European stocks climbed this week as companies from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV to Bayer AG posted quarterly earnings that beat estimates and as the European Central Bank (ECB) said interest rates will remain low.
AB InBev, the world’s biggest brewer, jumped 11 percent, leading food-and-beverage stocks higher. Bayer paced gains among chemical makers as it surged 7 percent. Alcatel-Lucent SA soared 17 percent after quarterly profit exceeded projections and K+S AG posted its biggest weekly drop in more than 14 years as OAO Uralkali forecast that potash prices will plummet.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index advanced 1.8 percent to 304.15 this week. The equity benchmark rose every day this week, its longest winning streak since April. That pushed its valuation to 13.8 times estimated earnings, the highest since December 2009. More than 140 STOXX 600-listed companies reported earnings this week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
National benchmark indices rose in all 18 western European markets this week. The UK’s FTSE 100 advanced 1.4 percent, while France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.9 percent and Germany’s DAX Index added 2 percent.
“Investors have a far more positive outlook on European equities now than before as they are hoping the economy will oblige and show an improvement next year,” Hermes Sourcecap Ltd chief executive Andrew Parry said in a telephone interview. “Expectations for profit have already fallen so much that if a company is posting slightly better earnings on depressed estimates, that’s a welcome relief.”
Analysts have lowered their profit forecasts for companies listed on the STOXX 600 since the beginning of this year. Estimates have fallen 8.3 percent to 22.09 euros per share, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday said interest rates in the eurozone will remain low for an extended period of time.
He also said there are indications that the combined economy of the currency bloc is stabilizing. The ECB and the Bank of England left their benchmark interest rates unchanged at 0.5 percent, as forecast in Bloomberg surveys.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
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