A late turnaround on Friday helped European stocks notch gains for a fifth straight session, as signs of progress in US-China trade talks and upbeat reports from luxury goods makers dispelled some fears about an earnings and growth slowdown.
After starting the day nearly flat and eventually falling as much as 0.4 percent, the main European equities benchmark, the STOXX 600, on Friday recovered to close up 0.70 points, or 0.2 percent, at 398.02, jumping 1.6 percent from a close of 391.84 on Oct. 18.
Germany’s trade-sensitive DAX on Friday rose 22.41 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,894.51, surging 2.1 percent from 12,633.60 a week earlier.
France’s CAC 40 on Friday outperformed major regional indices, gaining 37.82 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,722.15, a jump of 1.5 percent from a close of 5,636.25 a week earlier, as Gucci owner Kering SA jumped 8.7 percent, while Italian jacket maker Moncler SpA rose 11.3 percent.
The companies joined other luxury labels in easing fears of a major third-quarter sales hit from protests in Hong Kong.
Europe’s retail index gained 1.2 percent, leading gains among major subsectors.
However, the food and beverage sector led losses on Friday, after brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV provided a cautious outlook and reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings growth, sparked by reduced demand for its beer in Brazil and South Korea.
Shares in Carlsberg A/S and Heineken NV dropped about 2 percent each.
“Today’s moves seem to have trimmed some of the progress we have seen on the week,” City Index analyst Ken Odeluga said in London. “You have a mechanical effect from that 10 percent decline in AB InBev, but you can’t really generalize. We may not see a stellar earnings season, but with expectations so low there will be more beats for sure.”
The prospect of months of more wrangling over Brexit remained as the EU failed to set a date for Britain’s departure from the bloc, while the UK’s parliament squabbled over British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s call for an election to break the deadlock.
EU ambassadors agreed in principle to a delay beyond deadline on Thursday next week, but would not decide the length of the extension until tomorrow or Tuesday, an official said.
London’s FTSE 100 fell for the first time in five sessions, while mid-caps and the pound weakened as Johnson on Thursday conceded for the first time that he could not meet his Brexit deadline.
The FTSE 100 on Friday fell 3.78 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,324.47, but was still up 2.4 percent from 7,150.57 a week earlier.
Shares in French tire maker Michelin gained 6 percent after it maintained its full-year profit guidance, even as it cut its forecast again for the global tire market.
Among banks, Britain’s Barclays PLC rose 2.4 percent after reporting greater than expected third-quarter earnings.
Additional reporting by staff writer
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS