European stocks dropped for the first week in seven as US regulators sued Goldman Sachs for fraud and consumer confidence unexpectedly declined, overshadowing an EU-led agreement to rescue Greece.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index slipped 0.7 percent to 267.81 this week, its biggest drop since February, after a sell-off in the last hour of trading as the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Goldman Sachs and one of its vice presidents of defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages.
“There is hardly any room for negative surprises such as the SEC charge at Goldman Sachs,” said Ineke Valke, an Amsterdam-based strategist at Theodoor Gilissen Bankiers, which manages about US$7 billion. “Markets will now probably enter a period of moving sideways until there is some confirmation on economic recovery in the longer term. Momentum seems to have passed.”
The STOXX 600 has climbed 5.5 percent this year as the EU agreed a US$61 billion aid package to help Greece tackle the region’s biggest budget deficit and the Fed pledged to maintain record-low interest rates for an extended period.
National benchmark indexes decreased in 12 of the 18 western European markets. Germany’s DAX fell 1.1 percent and France’s CAC 40 retreated 1.6 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 0.5 percent. Greece’s ASE added 0.2 percent, paring two weeks of losses.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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