World stock markets were mostly higher yesterday on guarded optimism that the US Federal Reserve’s bold US$1.2 trillion spending plan would bring a quicker end to the worst global slowdown in decades.
By noon in Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 1.5 percent to 3,862.11, Germany’s DAX advanced 1.6 percent to 4,061.83 and France’s CAC 40 rose 1.1 percent to 2,789.48.
Their rise followed overnight gains on Wall Street after the Fed said it would pump more than US$1 trillion into the economy.
The Fed plans to buy up to US$300 billion in long-term government bonds and some US$750 billion in mortgage-backed securities, which would help revive the country’s sagging housing market.
The measures — aimed at propping up demand and spending in the US by driving down borrowing costs for consumers and companies alike — stunned investors around the world. The Fed hasn’t set out to influence long-term interest rates by buying long-term bonds since the 1960s.
“The markets are responding favorably to signs the central banks are taking more aggressive action to boost the supply of money available for borrowing in the economy,” said Andrew Bell, head of research at Rensburg Sheppards, an investment management company in Britain. “I don’t think people are euphoric, I think people realize the economy’s got pressure. But sentiment a couple of weeks ago was so steeped in gloom that the small piece of good news has begun turning things around.”
Meanwhile, new jobless claims in the US fell more than expected last week, but continuing claims set a new record for the eighth straight week.
The US Labor Department said yesterday that initial requests for unemployment insurance dropped to a seasonally adjusted 646,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 658,000. That was better than analysts’ expectations.
But continuing claims jumped 185,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.47 million, another record high and more than the roughly 5.33 million that economists expected.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
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US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central