European stocks advanced for a sixth week, posting their longest winning streak since August last year, as signs emerged the US Federal Reserve would not rush to reduce the pace of its stimulus, outweighing data that showed the euro-area economic recovery was faltering.
TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC rallied 12 percent after raising its revenue-growth target. Swiss Life Holding AG jumped to a five-year high after naming a new CEO. Bouygues SA rose 5 percent after reporting better-than-estimated earnings. Serco Group PLC posted the biggest drop in more than 22 years after forecasting a profit decline next year.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index climbed 0.1 percent to 323 this week. The 600-share regional benchmark has surged 15 percent this year, reaching its highest level since May 2008, as central banks around the world pledged to continue their support for economic growth. The Euro STOXX 50 Index, a measure for euro-area shares, gained 0.7 percent this week.
In the US, equities extended records as US Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen, nominated to succeed Ben Bernanke as Fed chairman, said she would ensure the US$85 billion in monthly bond purchases are not scaled back too soon. The recovery in the world’s largest economy remains fragile, she said at her senate confirmation hearing.
“Yellen is not going to taper until the very earliest March, and maybe later,” said James Butterfill, head of global equity strategy at Coutts & Co in London. “That is positive for income stocks and generally stocks. Our view is that there is probably not huge upside coming into the year-end but over the longer run, equities are not overvalued, more like fairly valued.”
Data showed that France’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the third quarter, while German GDP slowed and Italy extended its recession.
That led to a slowdown in euro-area growth, where GDP expanded 0.1 percent in the three months through September, compared with 0.3 percent growth in the second quarter, according to a report from the EU’s statistic office in Luxembourg.
National benchmark indices rose in 11 of the 18 Western European markets. Germany’s DAX gained 1 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent. France’s CAC 40 added 0.8 percent.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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