European stocks posted their second weekly decline since last month as Dubai’s attempt to delay debt repayments rattled investors, offsetting US reports that showed the economy is recovering.
Alpha Bank SA, Greece’s third-biggest lender, and National Bank of Greece SA, the largest, declined more than 8 percent on concern about the country’s economy. Compass Group PLC jumped 8.4 percent after the world’s largest catering company said full-year profit rose 32 percent as cost cuts offset a decline in UK sales.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he and Financial Stability Board Chairman Mario Draghi were confident that Dubai’s debt troubles were “containable.”
National benchmark indexes slipped in 13 of the 18 western European markets this past week. The UK’s FTSE 100 retreated 0.1 percent and France’s CAC 40 declined 0.2 percent. Germany’s DAX gained 0.4 percent.
Greece’s Alpha Bank slumped 12 percent, while National Bank of Greece fell 8.9 percent. Marfin Investment Group SA, the biggest buyout fund in southeast Europe, sank 14 percent.
European banking shares were the worst performers among 19 industry groups in the in the benchmark index, losing 2.2 percent. Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second-biggest bank, declined 4.9 percent. The Dow Jones STOXX 600 financial services index posted the second-biggest retreat, with a 1.8 percent decline.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
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