European stock markets rose solidly at the open Friday following a strong recovery in Asia at the end of week of big losses for global equities on high inflation concerns.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index grew 0.6 percent to 7,002.36 points.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index climbed 0.6 percent to 15,290.44 points and the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.6 percent to 6,323.24.

Tokyo’s Nikkei closes up over 2.3% after rout

Tokyo stocks closed sharply higher on Friday, extending US rallies on Wall Street after a rout in the previous session.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 2.32 percent, or 636.46 points, to 28,084.47 while the broader Topix index was up 1.86 percent, or 34.38 points, at 1,883.42 at the close.

“Rises in US futures and the Chinese market are prompting further gains in the Japanese market” after overnight Wall Street gains supported early Tokyo trade, Daiwa Securities said in a commentary.

The dollar fetched 109.47 yen in Asian trade, against 109.44 yen in New York late Thursday.

Honda was ended up 1.00 percent at 3,327 yen and Japan Post was up 2.48 percent at 945.6 yen ahead of their earnings reports.

Toshiba was 0.89 percent higher at 4,510 yen after it said it had returned profit in the financial year to March.

Electronics were among winners, with Sony closing up 2.36 percent at 10,225 yen, Panasonic advancing 0.75 percent to 1,215.5 yen, and Fujitsu adding 4.18 percent to 16,805 yen.

Hong Kong stocks close higher

Hong Kong shares finished a volatile week on a strong note Friday, tracking a rebound in New York following a sell-off fuelled by inflation fears.

The Hang Seng Index climbed 1.11 percent, or 308.90 points, to 28,027.57.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.77 percent, or 60.84 points, to 3,490.38, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange added 1.80 percent, or 40.57 points, to 2,293.87.

European stock markets climb at open

European stock markets rose solidly at the open Friday following a strong recovery in Asia at the end of week of big losses for global equities on high inflation concerns.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index grew 0.6 percent to 7,002.36 points.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index climbed 0.6 percent to 15,290.44 points and the Paris CAC 40 gained 0.6 percent to 6,323.24.

The US pipeline network shut down by a cyber attack said Thursday it has restarted its entire network and resumed fuel deliveries to all markets, but gas stations up and down the East Coast were still facing shortages after a wave of panic buying.

President Joe Biden hailed the “good news” and urged Americans to remain calm as supplies are restored over the next few days.

While “we’ll not feel the effects at the pump immediately,” there will be a “return to normalcy beginning this weekend and continuing in the next week,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

Frantic motorists from Florida to Maryland had lined up at gas stations trying to fill their tanks and other containers, and the surge in demand sent the national average price above $3 a gallon for the first time since late 2014 despite government efforts to ease the supply crunch.

Colonial Pipeline announced late Thursday that the whole system was back up and running after it initiated the restart to its network late Wednesday.

“We can now report that we have restarted our entire pipeline system and that product delivery has commenced to all markets we serve,” the statement said.

However, the company again cautioned that it would take several days for the product delivery supply chain to return to normal and some areas “may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions.”

The company pledged to move as much gasoline, diesel and jet fuel as it could safely until markets return to normal.

More than half of the gas stations in Virginia had run out of fuel after the rush of customers drained their tanks, according to data Thursday from the GasBuddy tracking site.

• ‘Don’t panic’ –
  Georgia and South Carolina were facing a similar level of shortages, and the nation’s capital was running dry, with 73 percent of stations on empty, and 68 percent in North Carolina, according to the data.

About a third of the stations in Florida, Maryland and Tennessee were out.

“I know seeing lines at the pumps or gas stations with no gas can be extremely stressful, but this is a temporary situation. Do not get more gas than you need,” Biden said. “Don’t panic.”

Colonial Pipeline operates the largest fuel conduit system in the United States, which sends gasoline and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast of Texas to the populous east coast through 5,500 miles (8,850 kilometers) of ducts that serve 50 million consumers.

The government has temporarily waived clean air regulations and rules on shipping and trucking to help get fuel to the affected areas quickly.

But Bill O’Grady of Confluence Investment Management said the restoration of supplies will take time.

“The stuff goes through their pipeline about five miles an hour, and the pipeline is 5,500 miles — do the math. This is not gone be fixed in a day or two,” he told AFP.

The national gas price average increased seven cents to $3.02 this week due to the pipeline closure — the highest average since October 2014, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

AAA also offered advice to drivers, including warning against carrying gas canisters while traveling. “If you own more than one car, use the most fuel-efficient model,” it said.

GasBuddy oil analyst Patrick De Haan warned that prices could stay high for some time, especially as the Memorial Day holiday weekend approaches — the traditional start to the American summer travel season.

“The situation will definitely take time and slowly improve due to a high number of outages and higher number of stations to refuel,” he said.

Airbnb said Thursday it expects “a travel rebound unlike anything we have seen before” as the home sharing platform posted a big loss for the past quarter.

The San Francisco “sharing economy” firm reported a loss of $1.2 billion in the first quarter, due largely to one-time costs for accounting requirements, loan payments and other items.

Revenue was up five percent from a year earlier to $887 million, with gross bookings up 52 percent to $10.3 billion.

The company said travel is showing signs of a strong rebound as the world emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

“We believe that the changes we’ve seen in travel are long-lasting,” the company said in its quarterly update.

“The world is never going back to the way it was, and that means that travel is never quite going back to the way it was. But travel is starting to return. While conditions aren’t yet normal, they are improving, and we expect a travel rebound unlike anything we have seen before.”

Airbnb said its home-sharing model has become more attractive during the pandemic and that more people are using the service for long-term stays.

“Guests aren’t just traveling on Airbnb, they are living on Airbnb,” the company said in a letter to shareholders.

