European stocks rose for a fourth week after the unemployment rate in the US economy unexpectedly fell last month and HSBC Holdings PLC posted a surprise profit.
British Land Co climbed 11 percent, pacing gains among real estate companies, as the pace of US job losses slowed more than forecast last month and the unemployment rate dropped for the first time since April last year. HSBC and Barclays PLC both jumped more than 9 percent after income from their investment banking units doubled in the first half.
Europe’s Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index added 2.6 percent to 230.68, its fourth straight weekly gain. The gauge has climbed 46 percent since March 9 as companies from GlaxoSmithKline PLC to Goldman Sachs Group Inc reported better-than-estimated earnings. The regional measure is now valued at 40.1 times the profits of its companies, the highest level since September 2003, weekly data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“Investors are continuing to buy into the market having missed some of the rally since the March lows,” said Richard Hunter, London-based head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers. “Markets are now searching for the next positive catalyst to move things along.”
ING Groep NV equity strategists raised financial-services shares and basic resources, chemical and industrial stocks to “overweight,” as the brokerage shunned industries whose profits are less tied to economic growth.
Real estate shares posted the steepest gains among all 19 industry groups on the pan-European STOXX 600 index this week, adding 8.8 percent.
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