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.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
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