European stocks closed the week higher on Friday as optimism about the earnings season and the European Central Bank’s (ECB) pledge of continued monetary support outweighed risks of a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.
The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 1.09 percent and gained 1.49 percent for the week.
Automakers were the top gainers in morning trade.
Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG gained 3.1 percent after Kepler Cheuvreux upgraded its stock to “buy,” saying its growth is not properly reflected in the share price.
French auto parts maker Valeo SA jumped 8 percent after it posted higher first-half sales and profit, and said it expected the shortage of key technology chips to ease.
Peers Faurecia SE and Continental AG rose more than 4 percent each.
A bout of selling hit financial markets on Monday as investors grew nervous about the fast-spreading Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 hampering a global economic recovery.
However, strong earnings reports and the ECB’s commitment keep interest rates at record lows for even longer helped push the benchmark STOXX 600 to less than 0.5 percent below its all-time highs.
“For now, markets seem unconcerned about either with Delta or inflation, keeping the buy-everything music playing,” Oanda Corp senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley wrote in a morning note.
Rafale jets maker Dassault Aviation SA climbed 5.5 percent on reporting higher sales and profits in the first half of the year, while UK mobile operator Vodafone Group PLC rose 2.3 percent after reporting a better-than-expected 3.3 percent rise in first-quarter service revenue.
Chip equipment maker ASML Holding NV hit a fresh record high as strong earnings forecast earlier this week prompted brokerages to hike their price target.
Eurozone business activity this month expanded at its fastest monthly pace in more than two decades, IHS Markit’s flash survey showed, but fears of another wave of infections hit business confidence.
German purchasing managers’ index (PMI) hit its highest level in nearly a quarter of a century, creating inflationary bottlenecks.
Danske Bank A/S slid 3.5 percent as it second-quarter return on equity declined to 6.5 percent, down from 7.5 percent in the first quarter and well below the level of its Nordic peers.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the