European stocks rose as oil's biggest weekly drop in two months eased concern that higher fuel costs will curb profits at airlines and leisure companies.
British Airways PLC, Europe’s third-largest carrier, surged the most in four years and Deutsche Lufthansa AG rose as crude declined from record levels. Carnival Corp, the world’s biggest cruise-line company, had its steepest advance in four weeks. Nokia Oyj, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, paced gains among technology shares as Dell Inc posted better-than-estimated earnings.
The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index added 1 percent to 322.12. Concern that record oil prices, inflation and US$386.7 billion in credit losses will slow economic growth has pushed the index down 20 percent from a six-year high in June last year. The measure lost 0.3 percent last month.
“We had a correction in oil prices which is favorable from the point of view of the market,” said Andrew Popper, chief investment officer at SG Hambros in London, who helps manage the equivalent of US$13.7 billion. “Overall, the environment is not as negative.”
Crude oil, which reached a record US$135.09 on May 22, retreated 3.7 percent this week, the steepest drop since March, as a US report on Thursday showed gasoline use declining from a year earlier.
National indexes advanced in 14 of the 18 western European markets. France’s CAC 40 added 1.6 percent, and Germany’s DAX climbed 2.2 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.6 percent. The STOXX 50 increased 0.4 percent, while the Euro STOXX 50, a measure for the euro area, rose 1.4 percent.
British Airways soared 13 percent. Lufthansa, Europe’s second-biggest airline, rallied 7.6 percent. Fuel accounts for 30 percent of airlines’ costs, according to research by Credit Suisse Group.
More than a dozen carriers have collapsed in the past six months after the price of oil jumped more than 40 percent.
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
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
‘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
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
RSS