European equities fell, posting their worst weekly decline since mid-June, on mounting concern that the rise in COVID-19 cases would hamper the region’s economic recovery. Banks slid to a record low.
The STOXX Europe 600 on Friday closed down 0.1 percent at 355.51, and is down 3.6 percent this week as countries including the UK and France tighten their virus rules, and former hotspots such as the Spanish capital of Madrid report rising hospitalizations.
The STOXX 600 Banks Index declined for a seventh straight day, closing at the lowest level since its creation in 1991, hit by concerns over coronavirus-related lockdowns, low interest rates and bad loans.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives have started drafting a stimulus proposal of roughly US$2.4 trillion, just as economists were expressing doubts over whether additional funding would be seen this year.
“We think it makes sense to stay positioned for continued recovery and further cyclical outperformance, but the argument has become more balanced,” Bank of America Corp strategists led by Sebastian Raedler wrote in a note on Friday.
“The downside risks have increased,” they said.
UBS Global Wealth Management’s chief investment officer Mark Haefele said that “overall, we maintain our constructive outlook for equities over the coming months, while acknowledging that markets will likely be choppy.”
Meanwhile in London, a nearly 44 percent surge in bookmaker William Hill PLC on takeover offers lifted consumer stocks, helping UK shares outperform European peers and end a tumultuous week on a high note.
Without disclosing the value, buyout firm Apollo Global Management Inc and US casino operator Caesars Entertainment Inc made offers for the British betting firm, shares of which rose 43.47 percent on Friday to ￡312.20.
“William Hill had been one of the big gainers since March among UK equities... The news of course has done what bid approaches always do, namely lift the rest of the sector as well,” IG Group PLC chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said.
London’s mid-caps index end up 1.4 percent in its best day in three weeks.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.34 percent, but losses for miners and oil stocks, which tracked commodity prices lower, and banks, which extended losses to a fourth straight session, kept gains in check.
It was down 2.74 percent from a week earlier.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
RSS