European stocks fell for the first time in three weeks as the region’s economy shrank at the fastest pace in at least 13 years and Natixis SA and KBC Groep NV posted weaker-than-anticipated earnings.
Natixis and KBC led a retreat by banks, slumping more than 25 percent after posting quarterly losses. Land Securities Group PLC paced a decline among real-estate companies as it reported a record annual loss. HeidelbergCement AG tumbled 24 percent on speculation a debt-refinancing plan for the German cement maker is progressing too slowly.
The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index lost 3.2 percent to 202.92 this week, the largest decline since the first week of March. Optimism that the global economy is recovering sent the gauge to the highest level since January last week and pushed valuations to a five-year high of 21.4 times the profits of its companies.
“The rally was on the back of some signs that the economic situation was stabilizing, reasonably cheap valuations and some short covering,” said Chirin Gill, a London-based fund manager at Daiwa SB Investments, which oversees US$60 billion. “We’ve seen some weakness this week on the back of some profit taking and worries that the economic recovery may not be as painless as the market is pricing in.”
National benchmark indexes fell in all of the 18 western European markets except Iceland. The UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.6 percent, paced by a slide in Rio Tinto Group and Lonmin PLC. France’s CAC 40 lost 4.3 percent and Germany’s DAX slid 3.6 percent.
Europe’s economy contracted 2.5 percent in the first quarter from the previous period as companies cut output and jobs to survive the worst global slump in more than six decades, according to the EU’s statistics office in Luxembourg.
The Bank of England this week said the UK economy faced a slow recovery.
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
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
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.
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