European stocks were little changed this week, as the benchmark index posted its the biggest weekly loss since early April and investors weighed data showing that as investors weighed the crisis in Iraq and mixed US data.
Mediaset SpA gained 4 percent after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded its recommendation on the Italian broadcaster’s stock, while Ophir Energy PLCA fell 5.4 percent after UBS AG downgraded its recommendation for the oil and gas explorer’s shares.
Also falling this week was Imagination Technologies Group PLC, which dropped 5.8 percent after Intel Corp sold a 9.3 percent stake in the UK chip technology designer.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index added less than 0.1 percent to finish at 341.97 and post a 1.8 percent weekly decline.
“Investors are awaiting the next market-moving catalyst amid low volumes and volatility,” said Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown PLC in London. “The US has provided some mixed messages this week.”
The volume of shares changing hands in STOXX 600-listed companies was 11 percent lower than the 30-day average for this time of the day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
National benchmark indices gained 11 of the 18 Western European markets on Friday, with France’s CAC 40 falling less than 0.1 percent, Germany’s DAX rising 0.1 percent and the UK’s FTSE 100 climbing 0.3 percent.
Data showed that consumer confidence in the US rose last month, beating estimates and negating a preliminary report that signaled a drop.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of sentiment came in at 82.5, compared with economists’ projection for 82 and the earlier estimate of 81.2, economists in a Bloomberg survey predicted after the figure dropped last month.
James Bullard, president of the US Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, said the world’s largest economy is improving enough to withstand an increase in short-term interest rates next year.
He predicted the pace of economic growth will accelerate to 3 percent this year after an unexpectedly deep first-quarter contraction.
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
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