European stocks advanced on Friday, extending the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index’s biggest weekly rally since November, as Sandvik AB announced better-than-forecast earnings and US housing starts increased.
Sandvik, the world’s largest maker of metal-cutting tools, surged 7.1 percent in Stockholm after reporting an operating loss that was smaller than the company predicted last month. Accor SA slumped 7.5 percent as Europe’s biggest hotelier said sales slipped. Novartis AG advanced 1.4 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co recommended Europe’s second-largest drugmaker.
The STOXX 600 added 0.4 percent to 210.67, the highest level since June 12. The gauge has climbed 6.8 percent this week as companies from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to Intel Corp and Johnson & Johnson reported profits that beat estimates.
“Earnings are moving in the right direction,” said Emmanuel Soupre, who helps manage about US$18 billion at Neuflize OBC in Paris.
“We’re satisfied with the positive elements we have today, but we take it a day at a time. Minimal elements of a rebound exist for the end of the year,” Soupre said.
Per-share profits have slipped 27 percent for the 38 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index that have posted second-quarter earnings. That compares with a 32 percent slide in the first quarter and a 56 percent slump in the final quarter of last year.
National benchmark indexes climbed in all of the 18 western European markets except Austria, Luxembourg and Iceland.
The UK’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 added 0.6 percent. Germany’s DAX increased 0.4 percent.
UBS AG strategists Nick Nelson and Matthew Gilman raised their year-end forecast for region’s FTSEurofirst 300 Index to 1,000 from 900 on Friday, citing an improvement in earnings and economic indicators. The gauge closed at 870.56 on Friday.
Sandvik added 7.1 percent to 64.50 kronor. The company posted a second-quarter operating loss of 2 billion kronor (US$260 million) on falling orders and one-time costs. In June, it predicted a loss of 2.2 billion kronor to 2.5 billion kronor.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a