Volkswagen up 12% MoM

Today’s Topic:

• Bulls take over the Markets
• Volkswagen up 12% MoM
• Uber grows its debt

Opening at the 13’156 point mark the German Index advanced to 13’200 point mark in the afternoon and follows the general trend on the Markets. Just before close only 4 stocks ( Infineon, SAP; Fresenius and Vonovia) are quoting negative ticks. The markets have profited from the tax reform advancements and couldn’t even be shaken by the nuclear missile test in North-Korea. Volkswagen takes the spot number one for the second time in a week with a 3% increase. The German carmaker went from 172,75 Euro to 175,75 Euro and is up 12% on a MoM comparison. Volkswagens Price jumped as a reaction to the 3,82 percent increase in Sales. “All brands have most recently developed strongly,” Mueller (Volkswagen CEO) said on Wednesday at a staff gathering in Wolfsburg. “And I trust that also the two remaining months will confirm the strong trend. And that we will be able to finish the year 2017 on a new record.”

After limping into the post-Thanksgiving weekend session with a mixed-to-lower showing on Monday, the bulls had the momentum back yesterday. On point, Wall Street started the latest trading day with solid gains and then proceeded to press forward with nary a hiccup for the remainder of the session. True, there was a rapid pullback early yesterday afternoon on news that North Korea had fired a missile into the waters off the coast of Japan. That headline event sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average, once up by more than 190 points, back down to less than a 100-point advance. However, that selloff, was just a brief affair with the market regaining its footing shortly thereafter. Then, the same forces that had sent stocks soaring at the open were back in play for the balance of the day. In other news, the economy continues to show enviable strength, with data on new home sales showing a strong gain for October in a release on Monday and a survey on consumer confidence, issued by the Conference Board yesterday morning surging to its highest level in 17 years. That one-two punch suggests that the nation’s gross domestic product will advance by 3%, or more, in the current period.  The market’s comeback yesterday suggests that the shock effect of news out of North Korea is less than it had been in months past. Indeed, stocks rather quickly regained all of their gains from earlier in the day. In all, the three major composites, the Dow, the S&P 500, and the NASDAQ all had reached all-time highs in the morning. Then, the earlier nominated Jerome Powell–to be Federal Reserve Chair–turned out positive for the Street as he implied that his accession would result in few central bank changes. In sum, he suggested that he would keep the current slow tightening rate policy intact. Then, in the final hour, the bulls received more good news as the Senate took a step toward passing a bill aimed at reforming the U.S. tax code, as the Senate Budget Committee approved its tax plan, bringing the full Senate closer to a floor vote that may take place as early as tomorrow. With that news in hand, the Dow’s gain surged past 250 points. It would seem that a tax package will pass either late this year or in 2018. As the final bell sounded, the Dow was up 256 points; the S&P 500 was ahead 26 points; and the NASDAQ was better by 34 points.

In other news, Linde plc announced today that 92% of the ordinary shares of Linde AG entitled to voting rights were tendered by the end of the additional acceptance period of Linde plc’s exchange offer on November 24, 2017. The tender process has been completed and no further Linde AG shares can be tendered in the exchange offer. The business combination remains subject to the receipt of certain antitrust and other regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2018.

Following the disclosure that over 57 million Uber driver and rider accounts were hacked, exposing sensitive, personal information, the National Limousine Association (NLA) is calling for Uber to halt its operations and on Congress to formally investigate the incident. While the scope of the breach is still not fully known, the NLA warns the public that this information most likely goes well beyond typical credit card exposure seen in many retail hacks. Insiders have confirmed with Reuters that Uber has increased its Debt to 1,46 billion USD.

Today’s Economic Calendar:

• MBA Mortgage Applications
• Janet Yellen Speech
• GDP
• Pending Home Sales Index
• EIA Petroleum Status

 

Airbus, Rolls Royce and Siemens to develop a hybrid plane

Today’s Topics:

• Dax Overview
• Airbus, Rolls Royce and Siemens to develop a hybrid plane
• SAP and Microsoft join forces
• U.S. markets overview

With a new week around the corner the German DAX still seems unsure about which direction it wants to take. After opening at the 13011 point mark the stock Index increased rampantly to the 13052 day-high and dropped well its below opening price to the 12970 point mark. Succeeding the volatile morning the DAX has been rising ,supported by the EURUSD, for the rest of the trading day hitting the 13066 point mark, effectively increasing by 50 bp. After massive losses of 12% the German TV Mammoth ProsiebenSat1. was able to gain 2,63% throughout the trading day and thus being the biggest winner today. Meanwhile Linde, the industrial gases group which said late on Friday it had received approval from 90 percent of its shareholders for its planned $80 billion tie-up with Praxair is up 2,04%.

Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens have come together to develop a hybrid electric engine as the race intensifies to advance battery technology and electric motors to lower flying costs and move away from fossil fuels. Dubbed the E-Fan X programme, the three companies anticipate flying a demonstrator aircraft in 2020 after ground tests, provisionally on a BAe 146 aircraft. “We see hydro-electric propulsion as a compelling technology for the future of aviation,” Airbus Chief Technology Officer Paul Eremenko said in a joint statement. Airbus will be responsible for the control architecture of the hybrid-electric propulsion system and batteries, and its integration with flight controls. Rolls-Royce will be responsible for the turbo shaft engine and 2 megawatt generator, while Siemens will deliver the 2 MW electric motor.

