European stocks posted the biggest weekly decline in seven weeks as economic reports from the US and Japan heightened concern that the global economic recovery may be stalling.
Vestas Wind Systems A/S led energy companies lower, plunging 23 percent, after the wind-turbine maker cut its revenue forecast. Holcim Ltd, the world’s second-biggest cement maker, lost 5.1 percent as earnings missed estimates. BHP Billiton Ltd sank 6.3 percent after making a hostile US$40 billion bid for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc.
The benchmark STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 1.3 percent to 252.15 this past week, the biggest drop since July 2, as reports showed US jobless-benefit claims climbed to the highest level in nine months and Japan’s economy grew at the slowest pace in three quarters.
“The data is obvious: It is a slowdown,” said Herbert Perus, Vienna-based head of equities at Raiffeisen Capital Management. “The recovery will not go on in a straight line. Big investors are positioned for a double-dip scenario.”
The STOXX 600 has retreated 7.4 percent from this year’s high in April amid concern that European governments will struggle to reduce their budget deficits and speculation that the US economy may tip back into recession. The gauge is almost unchanged for the year.
National benchmark indices fell in 16 out of 18 western European markets this week. France’s CAC 40 dropped 2.4 percent and Germany’s DAX slid 1.7 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 retreated 1.5 percent.
A measure of energy stocks posted the biggest decline among 19 industry groups in the STOXX 600 as crude oil fell to a six-week low in New York.
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