European stocks fell for a second straight week, led by technology and financial companies, as Intel Corp cut its profitability forecast and Warren Buffett said the "party is over" for insurers.
STMicroelectronics NV, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, had its biggest weekly drop since December 2002 as Intel said flash-memory prices will fall about twice as fast this quarter as predicted. Allianz SE and Axa SA slumped after billionaire investor Buffett said profit margins for insurers will drop "significantly." UBS AG sank on speculation that Europe's largest bank will announce further writedowns.
The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index dropped 3.4 percent to 307.98, the biggest weekly retreat in a month. The regional gauge has declined 16 percent this year on concern that the collapse of US subprime mortgages and a slowdown in the world's largest economy will curb profit growth in Europe.
"The earnings outlook is clouded for a lot of companies," said Job Curtis, who helps manage about US$2.2 billion at Henderson Global Investors in London. "The jury is still out on the US economy."
Analysts have cut their profit growth estimates for this year for companies in the STOXX 600 to 3.3 percent from 11 percent at the end of last year, estimates compiled by Bloomberg show.
Banks and securities firms globally have posted losses exceeding US$188 billion since the start of last year as the impact of defaults on subprime mortgages rippled through financial markets.
The US government on Friday reported an unexpected loss of 63,000 jobs last month, defying economists' forecasts for a gain of 23,000.
Germany's DAX declined 3.5 percent for the week, while France's CAC 40 lost 3.6 percent and the UK's FTSE 100 fell 3.1 percent.
The STOXX 50 retreated 4.1 percent, while the Euro STOXX 50, a measure for the euro region, sank 4 percent.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday said that Intel Corp would find itself in the same predicament as it did four years ago if its board does not come up with a core business strategy. Chang made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions about the ailing US chipmaker, once an archrival of TSMC, during a news conference in Taipei for the launch of the second volume of his autobiography. Intel unexpectedly announced the immediate retirement of former chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger last week, ending his nearly four-year tenure and ending his attempts to revive the
WORLD DOMINATION: TSMC’s lead over second-placed Samsung has grown as the latter faces increased Chinese competition and the end of clients’ product life cycles Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the No. 1 title in the global pure-play wafer foundry business in the third quarter of this year, seeing its market share growing to 64.9 percent to leave South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, the No. 2 supplier, further behind, Taipei-based TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report. TSMC posted US$23.53 billion in sales in the July-September period, up 13.0 percent from a quarter earlier, which boosted its market share to 64.9 percent, up from 62.3 percent in the second quarter, the report issued on Monday last week showed. TSMC benefited from the debut of flagship
A former ASML Holding NV employee is facing a lawsuit in the Netherlands over suspected theft of trade secrets, Dutch public broadcaster NOS said, in the latest breach of the maker of advanced chip-manufacturing equipment. The 43-year-old Russian engineer, who is suspected of stealing documents such as microchip manuals from ASML, is expected to appear at a court in Rotterdam today, NOS reported on Friday. He is accused of multiple violations of the sanctions legislation and has been given a 20-year entry ban by the Dutch government, the report said. The Dutch company makes machines needed to produce high-end chips that power
Taiwan would remain in the same international network for carrying out cross-border payments and would not be marginalized on the world stage, despite jostling among international powers, central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said yesterday. Yang made the remarks during a speech at an annual event organized by Financial Information Service Co (財金資訊), which oversees Taiwan’s banking, payment and settlement systems. “The US dollar will remain the world’s major cross-border payment tool, given its high liquidity, legality and safe-haven status,” Yang said. Russia is pushing for a new cross-border payment system and highlighted the issue during a BRICS summit in October. The existing system
RSS