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| This week's gainers and losers |
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TOPS: Novavax (+46.5%): Good news for the American biotech. Sanofi announced it is withdrawing its Covid vaccine from the market and will commercialize its competitor's vaccine, which it will also attempt to combine with its own flu vaccine. As part of the licensing agreement, the French group will pay Novavax between $500 million and $1.2 billion. A few days earlier, British company AstraZeneca also announced it would stop its vaccine due to falling demand. GameStop (+16.7%) and AMC Entertainment (+56.7%): The meme stocks are back! With the reappearance on social network X (formerly Twitter) of Keith Gill, the influencer who started the phenomenal buying wave of these stocks, shares of the struggling video game retailer and cinema chain soared, driven by followers of the WallStreetBets guru. Nothing to see here. Tencent Music Entertainment (+16.6%): The Chinese music giant, listed in the United States, performed better than expected. Despite slightly lower quarterly revenues, it recorded an increase in paid subscriptions of more than 20%, a nearly 40% rise in associated revenues, and a 24% increase in profits. Siemens Energy (+3.5%): The German electricity producer reported solid quarterly results and raised its annual forecasts. It also implemented an ambitious restructuring plan for Siemens Gamesa, its struggling subsidiary, aiming for breakeven in its wind activities by 2026. The market applauds. Several analysts, who consider the stock undervalued, have raised their recommendations or price targets after the announcements. FLOPS: Getinge (-12.9%): A tough blow for the Swedish medical equipment specialist. Due to quality issues with its heart pumps and respiratory support products, the FDA has gently urged the group to stop marketing these devices in the United States. Getinge announces it will limit sales to patients with no other options available until the problems are resolved. Financial impact to come. Instacart (-2%): Last week, the American grocery delivery company announced with great fanfare a partnership with Uber Eats: Instacart customers will now be able to use its app to order from restaurants associated with the ride-sharing giant. However, a few days later, Uber announced it was expanding its collaboration with retailer Costco, dampening the new prospects for Instacart. Epam Systems: The American IT consulting company disappoints. The group reported quarterly results down but slightly above consensus, then, anticipating weak demand for its services, unveiled timid annual forecasts below expectations. The group blames inflation, high interest rates, and economic uncertainties for affecting corporate digitization spending. The stock is down more than 35% since the beginning of the year. Roblox: Hurt by a decline in player spending, the American video game platform revised down its booking forecasts for the current quarter and the year, now below expectations. Morgan Stanley adds that content and performance issues with the app are also to blame. The stock is down 28% since the beginning of the year. For more on Roblox, read our team's latest analysis. |
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| Commodities |
Energy: A period of stabilization for oil prices, benefiting from a lull in inflation and a decline in weekly inventories in the United States. Brent crude prices rose slightly to $83.5, compared to $79 for its American counterpart. A certain wait-and-see attitude is palpable as operators eagerly await the next OPEC+ meeting, which will decide on the total or partial renewal of its production quotas. This week, the International Energy Agency released its monthly oil report. The agency revised down its forecast for oil demand growth in 2024, widening the gap with OPEC's much more optimistic estimates on demand dynamics. Metals: Copper prices remain above the $10,000 mark in London, at $10,400 for cash prices. China, which is ramping up stimulus measures for its real estate sector, is also boosting metal prices. Additionally, the Chilean Copper Commission has raised its price estimates for copper for 2024 and 2025. In this context, the International Energy Agency fears tensions in global metal supplies, pointing to insufficient investments to meet demand. As for gold, the "barbaric relic" is advancing towards its historical record, around $2,400. Agricultural products: In Chicago, corn prices are stagnant with the bushel trading around 460 cents for the July 2024 contract. For wheat, the trend is slightly upward, with the bushel gaining some ground at 670 cents. |
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| Macroeconomics |
Rates: At the end of a week rich in publications related to US inflation, it's time to take stock. The PPI came in above expectations, as did the import price index. Despite this, investors preferred to focus on the CPI, which was in line with expectations at +3.4% year-on-year, a slight drop of 0.1 points from the previous month. The contraction is slight but has once again fueled speculation of a rate cut as early as September, followed by a second one in December. It's also worth noting that figures (GDP, retail sales) confirm the slowdown in U.S. growth over the past several months. So far, this deceleration has been well-received by the financial community, which sees it as concrete evidence of the restrictive conditions of monetary policy. The market, always a step ahead of the economy, is thus betting on rate cuts to restart the engine. It remains to be seen if deceleration will not rhyme with stagflation. Crypto: Following record highs on stock indices, bitcoin is regaining ground this week. The crypto-asset has erased the past four weeks of decline, rising more than 8% since Monday, and is now around $66,300. This increase is partly explained by a massive return of net inflows into Bitcoin Spot ETFs across the Atlantic. Between Monday and Thursday, $725 million flowed into these exchange-traded products, bringing the total assets of the 11 ETFs to over $54 billion. More broadly, the main cryptocurrencies are following the rise of the leader in digital currencies, with the market as a whole rising 6.5%, valuing it at $2.349 trillion. Typically, ether (Ethereum) is up nearly 5% to $3,060, link (Chainlink) 17% to $16.67, and sol (Solana) 17.5% to $168. |
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| Things to read this week | ||||||
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*The weekly movements of indexes and stocks displayed on the dashboard are related to the period ranging from the open on Monday to the sending time of this newsletter on Friday. The weekly movements of commodities, precious metals and currencies displayed on the dashboard are related to a 7-day rolling period from Friday to Friday, until the sending time of this newsletter. These assets continue to quote on weekends. |
