European stocks rose last week, sending the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index to its biggest gain since March last year, after governments announced bank rescue packages to shore up the financial system and restore investor confidence.
Credit Suisse Group AG posted a record weekly advance and Barclays Plc climbed 6.5 percent as European leaders agreed to guarantee new bank debt and money-market rates declined. Ericsson AB rallied 12 percent as its mobile-phone venture with Sony Corp reported a smaller-than-estimated loss.
The Stoxx 600 added 4.5 percent to 214.27. The gauge jumped 13 percent in the first two days last week, the biggest two-day surge on record, before posting the steepest two-day tumble since 1987 after reports showed a drop in U.S. retail sales and the highest UK unemployment since November 2006.
The benchmark index for European equities is down 41 percent this year as credit losses and asset writedowns at financial firms worldwide reached US$660 billion, pushing the global economy toward a recession.
“The government measures were a huge progress to win back trust,” said Erwin Brunner, who oversees the equivalent of US$442 million as executive officer at BrunnerInvest AG in Zurich. “The slump in the US remains the dominant factor and Europe follows. I can’t see how the economy can grow given the financial problems, we will go into a recession.”
The US said it would invest US$250 billion in the nation’s banks and urged lenders to use the funds to spur economic growth. The injection came after France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria pledged 1.3 trillion euros (US$1.8 trillion) to guarantee bank loans and take stakes in lenders.
National benchmark indexes rose in 11 of the 18 western European markets. Germany’s DAX Index increased 5.2 percent. France’s CAC 40 advanced 4.8 percent, while the UK’s FTSE 100 added 3.3 percent.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’