European stocks fell for a second week, for the biggest loss since June, amid concern any military action by the US against Syria may escalate into a larger conflict in the Middle East and push up oil prices.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 2.4 percent to 297.32 this week, ending last month with only the second monthly loss since May last year.
The equity benchmark has still rallied 7.9 percent from this year’s low on June 24, as the European Central Bank and the Bank of England pledged to keep interest rates low.
“Syria was a key factor in driving markets lower this week as the threat of a military intervention and the threat of a spike in oil prices tend to be a bad combination for equity investors,” said Andreas Nigg, head of equity and commodity strategy at Vontobel Asset Management in Zurich. “We had a nice summer rally and we are entering the weakest seasonal period from an equity perspective.”
The VSTOXX Index, a gauge of expected volatility in euro-area stocks based on options prices, posted the second-biggest weekly increase since November 2011, jumping 32 percent.
National benchmark indices dropped in all of the 18 Western European markets. Germany’s DAX declined 3.7 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 1.2 percent. France’s CAC 40 lost 3.3 percent.
The US Federal Reserve will hold a policy meeting on Sept. 17 and 18 to decide whether to slow the pace of its bond-purchase program. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in May and June that the central bank may consider tapering if the employment outlook improved substantially and the economy grows as forecast.
The issue of the US’ statutory debt ceiling resurfaced with the US Treasury Department saying the nation would exhaust its borrowing limit of US$16.699 trillion in the middle of next month. Congressional Republicans and US President Barack Obama’s administration are gearing up for battles starting early this month over federal spending and borrowing.
ThromboGenics NV plunged 25 percent after its sales forecast missed analysts’ estimates. Serco Group PLC tumbled 12 percent as some of its staff members came under investigation for suspected fraudulent behavior. Vodafone Group PLC jumped 7.6 percent after confirming talks with Verizon Communications Inc to sell its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless.
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
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
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