European stocks posted the biggest weekly drop since July, trimming the benchmark STOXX Europe 600 Index’s second straight annual gain, amid speculation the rally may have overshot the outlook for earnings and the economy.
Automakers Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG tumbled more than 5 percent as China, the world’s largest car market, raised interest rates for the second time in just over two months. UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest lender, led a decline in banks.
The STOXX 600 sank 1.9 percent to 276.14 this past week, paring this month’s gain to 5.5 percent. The gauge surged 8.8 percent last year as companies reported increased profits and the US Federal Reserve unveiled US$600 billion of additional bond purchases to support the economy.
“Light volumes have exacerbated falls and one should not read too much into this. The majority of traders and volumes are likely to return next week, in the New Year,” said Joshua Raymond, a market strategist at City Index Ltd in London.
National benchmark indexes declined in 14 of the 18 western European markets this week. The UK’s FTSE 100 lost 1.8 percent and Germany’s DAX fell 2 percent, paring the gauges’ gains for last year. Denmark’s OMX Copenhagen 20, which has jumped 36 percent this year, slipped 0.4 percent this week. Greece’s ASE slid 2.1 percent, extending its annual plunge to 36 percent.
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
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
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
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