European stocks were little changed, posting their longest winning streak since January, amid earnings from Ericsson AB and Volvo AB.
Ericsson advanced 3.4 percent after second-quarter sales beat analysts’ projections. Volvo slid 6.3 percent, reversing earlier gains after saying US heavy-vehicle market has probably peaked as orders declined.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index added less than 0.1 percent to 405.68 at the close of trading, taking its weekly advance to 4.3 percent, the most since January. The gauge has rebounded 8.8 percent from a July 7 low amid optimism over Greece, after almost entering a correction.
“The potential for more gains is very limited in the short-term,” said Francois Savary, Geneva-based chief investment officer at Reyl & Cie, which oversees about US$11 billion. “We still favor equities and keep our bias to Europe. It’s where we’ll have liquidity flowing in and where profit growth will be the strongest. Investors are still very cautious and holding a lot of cash.”
Some options and futures on European stocks and indexes expired yesterday.
German lawmakers paved the way for new negotiations for a Greek bailout package of as much as 86 billion euros (US$94 billion) over three years. The EU finalized a 7.2 billion euro bridge loan to Greece.
Among other stocks moving on corporate news, Givaudan SA rose 4 percent after the world’s largest maker of flavors and fragrance reported a surprise increase in first-half earnings.
Boliden AB and Schibsted ASA jumped more than 7.3 percent after they each reported second-quarter profit that beat estimates.
888 Holdings PLC rallied 8.6 percent after agreeing to buy Bwin.party Digital Entertainment PLC for £898.3 million (US$1.4 billion). The price was less than an offer competitor GVC Holdings PLC was considering making. Bwin.party added 2 percent.
Credit Suisse Group AG fell 1.6 percent after Deutsche Bank AG said it no longer recommended buying the shares.
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last