European stocks trimmed their weekly gain amid increasing concern that Greece’s efforts to renegotiate its debt and stay in the single currency would fail.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.9 percent to 389.38 at the close of trading, paring its weekly gain to 0.1 percent.
Greece’s ASE Index lost 5.9 percent, for the biggest decline among western European markets, with National Bank of Greece SA and Eurobank Ergasias SA falling more than 10 percent.
Portugal’s PSI 20 Index posted the second-worst performance, with a 1.5 percent drop.
Pressure is mounting on Greece to come up with a solution after the IMF withdrew from talks in Brussels on Thursday, citing “major differences.”
Greece ruled out cutting pensions and demanded debt restructuring. Euro-area officials called for a proposal to stabilize the country’s debt by the end of Friday, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to accept a framework for aid.
Her advisers are already discussing how to deal with a Greek default, Bild newspaper reported.
“I’m beginning to get concerned,” said Henrik Drusebjerg, who helps manage about US$17 billion as chief strategist at Carnegie Investment Bank AB in Copenhagen.
“You’re caught in a dilemma. You can’t seek the bond market for protection. You’re scared for the stock market because of Greece and the Fed, which is closing in on the first rate hike. A lot of investors are very frustrated as to where to place their money,” Drusebjerg said.
Among stocks moving on corporate news on Friday, Zodiac Aerospace plunged 5.4 percent after saying it might not meet this year’s target for operating income.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS