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.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from