European stocks climbed for a fifth straight week, the longest stretch of gains since October 2007, as speculation grew the worst of the credit crisis is over and government measures will succeed in reviving the global economy.
HSBC Holdings PLC, UniCredit SpA and Natixis SA rallied more than 9 percent after Wells Fargo & Co reported a record first-quarter profit that beat the most optimistic Wall Street estimates. Daimler AG, the world’s second-largest maker of luxury cars, rose 3.6 percent after saying it anticipates a profit improvement and the German government agreed to more than triple payments to buyers of new low-emission vehicles.
The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index added 1 percent to 188.06. The index has rebounded 19 percent since reaching a 12-year low on March 9 as banks from Barclays PLC to Citigroup Inc signaled they had a positive start to the year and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled plans to finance the purchase of as much as US$1 trillion in lenders’ toxic assets.
National indexes rose in 14 of the 18 western European markets in the holiday-shortened trading week. Germany’s DAX Index climbed 2.4 percent. France’s CAC 40 added 0.5 percent, while the UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 1.1 percent.
The Bank of England left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent and said it would keep buying government bonds to fight the deepest recession in a generation.
Analysts expect profits for companies in the STOXX 600 to climb 22 percent on average this year with financial firms leading the growth, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc said in a report dated Wednesday that investors should favor manufacturing, technology and other industries that rely on economic growth as the recession eases.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary