European stocks gained for a second week after Royal Philips Electronics NV reported an unexpected third-quarter profit and results from Intel Corp to JPMorgan Chase & Co and Google Inc beat analysts’ estimates.
Philips, Europe’s biggest consumer-electronics maker, climbed 7.5 percent as operating earnings at the consumer unit more than doubled. Remy Cointreau SA rallied after France’s second-largest liquor company reported a smaller sales decline. J Sainsbury PLC, the UK’s third-biggest grocery chain, surged on speculation its largest investor, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, may buy more shares. Prosafe ASA led energy shares higher as oil rose to a one-year high.
The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index climbed 1.2 percent in the week to 245.58. The regional gauge has gained 55 percent since March 9 as companies reported earnings that exceeded estimates. The rally has pushed valuations on the index to 48.9 times earnings, near the most expensive level since 2003, Bloomberg data show.
“We’re happy with earnings reports,” said Yves Maillot, director of investments at Robeco Asset Management in Paris, which oversees US$7.47 billion.
Companies in the STOXX 600 are expected to report a 3.9 percent increase in earnings this year and a 31 percent gain in profit next year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
National benchmark indexes rose in 15 of the 18 western European markets. Germany’s DAX and the UK’s FTSE 100 each added 0.6 percent. France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.7 percent.
Economic data this week added to evidence that the economy is strengthening. China’s exports declined at the slowest pace in nine months last month, while sales at US retailers fell less than anticipated, reports showed. UK unemployment rose by the least in a year and fewer people signed on for jobless benefits than economists forecast as the recession eased, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
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
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
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
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