European shares crept higher on Friday on firmer tech stocks and automakers, although gains were limited as earnings weighed on shares in French bank Societe Generale SA (SocGen) and Dutch telecoms firms Altice NV.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.2 percent to 396.06, posting a 0.7 percent weekly gain, while Germany’s DAX hit a record high, up 0.4 percent.
Britain’s FTSE 100 built on the previous session’s gains following the Bank of England’s first rate hike in more than a decade, up 0.3 percent.
Friday was another busy day of earnings, with the banking sector in focus. Societe Generale fell 3 percent after the French bank reported third-quarter earnings that included a 15 percent slump at its investment banking arm.
Weak trading has been an issue across the sector, with peer BNP Paribas SA dropping earlier in the week on the back of a slump in fixed income trading.
“These weaker results add pressure on [SocGen] to deliver a substantial revamp at the investor day on Nov. 28, otherwise it will become a value trap,” analysts at Jefferies LLC said in a note.
Telecoms firm Altice was another big faller, down 10 percent after issuing cautious full-year targets amidst slightly weaker-than-expected third-quarter results.
Shares in Air France-KLM Group reversed earlier gains to fall 7.5 percent following comments from its finance chief after its results. The airline’s shares were suspended briefly, but resumed trading.
Wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems AS was the biggest faller, down 1 percent, while Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy also fell 5.3 percent after the proposed US tax reform bill included cuts to renewable energy tax credits.
On the positive side, Norwegian consumer publishing firm Schibsted ASA surged 18.5 percent to the top of the STOXX after its results came in above forecast.
France’s Renault SA rose 5 percent, leading European autos after the French government began the sale of its 4.73 percent stake in the automaker.
Tech stocks were also in focus after US giant Apple Inc reported better-than-expected earnings, boosting shares in suppliers Dialog Semiconductor PLC 3.4 percent and AMS AG 2.2 percent.
More than half of MSCI Europe companies have reported third-quarter earnings, of which 67 percent have either met or beaten analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data.
“Those [smaller beats] and the big beats, once you add them all together, makes it actually a fairly good earnings season, hence why markets are where they are,” Accendo Markets head of research Mike van Dulken said.
“We’re seeing the ECB [European Central Bank] strike a dovish tone, we’ve seen the Bank of England clearly deliver a more dovish message on less hikes over a longer term, the Fed nomination [is] very much being seen as a steady as she goes so yes, rates are higher ... but it’s still a very much accommodative environment for a good while longer,” Van Dulken added.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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