European stocks gained for a second week after companies from Roche Holding AG to Vodafone Group PLC reported better-than-estimated results, suggesting the economic slump is easing.
Roche, the world’s biggest maker of cancer medicines, and Vodafone, the largest mobile-phone company, advanced more than 6 percent. Rio Tinto Group, the third-biggest mining company, led gains among raw-material producers as base metals climbed. Lloyds Banking Group PLC surged 16 percent on signs the UK housing market is stabilizing.
The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index rose 4.3 percent in the past week to 219.67 as all 19 industry groups advanced. The benchmark index for European equities has rallied 11 percent since July 10 as US companies from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to Johnson & Johnson and Apple Inc posted results that exceeded analysts’ forecasts. The gauge completed a nine-day rally on Thursday, the longest stretch of gains since 2006.
“The earnings season started very well in the US,” said Manfred Hofer, head of equity analysis at LGT Capital Management in Pfaeffikon, Switzerland, which oversees about US$73 billion. “The results have surprised positively because companies have carried out cost cutting and that has paid off but sales still leave something to be desired.”
More than half of earnings at European companies that have reported results since July 8 beat analyst forecasts, according to Bloomberg data.
Profits have shrunk 28 percent in the period for companies on the STOXX 600, while 37 of 69 companies have reported better-than-estimated results, the data show.
Among the 181 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index that have posted second-quarter results, 75 percent beat the average analyst forecast, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That would be the highest full-quarter figure on record, Bloomberg data going back to 1993 show.
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