European stocks had the first weekly decline in four weeks as concern grew that central bank stimulus measures will be insufficient to sustain the economic rebound.
Bank shares tumbled the most in four weeks after UBS AG reported a surprise investment-banking loss. Sandvik AB, the world’s biggest maker of metal-cutting tools, fell 5.7 percent as earnings missed analyst estimates. Scania AB slid 6.8 percent as the truckmaker’s sales trailed projections. Telecommunication shares rose after France Telecom SA’s earnings beat estimates and Norway’s Telenor ASA raised its forecast.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 0.3 percent to 265.96 this past week, trimming this month’s gain to 2.4 percent. The benchmark measure for European equities has rallied 15 percent from this year’s low in May amid better-than-expected earnings and speculation the Federal Reserve will unveil a second round of asset purchases next month to help stimulate the recovery.
“We expect to have a much clearer picture of the environment in the next few weeks and will be in a better position to take advantage of the irrationality that has entered the markets,” said Alex Moiseev, principal and chief investment officer at Dighton Capital in London.
Meanwhile, “it is better to be in cash than other asset classes,” Moiseev said.
National benchmark indexes declined in 15 of the 18 western European markets. France’s CAC 40 fell 0.9 percent, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.1 percent and the UK’s FTSE 100 retreated 1.2 percent.
“The recent string of better-than-expected economic data, which culminated the US GDP figure today, has seen support for another round of quantitative easing in the US wane among FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] members,” Mads Koefoed, a market strategist at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen, said on Friday.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS