European stocks were little changed this past week, following three weeks of gains, as concern US lawmakers will not agree on a budget before the holiday offset optimism that the euro area will get a single banking regulator.
PSA Peugeot Citroen SA soared 16 percent, the biggest rally on the STOXX Europe 600 Index this past week, as the carmaker said it will cut another 1,500 jobs. Alcatel Lucent SA jumped 6.4 percent after winning a financing deal. Deutsche Bank AG declined 5.5 percent after Germany’s biggest lender said fourth-quarter profit will fall short of analysts’ estimates.
The benchmark STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.1 percent to 279.4 this past week. The equity benchmark has rallied 19 percent from this year’s low on June 4 as the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US Federal Reserve introduced bond-buying programs.
A gauge of auto companies posted the biggest gain of the 19 industry groups in the STOXX 600 this week. Renault added 6.2 percent, as Daimler AG rose 4.8 percent and Mercedes-Benz 11-month car sales climbed 5.1 percent.
European stocks will struggle to extend their rally this year as the region’s benchmark measure trades close to a key resistance level. The STOXX 600 remains stuck near the 50 percent Fibonacci retracement level of the slump between July 2007 and March 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
EU finance ministers agreed to put the ECB in charge of all large eurozone lenders. About 200 banks will qualify for oversight by the central bank rather than national regulators, EU Financial Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said.
In Europe, the finance ministers of the 17 nations using the single currency approved a 49.1 billion euro (US$64.5 billion) payment of aid to Greece after the country completed a buyback of its own debt. In Germany, a survey of economic expectations among investors and analysts rebounded this month. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research’s index rose to 6.9 from minus-15.7 last month, beating economists’ estimates.
In the US, US President Barack Obama reduced his demand for new tax revenue in the federal budget for next year. Even so, US congressional Republicans failed to accept the proposed changes, prompting concern that politicians will not reach agreement on the new budget before the end of the year.
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],”