European stocks posted their first back-to-back weekly gains since May as better-than-estimated earnings and lower oil prices fueled a rally in carmakers and banks climbed on speculation that credit-market losses will abate.
Volkswagen AG, Fiat SPA and PSA Peugeot Citroen advanced after the automakers reported profit that exceeded projections and crude fell for a third consecutive week. Credit Suisse Group AG, the second-biggest Swiss bank, rallied the most since March 2003 on earnings that were almost double what analysts expected.
Europe’s Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index increased 0.4 percent this week to 281.76, extending its rebound from a three-year low on July 15 to 5.7 percent. The measure has tumbled 23 percent this year after US$467 billion of credit losses and asset writedowns at banks prolonged the global economy’s slump and inflation eroded profits.
The STOXX 600’s rally from its low this month was led by bank and consumer shares as earnings from Credit Suisse to Citigroup Inc topped estimates and oil tumbled more than 15 percent from its all-time high on July 11. Second-quarter profits at financial firms in the STOXX 600 that reported results so far exceeded analysts’ projections by 15 percent, while consumer-goods makers beat expectations by 7.8 percent, Bloomberg data show.
National benchmark indexes gained in six of the 18 western European markets. The Swiss Market Index added 2.8 percent, and France’s CAC 40 increased 1.8 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.4 percent, while Germany’s DAX climbed 0.9 percent.
The STOXX 50 rose 0.7 percent and the Euro STOXX 50, a measure for the euro region, advanced 0.9 percent.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
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