European stocks were little changed this week as Italy’s inconclusive elections sparked concern the eurozone debt crisis will worsen, offsetting US economic data that beat forecasts.
Thales SA jumped 12 percent after posting better-than-estimated earnings and boosting its dividend. Mediobanca SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo led a drop in Italian shares. Royal Imtech NV plunged 12 percent after writing down assets and saying it will use the proceeds of a share sale to cut debt.
The benchmark STOXX Europe 600 Index added 0.2 percent to 289.02 this week. The measure has gained 3.3 percent so far this year, also completing its ninth monthly increase.
“Italian election result in one word: fiasco,” said Oliver Wallin, who helps oversee US$4.4 billion as investment director at Octopus Investments Ltd in London. “The politicians still have the potential to create problems. Having gotten ahead of themselves in the last two months, equity markets are still looking a little frothy, but the backdrop remains favorable for equities and risk assets generally.”
National benchmark indices fell in 11 of the 18 Western European markets this week.
The UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.2 percent and Germany’s DAX climbed 0.6 percent.
Election results in Rome on Monday showed pre-election favorite Pier Luigi Bersani won the lower house by less than half a point.
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has vowed to reverse austerity measures, won a blocking majority in the Senate.
An Italian government needs a majority in both houses.
The result may lead Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to install an interim government to write a new election law as the prelude to another vote.
The European Central Bank (ECD) will not tighten monetary policy any time soon, ECB President Mario Draghi said.
While the ECB’s balance sheet may shrink as confidence returns to financial markets and banks repay emergency loans, policymakers are far from considering an exit from stimulus, Draghi said.
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
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
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