Some 24 percent of booked stays in the quarter were for 28 days or more, up from 14 percent in 2019. And 50 percent were for stays of at least seven nights.

Airbnb said it would hold a May 24 “special announcement” to unveil “the most comprehensive update to Airbnb’s service in 12 years,” adding that “we’ll share insights on how travel is not only recovering, but fundamentally changing.”

Airbnb share prices slid 3.2 percent on Thursday, closing at $135.75.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a 14-month low last week as companies held onto their workers amid a growing labor shortage that helped to curb employment growth in April.
The scramble for workers comes as the reopening economy is experiencing a boom in demand, resulting in widespread shortages of inputs at factories and fanning inflation. Producer prices increased more than expected in April, leading to the biggest annual gain since 2010, other data showed on Thursday.

The worker shortage is despite nearly 10 million Americans being officially unemployed, a disconnect that economists expect will resolve in the coming months as increased vaccinations ease COVID-19 stress and enhanced unemployment benefits expire, allowing some workers to return to the labor market.
Claims have dropped from a record 6.149 million in early April 2020, but remain well above the 200,000 to 250,000 range that is viewed as consistent with a healthy labor market.
Some economists believe the enhanced unemployment benefits programs, including a weekly $300 government subsidy, could be encouraging some people to attempt to file a claim for assistance, though not every application is approved.
The economy created 266,000 jobs in April after adding 770,000 in March, which was partly blamed on the generous unemployment benefits. There are a record 8.1 million open jobs

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said that U.S. motorists can expect filling stations to begin returning to normal this weekend even as shortages gripped some areas amid restart of the top U.S. fuel pipeline after it was shut by a ransomware attack.

The Colonial Pipeline, which carries 100 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, will take some time to fully recover and could still suffer “hiccups,” he said. Colonial began supplying some fuel to most regions along its 5,500 mile (8,850 km) route.

The shutdown caused gasoline shortages and emergency declarations from Virginia to Florida, led two refineries to curb production, and spurred airlines to reshuffle refueling operations.

The pipeline resumed computer-controlled pumping late Wednesday after adding safety measures.

The pipeline’s restart should bring supplies to some hard-hit areas as soon as Thursday, said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Relief is coming, added Jeanette McGee, a spokeswoman for motor travel group AAA.

Motorists’ tempers frayed as panic buying led stations to run out even where supplies were available. On Thursday about 70% of gas stations in North Carolina were without fuel, while around 50% of stations in Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia had outages, tracking firm GasBuddy said.

The average national gasoline price rose above $3.00 a gallon, the highest since October 2014, the American Automobile Association said, and prices in some areas jumped as much as 11 cents in a day.

Italy’s anti-trust authority said Thursday it had fined Google more than 100 million euros ($120mn) for shutting out a rival’s smartphone app offering recharging of electric vehicles.

The authority said Google, whose Android operating system and Google Play app store dominate the Italian market, had abused its market position by blocking an Enel X app for users of electric vehicles.

The regulator added it would require Google to make Enel X’s app available on Android Auto, which mirrors features of an Android device, such as a smartphone, on a car dashboard screen.

The fine of 102,084,433.91 Euros is for a violation of article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which regulates monopolies and issues involving restriction of competition.

Italy found Google did not allow Enel X Italia to develop an Android Auto-compatible version of its JuicePass app. JuicePass offers services relating to recharging electric vehicles, such as finding the nearest charging station and reserving a space there.

“By refusing Enel X Italia interoperability with Android Auto, Google has unfairly limited the possibilities for end users to avail themselves of the Enel X Italia app when driving and recharging an electric vehicle,” the authority stated.

“Google has consequently favored its own Google Maps app,” added the authority.

“The exclusion of the Enel X Italia app from Android Auto has been going on for more than two years, and if it were to continue, could permanently jeopardise Enel X Italia’s chances of building a solid user base at a time of significant growth in sales of electric vehicles.”

This, the body concluded, amounted to “an impoverishment of consumer choice and an obstacle to technological progress” which could influence the development of electric mobility.

The authority as a result said it had ordered Google to make available to Enel X Italia and other app developers app programming tools which are interoperable with Android Auto while adding it would monitor compliance of its ruling via an independent expert with whom Google would be obliged to cooperate.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved Tuesday the widening and deepening of the southern part of the Suez Canal, after a stranded mega-ship crippled the critical maritime artery for six days in March.

“What you heard today is about the upgrade in the southern stretch, where the problem (the grounded vessel) happened,” Sisi said from Ismailia, where the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is headquartered.

The major engineering enhancement “will lead to improvements in the ability of the guide (SCA) and the captain of any ship to navigate inside the canal”, said SCA head Osama Rabie, who presented the expansion plan to Sisi in a televised address.

Rabie said the upgrades would stretch “from the 122-kilometre mark to the 162-kilometre mark” and would include a 10-kilometre “duplication of the canal from the 122- to the 132-kilometre mark”.

The project will last 24 months, he added, with the widening extending lanes “by 40 meters (131 feet) to the east and deepening from 66 feet (20 metres) to 72 feet”.

Sisi said the work would improve the canal, “taking into account the growth of global trade”.

The 200,000-tonne MV Ever Given got diagonally stuck in the narrow but crucial global trade artery in a sandstorm on March 23, triggering a mammoth six-day-long effort by Egyptian personnel and international salvage specialists to dislodge it.

Egypt lost between $12 million and $15 million in revenues for each day the waterway was closed, according to SCA figures.

After the vessel was freed, Sisi pledged investment to avoid any repetition of the canal closure.

The mega-ship has since been impounded in a lake between two stretches of the canal amid a compensation dispute.

A court in Ismailia last week rejected an appeal from the ship’s Japanese owners against its seizure.

Egypt spent more than $8 billion on an expansion of the northern section of the canal in 2014-15.