European stocks posted their biggest weekly rally since April as the US Federal Reserve’s decision to reduce its monthly bond purchases increased investors’ confidence in the strength of the recovery of the world’s No. 1 economy.
Cable & Wireless Communications PLC surged 16 percent after UK newspapers named it as a potential acquisition target, while Carnival PLC jumped 10 percent after the world’s largest cruise ship operator posted quarterly sales that beat estimates. On the other end, CGG SA slumped 15 percent after the world’s biggest seismic surveyor of oilfields cut its earnings forecast for this year.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 3.7 percent to 321.14 this past week, trimming its decline from the beginning of the month to 1.2 percent.
The equity benchmark has gained 15 percent this year and is on course for its best annual performance since 2009, as central bankers around the world pledged to leave interest rates near record lows for a prolonged period.
“People who were uncertain about European equities hesitated because of tapering and there has just been relief since the announcement,” said Steven Bell, a London-based fund manager at F&C Asset Management PLC. “This year has been about fears not being realized. The tapering talks earlier in the year caused a major wobble, but now people have gotten used to it. It’s another year the European economy hasn’t fallen apart.”
National benchmark indices rose in every western European market except Greece and Iceland this week. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index advanced 2.6 percent, France’s CAC 40 gained 3.3 percent and Germany’s DAX jumped 4.4 percent.
“When financial markets see a relatively healthy economy, they would like to have some of the emergency life support removed,” Toby Nangle, head of multi-asset allocation at Threadneedle Asset Management Ltd in London, said by telephone.
Also this week, an EU report showed that eurozone factory output grew at a faster pace this month than economists had forecast.
Markit Economics’ Purchasing Managers’ Index also beat estimates by climbing to 52.7, as did a measure of manufacturing in Germany, the continent’s largest economy, which rose to 54.2 this month. Readings above 50 mean that activity increased.
The biggest news of the week was the EU’s finance ministers reaching an agreement late on Wednesday on how to deal with cross-border banks that fail. The meeting pledged to set up a 55 billion euro (US$75 billion) industry-financed fund for the next decade.
The ministers also agreed to establish an agency to make decisions on handling failing banks and when to share costs.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained