European stocks advanced for a second consecutive week as earnings reports and economic data added to signs the global recession is nearing an end.
L’Oreal SA had its biggest weekly gain since September 2001 after reporting a smaller-than-estimated decline in earnings and forecasting a recovery. Natixis SA surged 49 percent after receiving a guarantee from its parent covering about 35 billion euros (US$50 billion) of risky assets and said it may return to profit this quarter. Volkswagen AG posted a fifth straight weekly drop, the longest losing streak since October 2005.
Europe’s Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index climbed 1.1 percent to 237.51. Economic reports this past week showed that the US economy contracted less than forecast in the second quarter, while consumer spending rose last month. European confidence in the economic outlook gained twice as much as forecast this month.
“We’ve had positive surprises from companies and the economy,” said Roland Lescure, who oversees about US$119 billion as chief investment officer of Groupama Asset Management in Paris. “Investors are chasing the bull market.”
The STOXX 600 has rallied 50 percent since March 9 as companies worldwide from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to Bayer AG and L’Oreal report better-than-projected earnings and investors speculate government measures and interest-rate cuts will help to pull the global economy out of a recession.
National benchmark indexes increased in all 18 western European markets. The UK’s FTSE 100 advanced 1.2 percent in the past week, while Germany’s DAX climbed 1 percent and France’s CAC 40 rallied 2.1 percent.
An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16 nations that use the euro climbed to the highest level since October, the European Commission in Brussels said on Friday. In Germany, business confidence rose more than economists forecast.
Net profits at western European companies that have reported results since July 8 beat projections by 16 percent, while dropping 38 percent on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Analysts expect earnings in the STOXX 600 to grow 5.8 percent this year, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show.
Technology stocks rose 4.6 percent as a group, the biggest gain among 19 industries in the STOXX 600.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
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
‘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)