European stocks declined for the first week in five as worse-than-estimated earnings from BASF SE and ABB Ltd raised concern the economic recovery is faltering.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index slid 0.3 percent to 298.91 this week. The benchmark gauge has rallied 4.9 percent so far this month, after its decline last month, which was the first in 13 months. A gauge of expected volatility in euro-area stocks, based on options prices, rose for the first week in three.
“Results in Europe are coming out as unimpressive,” Alberto Espelosin, who helps oversee US$1.5 billion at Abante Asesores Gestion in Madrid, said in a phone interview. “Analysts will still have to pencil in slower growth. Stocks haven’t had a strong correction downwards yet and this could happen any time.”
Analysts have reduced their estimates for annual earnings at companies listed on the STOXX 600 by 7.8 percent since the start of the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The STOXX 600 plunged 11 percent from May 22 through June 24 amid speculation the US Federal Reserve will begin tapering bond purchases as soon as September. The gauge has rebounded 8.4 percent since then after the Fed and other central banks pledged to continue stimulus measures.
Manufacturing indices based on surveys of purchasing managers rose in the US this month and unexpectedly climbed to a level that signals expansion in the euro area, London-based Markit Economics said this week.
National benchmark indices fell in nine of the 18 Western European markets this week. The UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 1.1 percent, France’s CAC 40 gained 1.1 percent and Germany’s DAX Index dropped 1 percent.
BASF retreated 5.9 percent. The world’s biggest chemical company said second-quarter earnings before interest, taxes and one-time items fell 5.4 percent to 1.83 billion euros (US$2.41 billion). The average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey had called for 1.99 billion euros.
ABB slid 4.7 percent. The largest maker of power transformers posted second-quarter net profit of US$763 million, missing the US$779 million average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six