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.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
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