European stocks advanced for a third straight week as data showing that the eurozone emerged from the longest recession on record outweighed speculation that the US Federal Reserve will trim its monetary stimulus.
Italian banks led gains as Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA and Unione di Banche Italiane SCPA rallied at least 12 percent, while GAM Holding AG jumped the most in almost four years as the asset manager said its first-half profit more than tripled. Fresnillo PLC and Randgold Resources Ltd increased at least 9 percent as prices for gold and silver rallied.
The benchmark STOXX Europe 600 Index increased 0.1 percent to 306.36 this week, extending its advance to 9.5 percent for the year. The Euro STOXX 50 Index added 1 percent for a sixth week of gains.
National benchmark indices advanced in 13 of the 18 western European markets this week. France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.2 percent, Germany’s DAX increased 0.6 percent, the UK’s FTSE 100 sank 1.3 percent and the Swiss Market Index retreated 0.2 percent.
GDP in the 17-nation eurozone expanded 0.3 percent in the second quarter after a six straight periods of contraction, according a report on released on Wednesday. That exceeded the median estimate of 0.2 percent growth in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
“For the first time in two years, with a continuation of positive news flows, the man on the street might go out and purchase that car he’s been thinking about, the new television or remodel his house,” Kevin Lilley, head of European Equities at Old Mutual Global Investors, said by telephone.
The STOXX 600 slid 1.1 percent on Thursday, the most in five weeks, as a US Department of Labor report showed initial jobless benefit claims unexpectedly dropped to the lowest level in almost six years.
The Fed will probably reduce its US$85 billion in monthly debt purchases at its meeting on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18, according to 65 percent of economists surveyed by Bloomberg between Aug. 9 and Tuesday. In a survey last month, half of economists predicted a reduction at next month’s meeting.
Italian banks posted the biggest gains in the STOXX 600, as the extra yield investors demand to hold the nation’s 10-year bonds over benchmark German bunds shrank to the lowest level in two years. Monte Paschi surged 14 percent, UBI rallied 12 percent and GAM jumped 15 percent, the most since October 2009.
Fresnillo, the world’s largest primary silver producer, surged 13 percent and Randgold, a producer of the precious metal in Africa, jumped 9.1 percent. Gold climbed to the highest price in almost two months and silver to the highest since May.
A measure of travel and leisure companies posted the biggest decline of 19 industry groups in the STOXX 600, retreating 2.3 percent.
Thomas Cook Group PLC tumbled 9.9 percent for the biggest drop in five months. UBS AG removed the 172-year-old UK tour operator from its list of preferred stocks, citing the “high-profile media coverage” of violent demonstrations in Egypt.
TUI Travel PLC, Europe’s largest tour operator, retreated 4.6 percent, the most in four months.
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
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