World stocks turned lower on Friday after official data showed the US economic recovery was not as fast as many had hoped.
The US Department of Commerce said that the US economy, the world’s largest, grew at a modest 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year, while economists had expected growth of 3 percent.
With the data suggesting the US recovery would continue to be a slow process, investors sold off stocks to cash in on gains made so far this month.
Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 1.1 percent to 5,733, while Germany’s DAX fell 0.4 percent to 6,511.98 and France’s CAC-40 lost 1.3 percent to 3,318.76. The euro was up 0.83 percent at US$1.3189.
Wall Street edged lower on the open — the Dow Jones industrial average fell 94 points to 12,639 and Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500 5.8 points to 1,312.
Other economic and corporate news released on Friday contributed to sour market sentiment.
Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co cut its earnings outlook and Ford Motor Co fell short of Wall Street expectations, while Japanese games and electronics companies Nintendo and NEC issued profit warnings.
In Europe, traders digested grim statistics from Spain showing more than 5 million people without jobs. The National Statistics Institute said the unemployment rate shot up from 21.5 percent — already the highest in the eurozone — to 22.8 percent in the fourth quarter.
Attention was also focused on the resumption of talks to reach a deal on how Greece can avoid a catastrophic default on its debt. Greece and its bailout rescuers — other countries that use the euro and the IMF — are asking private creditors to swap their Greek bonds for new ones with a lower value, interest rate and much longer maturity.
The two sides have so far disagreed over what interest rate the new bonds should take. Some negotiators have said they hope to have a deal this weekend, in time for a European leaders’ meeting tomorrow.
While investors appear to expect a deal at some point — the euro was up and eurozone borrowing rates were down, suggesting a steady increase in confidence — some worried that the crisis was far from over.
Getting economies like Portugal to grow is fast becoming a priority and is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion at the European leaders’ summit.
Earlier in the day, Asian markets showed little momentum ahead of the weekend.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1 percent to close at 8,841.22, while South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.4 percent to 1,964.83. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent to 20,501.67 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent to 4,288.40.
Japanese exporters continued to be hit by a strong yen, which reduces the value of repatriated profits. The US dollar fell to ¥76.81 from ¥77.49.
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