European stocks rose this week, snapping two weeks of losses, as reports showed manufacturing in the US, China and Europe expanded and the US unemployment rate unexpectedly declined last month.
Basic-resource shares posted the best performance among 19 industry groups as a report showing that Chinese manufacturing expanded last month boosted metal prices.
The benchmark STOXX Europe 600 Index advanced 1.9 percent to 285.9 this week. The gauge has gained 3.7 percent so far this year as reports suggested the global economy continues to recover and investors speculated that European leaders will increase their efforts to contain the region’s debt crisis.
In Europe, manufacturing expanded more rapidly than estimated last month, accelerating to the fastest pace in nine months because of stronger output in Germany.
A gauge of manufacturing in the euro area rose to 57.3 from 57.1 in December, Markit Economics said.
Per-share earnings have topped analysts’ estimates at 39 of the 70 companies in the STOXX 600 that reported results since Jan. 10, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
National benchmark indices rose in 14 of Europe’s 18 western markets. France’s CAC 40 Index gained 1.1 percent, the UK’s FTSE 100 Index rose 2 percent, while Germany’s DAX Index advanced 1.6 percent. Greece’s ASE Index soared 4.4 percent.
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
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