European stocks advanced this week, pushing the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index to its biggest gain since July, as investors speculated mergers will increase and evidence mounted that the economy is recovering from recession.
Cadbury PLC, the world’s largest confectioner, jumped 37 percent after rejecting a US$16 billion takeover offer from Kraft Foods Inc. BHP Billiton Ltd climbed 8.1 percent as metal prices rose and reports showed industrial production and investment growth in China accelerated. Renault SA surged 10 percent as chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn said the worst of the financial crisis was over.
The STOXX 600 added 3.4 percent to 241.74 this past week, extending an 11-month high. The measure has soared 53 percent since March 9 as companies from Goldman Sachs Group Inc to L’Oreal SA reported better-than-estimated results and the German and French economies unexpectedly grew. The rally has driven the STOXX 600’s valuation to 46.7 times reported company earnings, the highest level since 2003, according to Bloomberg data.
“The upward trend is still intact,” said Daniel Knuchel, who oversees about US$3 billion as chief investment officer at AAM Privatbank AG in Zurich. “M&A activity is a positive factor as it shows that companies are seeing value again. It spurs a certain confidence if you see large transactions like Kraft’s bid for Cadbury.”
European investor confidence increased for a second month in September as the euro-area economy starts to recover, according to data from the Limburg, Germany-based Sentix research institute.
National benchmark indexes increased in all 18 western European markets, except Iceland. The UK’s FTSE 100 advanced 3.3 percent and France’s CAC 40 rose 3.8 percent. Germany’s DAX climbed 4.5 percent as Commerzbank AG rallied.
The VSTOXX Index, which gauges the cost of insurance against declines on the Euro STOXX 50, fell 8.5 percent to the lowest level in a year.
STMicroelectronics NV, Europe’s biggest semiconductor maker, rose 6.5 percent and Infineon Technologies AG, the second-largest, climbed 7.2 percent after Texas Instruments Inc, the second-biggest US chipmaker, increased its sales and earnings forecasts and said demand for so-called analog chips is beginning to recover.
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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