Wall Street faces another week of earnings reports on the upbeat after a wave of bright corporate news dissipated some of the gloom from the ongoing financial turmoil.
“A sense that the worst may be over on the credit crisis front is gradually rolling over the market, with equities cheering generally better-than-expected results for non-financials this week, and looking beyond further write-downs among major US banks,” said Douglas Porter, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets
During the week, solid quarterly results from multinationals such as Google, IBM, Intel, Coca-Cola, Caterpillar and Honeywell, have eased concerns about bottom lines in the credit squeeze.
“What a difference a week makes,” Briefing.com’s Patrick O’Hare said.
“Last Friday the market was bemoaning a very disappointing earnings report from General Electric and fearing the worst in front of this week’s busy earnings reporting period. This Friday it exits the week in an upbeat mood, basking in a sense of relief that this week’s earnings reports and economic data were better than feared,” he said.
In the week to Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.25 percent to 12,849.36 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 broad-market index climbed 4.31 percent to 1,390.33.
The tech-dominated NASDAQ composite advanced 4.92 percent to 2,402.97.
Bonds weakened as investors looked to equities. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 3.743 percent on Friday from 3.471 percent a week earlier, and that on the 30-year bond climbed to 4.517 percent from 4.302 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
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