpectedly accelerated last month, exceeding the British government’s 3 percent limit and forcing Bank of England Governor Mervyn King to write his fourth letter of explanation to the UK Treasury this year.
Paris-based Credit Agricole SA and Lloyds Banking Group PLC, the UK’s largest mortgage lender, led European banking shares lower, falling 5.1 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last