European stocks fell to their lowest in more than three months this week as companies including ArcelorMittal and Vinci SA posted worse-than-expected earnings.
ArcelorMittal dropped the most since October 2012 after also lowering its full-year profit forecast, as Vinci slipped the most in almost three years and Iliad SA retreated 7 percent after offering US$15 billion for a controlling stake in T-Mobile US Inc.
Belgacom SA gained 4.8 percent after raising its full-year earnings outlook.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 1.2 percent to 331.91 at the close of trading on Friday. It pared an earlier drop of as much as 1.5 percent as worse-than-forecast US payrolls data increased optimism that the US Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low for longer.
The benchmark gauge trades at 15 times estimated earnings, near last month’s four-and-a-half-year high of 15.7, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“In Europe, we’re seeing a weak economy with very bad currency effects on companies and unattractive valuations,” said Jacques Porta from Ofi Gestion Privee. “That doesn’t give investors a good feeling about buying the market. We’ve seen weak results in Europe, so sentiment is turning bearish.”
A Markit Economics purchasing managers’ index of eurozone manufacturing was unchanged last month at 51.8. Economists had called for 51.9. A reading above 50 means activity increased.
A purchasing managers’ index for the UK fell to the lowest level in a year, while a measure of manufacturing in Italy missed estimates, posting growth at the slowest pace in eight months.
National benchmark indices fell in 16 of the 17 Western European markets open on Friday. Markets in Switzerland are closed for the National Day holiday.
The UK’s FTSE 100 Index lost 0.8 percent, France’s CAC 40 slid 1 percent and Germany’s DAX tumbled 2.1 percent, with all three erasing their gains for the year.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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