European stocks advanced for a fourth week, the longest winning streak in almost three months, as the region’s leaders eased constraints on national budgets and US retail sales and jobless benefit claims pointed to a recovery in the world’s biggest economy.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.7 percent to 297.46 this past week. The gauge slipped 0.4 percent on Friday, retreating from the highest level since June 2008. Spain sold 803 million euros (US$1.05 billion) of debt at an extraordinary auction on Thursday and Italy issued 6.99 billion euros of securities the previous day. Ireland sold its first 10-year bond since receiving a EU-led bailout three years ago.
“The key driver is still of course the international monetary policy from central banks,” Kliegel & Hafner AG senior market strategist Andreas Lipkow said.
The STOXX 600 surged 6.4 percent this year as US politicians agreed on a compromise budget and the US Federal Reserve Thursday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of US shares climbed to within two points of its 1,565.15 record close set in October 2007.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels endorsed “structural” budgetary assessments, using code for granting countries such as France, Spain and Portugal extra time to bring down deficits. Still, balanced budgets remained the goal and there was no talk of large-scale spending programs.
In the US, applications for jobless benefits unexpectedly dropped to the lowest level in almost two months in the week ended on March 9. Retail sales and industrial production rose more than forecast last month, separate reports showed.
National benchmark indices climbed in in 12 of the 18 Western European markets. Germany’s DAX rallied 0.7 percent, while France’s CAC 40 and the UK’s FTSE 100 added 0.1 percent. The Swiss Market Index advanced 1.5 percent to the highest level since January 2008.
A gauge of insurers was the best performer among the 19 industry groups in the STOXX 600, gaining 2.4 percent. The insurers were led by the UK’s Prudential PLC, which rallied 14 percent, the biggest gain in 15 months.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the