European stocks posted their first weekly drop since January amid disappointing corporate earnings and as Russia and the US faced off over the crisis in Ukraine.
Getinge AB plunged the most ever after forecasting first-quarter profit that were lower than analysts’ estimates. Balfour Beatty PLC fell 7.9 percent after reporting a 32 percent drop in annual earnings. Orange SA rose 13 percent after predicting that a key measure of profit would not fall this year for the first time in at least five years. Aviva advanced 7.4 percent after posting an increase in operating income for last year.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index declined 1.5 percent to 333.06 this week amid investor concern the Crimea region may secede from Ukraine. The benchmark gauge rallied for four successive weeks as US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen pledged to follow her predecessor’s policies to support the US economy.
“The reporting season has generally been poor, with companies being fairly cautious in their outlook for the first quarter,” said Andrea Williams, head of European equities at Royal London Asset Management in London. “The fear about Ukraine is also causing some uncertainty. The vote for independence could still influence the market and it depends if trouble widens to other parts.”
National benchmark indices dropped in 13 of the 18 markets in Western Europe. Germany’s DAX lost 3.5 percent, the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 1.4 percent and France’s CAC 40 slid 1 percent.
Russia signaled it may stop supplying gas to Ukraine unless it pays US$2 billion owed for natural gas, putting pressure on its cash-strapped neighbor as the two nations quarrel over the future of Crimea. The predominantly Russian-speaking region plans a referendum on March 16 on whether to remain part of Ukraine or join Russia.
US President Barack Obama said this week leaders were preparing sanctions against Russia to make it costly for its Cold War adversary to interfere in Ukrainian affairs. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he saw no immediate need to invade Ukraine or annex Crimea.
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