European stocks rose for a third week, the longest streak of gains in more than 10 months, after the Obama administration’s plan to rid lenders of toxic assets spurred a rally in banks.
Barclays PLC soared 66 percent as the US Treasury said it would finance as much as US$1 trillion in purchases of distressed assets and the UK’s third-biggest bank passed stress tests conducted by the UK financial regulator. Lloyds Banking Group PLC and Commerzbank AG jumped more than 30 percent.
The Dow Jones STIOXX 600 Index advanced 2.7 percent to 177.17 last week. The measure has rebounded 12 percent since reaching a 12-year low on March 9 as US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined plans to buy illiquid securities and loans that have caused credit to dry up.
“The market right now is ready to give him the benefit of the doubt,” said Monika Rosen, head of research at Bank of Austria Asset Management in Vienna, which oversees about US$41 billion. “We are getting more substance but we still want to see a little more fundamental news.”
National benchmark indexes climbed in 14 out of 18 western European markets. The UK’s FTSE 100 rose 1.5 percent, while France’s CAC 40 advanced 1.8 percent. German’s DAX added 3.3 percent as Volkswagen AG surged.
European banks have led a 21-month market rout as they notched up more than US$380 billion in credit losses and writedowns, contributing to worldwide losses of more than IS$1.2 trillion. The US Treasury’s proposal to remove toxic assets from balance sheets will use between US$75 billion and US$100 billion from the US$700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program enacted last year, giving the government “purchasing power” of US$500 billion. The Treasury said the program could double “over time.”
Barclays soared 66 percent on optimism the bank may not need to raise additional capital after it passed the Financial Services Authority’s tests.
Barclays has asked bidders to submit offers for its iShares exchange-traded funds business by Friday. The unit could be valued at as much as £4.5 billion (US$6.5 billion), said Jonathan Pierce, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG in London.
Lloyds surged 38 percent as the UK’s biggest mortgage lender this week offered to exchange more than £7.5 billion in bonds into senior unsecured debt to boost its financial strength.
Commerzbank, the second-largest German lender, jumped 63 percent as supervisory Board Chairman Klaus-Peter Mueller said he doesn’t expect the German government to raise its stake after agreeing to buy a holding as part of an earlier rescue plan.
Larger rival Deutsche Bank AG also advanced, rising 16 percent. Chief executive officer Josef Ackermann said Germany’s biggest bank had a good start to this year and is expected to return to profit after scaling back risky businesses and shedding toxic assets.
Volkswagen soared 19 percent as part-owner Porsche SE refinanced a 10 billion euro (US$13.3 billion) loan, spurring speculation the sports-car maker will increase its stake.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique