European stocks posted their biggest weekly decline this year, as economic data from China to the US and Europe raised concerns the global economic recovery was faltering.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index lost 2.5 percent to 265.65 this week, its biggest decline since December. The benchmark measure has still rallied 8.6 percent this year, as the European Central bank provided loans of 1 trillion euros (US$1.3 trillion) to the region’s banks and US economic data surpassed estimates.
“Markets are getting too optimistic,” Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered PLC in London, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “Overall, the eurozone is in a double-dip recession. The Chinese economy is cooling. The US is not having a double-dip, but it’s not having a strong recovery.”
The mean daily volume of shares changing hands on the STOXX 600 this week was 12 percent lower than the average in the last 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
European services and manufacturing output contracted more than forecast. A euro-area composite index based on a survey of purchasing managers in both industries dropped to 48.7 from 49.3 last month, Markit Economics said on Thursday.
All but one of the 19 industry groups in the STOXX 600 retreated this week, led by a gauge of mining companies that lost 7.2 percent. An index of telecommunications companies gained 2 percent.
National benchmark indexes declined in 15 of the 18 western European markets. France’s CAC 40 Index lost 3.3 percent. Germany’s DAX decreased 2.3 percent, and the UK’s FTSE 100 Index slid 1.9 percent.
In China, a preliminary measure of manufacturing fell to 48.1 this month, according to a report by HSBC Holdings PLC and Markit on Thursday. That’s the lowest reading on the purchase managers’ index since November. A result below 50 indicates a contraction.
In the US, purchases of new homes unexpectedly fell last month for a second month, a sign the recovery in the housing market might be uneven.
Sales dropped 1.6 percent to a 313,000 annual pace, the slowest since October, from a 318,000 rate in January that was weaker than previously reported, figures from the US Commerce Department showed on Friday in Washington.
Meanwhile, initial jobless claims fell to 348,000 in the week ended March 17, the fewest since February 2008, US Labor Department figures showed on Thursday. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast a decline to 350,000.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday in a testimony to US lawmakers that Europe must further strengthen its banks and that its financial and economic situation “remains difficult” even as stresses have lessened.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”