European stocks posted a weekly gain as the STOXX Europe 600 Index rebounded from an eight-month low on speculation the economy is strong enough to weather the region’s government-debt crisis.
Basic-resources stocks led the gains, paced by BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Group. Portugal Telecom SGPS SA jumped 14 percent as Telefonica SA threatened to bid for the Portuguese company after it rejected an offer for its stake in their Brazilian joint venture. BP PLC fell for a sixth straight week as efforts to halt an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico continued.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 2.9 percent to 244.01 this past week as all 19 industry groups advanced, recovering from a plunge to an eight-month low on Tuesday. The measure has slumped 6.1 percent so far this month, on course for the biggest drop since February last year, on concern that European nations will have difficulty taming their budget deficits without harming the economic recovery.
The 10 percent decline since this year’s high on April 15 has left the STOXX 600 trading at less than 15 times the reported earnings of its companies, near the cheapest valuation since 2008, according to Bloomberg data.
National benchmark indexes rose in 16 of the 18 western European markets this week. Germany’s DAX gained 2 percent while France’s CAC 40 and the UK’s FTSE 100 advanced 2.5 percent.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on Wednesday said the economy of its 30 members would grow 2.7 percent this year, more than the 1.9 percent predicted in November, as emerging economies such as China outpace debt-burdened developed countries to drive the global expansion. A report in the US on the same day showed orders for durable goods rose last month for the fourth time in five months.
“The growth momentum of the global economy is strong, and we expect this momentum to decline only little in the course of this year,” Deutsche Bank AG strategists including London-based Joelle Anamootoo wrote in a report, adding that “risks to the outlook are skewed to the downside.”
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
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