European stocks fell for the first week in more than a month as investors speculated share prices have outpaced the outlook for economic growth and companies from Aegon NV to Nestle SA posted lower earnings.
Aegon, the Dutch owner of US insurer Transamerica Corp, slumped 12 percent, while Nestle, the world’s biggest food company, sank 4.4 percent. Volkswagen AG plummeted 24 percent after saying it will pay about 3.3 billion euros (US$4.7 billion) for a stake in Porsche SE’s automotive unit.
Europe’s Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index lost 0.8 percent to 228.77 in the past week, snapping four weeks of gains. A 45 percent rebound since March 9 has left the regional measure valued at 39.9 times the profits of its companies, the most expensive since September 2003, weekly data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“In the short term you have to be cautious, equities are no longer very cheap,” said Manfred Hofer, head of equity analysis at LGT Capital Management in Pfaeffikon, Switzerland, which oversees about US$73 billion. “Companies have been able to post profits because of cost cutting. We now need to see economic data confirm an upturn, then it’s possible that profits and revenues will increase.”
The euro region’s economy contracted 0.1 percent in the second quarter as Germany and France unexpectedly returned to growth, suggesting Europe’s worst recession since World War II is coming to an end. Economists had estimated gross domestic product declined 0.5 percent in the three months through June, the median of 32 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey showed.
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said that while recent economic reports are “encouraging,” growth won’t resume on an annual basis until 2010 while banks restrict access to credit.
National benchmark indexes declined in 10 of the 18 western European markets. The UK’s FTSE 100 lost 0.4 percent, and France’s CAC 40 decreased 0.7 percent. Germany’s DAX dropped 2.8 percent as Daimler AG slid.
Aegon tumbled 12 percent. The Dutch insurer posted a fourth straight quarterly loss on writedowns and the sale of a unit and said it will sell 1 billion euros of shares to help repay state aid. The second-quarter net loss was 161 million euros, wider than analysts’ estimates, and compared with a profit of 276 million euros a year earlier.
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
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
‘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)