GAINING GROUND: National benchmarks rose in all 18 western European markets except Norway, Austria and Greece on signs that industrials are ready to consolidate
European stocks had their first weekly gain this year as Alcoa Inc and Aluminum Corp of China's (中國鋁業) purchase of a stake in Rio Tinto Group and Microsoft Corp's offer for Yahoo Inc fueled speculation mergers will increase.

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RECESSION: The Federal Reserve's latest rate cut was not enough to halt the MSCI Asia Pacific Index's longest losing streak since August 2004
Asian stocks fell for a fifth week, completing their longest losing streak in more than three years, on concern the US and Japan are sinking into recessions.

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US stock markets got a lift from the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate cut as the week's economic news confirmed the US economy is no longer accelerating and has struck a few worrisome potholes.

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Asian currencies gained this week, led by the New Taiwan dollar and the Indonesian rupiah as US Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts revived investor appetite for emerging-market assets.

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Oil prices fell sharply on Friday, closing well under US$90 a barrel after a string of dismal economic reports renewed worries that a possible US recession could stunt oil demand.

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JUMPING THE GUN: Yahoo has yet to respond to the company's acquisition offer, but analysts say the deal could prove too good for the struggling firm to turn down
The US House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing next week to scrutinize Microsoft's multibillion-dollar bid to acquire Yahoo in order to take on Internet goliath Google.

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IT'S A DEAL: David Li reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result, he will not be barred from serving as an officer at a public firm
Former Dow Jones & Co director David Li (李國寶) and a Hong Kong couple settled a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into alleged insider trading during the company's takeover by News Corp last year, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

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A recent Chinese tax reduction on ethanolamine products could help Taiwanese petrochemical exports to China outplay competitors in the Chinese market, a senior official at the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

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A congressional committee is investigating the purchase of 3Com Corp by a consortium that includes a Chinese company, intensifying scrutiny of the deal.

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The oil group Exxon Mobil unveiled the largest profits ever recorded by a US company on Friday as higher oil prices spurred its earnings.

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RISING STEADILY: Sixty-six percent of survey respondents in northern Taiwan said they use the Internet. In Taipei, the figure was 73.6 percent
The number of Internet users nationwide reached 14.76 million last year, an increase of 1.7 percent over the previous year, the Institute for Information Industry (III) said yesterday.

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■ LABOR

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