European stocks retreated this week, extending the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index’s second straight weekly decline, as healthcare and gambling companies sank and UBS AG forecast a second-quarter loss.
Sanofi-Aventis SA tumbled the most in seven months after analysts cut their recommendations on concern the drugmaker’s Lantus diabetes treatment carries health risks. Opap SA, Europe’s largest publicly traded gambling company, sank 7.4 percent after Greece said it would impose new taxes on games of chance. UBS, the European bank with the steepest losses from the credit crunch, fell 5.4 percent.
The STOXX 600 slipped 0.1 percent to 204.47. The gauge has lost 1.8 percent since last Friday, posting its first back-to-back weekly declines since the start of a rebound in March. The World Bank predicted this week that the global recession will be deeper this year than it forecast in March, while European Central Bank (ECB) council member Axel Weber said the ECB has used up room to cut interest rates.
“The big question is: will we have a recovery in global growth or will it take a while and growth will remain flat?” said Matthieu Giuliani, a fund manager at Palatine Asset Management in Paris, which oversees about US$5.6 billion. “Today we need a very clear improvement in the economy for stocks to progress.”
The STOXX 600 has retreated 4.8 percent since June 11 amid speculation share prices have outpaced the outlook for economic growth after a three-month, 36 percent rally drove valuations to 25.4 times earnings, the highest level since 2004.
National benchmark indexes declined in nine of the 18 western European markets. France’s CAC 40 slid 1.1 percent as PSA Peugeot Citroen retreated. Germany’s DAX slipped 0.5 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent.
‘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
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
UNDER ATTACK: Raymond Greene said there were 412 billion malicious threats in the Asia-Pacific region in the first half of 2023, with 55 percent targeting Taiwan Taiwan not only faces military intimidation from China, but is also on the front line of global cybersecurity threats, and it is taking action to counter those attacks, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Speaking at the opening of this year’s Cybersec Expo in Taipei, the president assured foreign diplomats and exhibitors that Taiwan remained committed to strengthening its defense against cyberattacks and enhancing the resilience of its digital infrastructure. Lai referenced a report from the National Security Bureau (NSB) indicating that the Government Service Network faced an average of 2.4 million intrusion attempts daily last year, more than double the figure
Retired US general Robert B. Abrams reportedly served as adviser to Chief of the General Staff Admiral Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹) during the Ministry of National Defense’s computer-simulated war games in the buildup to this year’s 41st annual Han Kuang military exercises, local media reported yesterday. For 14 days and 13 nights starting on April 5 and ending yesterday, the armed forces conducted the computer-simulated war games component of the Han Kuang exercises, utilizing the joint theater-level simulation system (JTLS). Using the JTLS, the exercise simulated a continuous 24-hour confrontation based on scenarios such as “gray zone” incursions and the Chinese People’s Liberation
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