European stocks climbed, posting the best weekly performance since December 2011, amid optimism the European Central Bank’s (ECB) quantitative-easing (QE) measures would spur economic growth in the region.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.7 percent to 370.37 at the close of trading on Friday, the highest level since December 2007. The benchmark gauge gained 5.1 percent this week as ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday announced a 1.1 trillion euro (US$1.2 trillion) asset-purchase plan including private and public securities.
“The strong commitment from Draghi to wipe out fears about the eurozone’s sustainability is good news,” said Pierre Mouton, who helps oversee US$8 billion at Notz, Stucki & Cie in Geneva. “Liquidity to the banking system should improve credit conditions, and thus economic growth. That will benefit equities. The simple fact that the ECB has given a time frame and the size of its QE is very helpful. Investors know they’ll be helped by the ECB for the next 18 months at least.”
Stocks extended gains after ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure told Bloomberg Television in Davos, Switzerland, that policymakers are prepared to extend QE measures if the impact on inflation is not deemed enough.
Speculation leading up to Draghi’s announcements has pushed the benchmark gauge up 9 percent since Jan. 14. In the US, three rounds of Federal Reserve stimulus helped the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index more than triple from its March 2009 low to a record on Dec. 29.
All western European markets except Austria and Iceland advanced. Spain’s IBEX 35 Index added 0.7 percent, extending gains this week to the most since September 2012. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 rose at least 1.9 percent. The Swiss Market Index advanced 2 percent.
Greece’s ASE Index surged 6.1 percent for the biggest gain among 18 western European markets. The benchmark gauge is still down 19 percent from a Dec. 8 high amid concern the country’s anti-bailout party will win elections today.
Some stocks advanced on mergers-and-acquisitions activity. Telefonica SA added 3.4 percent. Hutchison Whampoa Ltd said it has entered exclusive negotiations to buy O2, Telefonica’s UK wireless carrier, for as much as £10.25 billion (US$15 billion).
Portugal Telecom SGPS SA jumped 11 percent after its shareholders approved a 7.4 billion euro sale of Oi SA’s Portuguese telecommunications assets to Altice SA. Portugal Telecom is a minority investor in Oi and its shareholders had the right to block the sale.
Novo Nordisk A/S rose 1.7 after the European Medicines Agency gave a positive opinion for use of its Saxenda drug along with a lower calorie diet and increased exercise for weight management.
Thales SA fell 3.9 percent after saying it expects a reduction in last year’s profit because of losses at DCNS, the warship maker in which it owns a 35 percent stake.
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