European stocks declined this week after experiencing their biggest three-day rally since April, which sent valuations to their highest level since 2009.
Erste Group Bank AG tumbled the most since February 2009 after predicting a full-year loss, while BNP Paribas SA lost 2.1 percent after Macquarie Group Ltd downgraded the French lender.
Meanwhile, JC Decaux SA added 0.9 percent when HSBC Holdings PLC raised its recommendation on the shares.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.3 percent to 347.95 at the close of trading, but posted a 1.8 percent increase for the week, its biggest weekly advance since March.
The gauge rose 2.1 percent in the three days through WEdnesday as US jobs data exceeded economists’ forecasts. The US stock market was closed on Firday for the Independence Day holiday.
The STOXX’s weekly gain pushed its valuation to 15.7 times the estimated earnings of its members, the highest level since 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index trades at 16.8 times projected profit
“We’re seeing a pause in European markets today [Friday],” said Pierre Mouton, who helps oversee US$8 billion at Notz, Stucki & Cie.
“With the very good economic news from the US, investors should turn more positive, but I would expect some profit taking when the earnings season begins. Valuations are attractive compared with other markets, but earnings don’t grow that much,” Mouton added.
National benchmark indices fell in 16 of the 18 Western European markets on Friday, with France’s CAC 40 retreating 0.5 percent, while the UK’s FTSE 100 rose less than 0.1 percent and Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2 percent.
Erste slid 16 percent to 19.49 euros after forecasting a net loss of as much as 1.6 billion euros (US$2.2 billion) for the year because of bad debt charges and writedowns in Hungary and Romania.
The Austrian bank, which earns most of its income in Eastern Europe, predicted that its loan loss provisions will rise to 2.4 billion euros this year, 40 percent more than previously estimated.
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