Business software giants Microsoft Corp and SAP SE have agreed to expand the use of each other’s cloud-based products and services delivered via the internet, they said on Tuesday, as they laid out a common product road map for joint customers. In a joint statement, Microsoft said it would use SAP’s S/4 HANA database to help run its core internal financial planning functions – replacing older SAP software, while SAP said it would run more than a dozen of its critical internal financial systems on Microsoft’s Azure cloud service. The long-time partners said the latest integration of their products was designed to encourage more of their joint customers to run SAP software on Microsoft Azure cloud services. Mutual customers include Coca-Cola Co, Columbia Sportswear Co and Costco Wholesale Corp. SAP encourages its customers to run its products not only on Microsoft Azure but also on rival cloud platforms from Amazon, Google, IBM and SAP’s own in-house cloud services. The two companies agreed 18 months ago to work together to integrate Microsoft Office 365, the cloud-based version of Microsoft’s flagship productivity software, into SAP, while SAP agreed to run its HANA database software on Microsoft Azure.

Wall Street got off on the right foot yesterday morning after the Thanksgiving Day weekend, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, and the NASDAQ all racing to new all-time highs in the first hour of trading. On point, the Dow jumped by some 80 points at its morning peak, while the NASDAQ was about 10 points to the good. Optimism about holiday sales in the wake of some positive early shopping indications and as a sense that at least some tax reform measure will pass by yearend dominated the early thinking. However, this initial burst of optimism was short-lived, and as we reached the noon hour in New York, the Dow had given back just about all of its early rise (it had actually turned negative briefly), while the S&P 500 Index and in particular the NASDAQ had gone into the red, as profit taking took hold. Then, after this late-morning selling burst, the market steadied somewhat, with the Dow turning positive once more. However, the comeback was not fully inclusive, as the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ remained in the minus column as we moved into the afternoon. The mid-session pullback evolved as the early rally in the retail stocks fizzled. The gains had took hold after signs pointed to a solid showing on Black Friday. The early upturn also reflected some optimism ahead of Cyber Monday’s results. Several chains, in fact, led by Dillard’s Inc., turned nicely higher. On the other hand, stocks of other retailers faltered on the day. Meantime, as noted, investors also were watching for developments surrounding the Republicans tax plan, with the Senate vote scheduled for this week. Also in the news was Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan, who said on Sunday that he would support a December interest rate increase. Earlier, he had been on the fence regarding such a policy action. He also warned of possible financial imbalances going forward, noting that the stock market has gone for 12 straight months without even a 3% correction. Overall, stocks wilted as the afternoon proceeded, with the aggregate mood being influenced by this news ahead of further Washington dealings. Things would change little as the afternoon wound down, so that as we entered the homestretch, the indexes remained range bound, as before, with the Dow clinging onto a small gain, while the other indexes fell back modestly. All told, as the final bell sounded, the Dow was able to hold on to a 23-point advance, while losses of one and 11 points, respectively, were tallied by the S&P 500 Index and the NASDAQ. The small-cap Russell 2000 also softened, while nearly all of the ten leading equity groups closed lower. Elsewhere, we see that oil prices, which moved lower yesterday and took some oil issues with them, have now started trading with additional early losses. Also, interest rates now are up a bit, while U.S. equity futures are showing some early gains. In sum, the day is likely to be influenced by the latest news on taxes, the economy, and the Fed.

Today’s Economic Calendar:

• International Trade in Goods
• Consumer Confidence
• Richmond Fed manufacturing Index
• State Street Investor Confidence Index

BMW to invest 200 million in battery cell site

Today’s Topics:

• DAX Overview
• BASF talks with DEA
• BMW to invest 200 million
• German business confidence at all-time high

This morning the DAX opened at the 13’000 mark and rallied up to the 13’150 point mark, noting a increase of 1,04%. This increase is fuelled by BASF and ThyssenKrupp  yielding  2,59% and 1,89% respectively. The BASF stock rose up in reaction to talks between the German chemicals group with DEA the energy group owned by Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said that talks between Wintershall and DEA were at an advanced stage, adding the combined entity could be valued at more than 10 billion euros ($11.9 billion).

BMW will bundle its battery cell expertise in a new competence centre, the German luxury carmaker said on Friday, adding it would invest 200 million euros ($237 million) in the site over the next four years. “By producing battery-cell prototypes, we can analyse and fully understand the cell’s value-creation processes. With this build-to-print expertise, we can enable potential suppliers to produce cells to our specifications,” BMW board member Oliver Zipse said in a statement. “The knowledge we gain is very important to us, regardless of whether we produce the battery cells ourselves, or not.” The centre will open in early 2019, BMW said. ($1 = 0.8435 euros)

German business confidence rose unexpectedly in November to hit an all-time high, a survey showed Friday, adding to signs that Europe’s largest economy was heading for a strong fourth quarter. The Munich-based Ifo economic institute said its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, rose to 117.5 from an upwardly revised reading of 116.8 in October. This was higher than a Reuters consensus forecast for a value of 116.6. “Sentiment among German businesses is very strong,” Ifo chief Clemens Fuest said in a statement. “This was due to far more optimistic business expectations. The German economy is on track for a boom.”

Todays Economical Calendar:

• PMI Composite Flash

European shares brush off German Governement worries

Today’s Overview:

• European shares brush off German Governement worries
• Volkswagen raises mid-term outlook for group profits
• Wall Street takes off ahead of Thanks-Giving week
• Marvell M&A
• EBA moves to Paris

After the failed Jamaica-Coalition talks the German DAX and Gold tumbled down to 12945 and 1276 respectively. The shock was short-lived and the Index move up to the 13030 in the afternoon, finally closing at the 13060 mark. The big movers in the German market were Volkswagen rallying up 2,78% and RWE incurring a loss of 1,58%. Volkswagen raised its mid-term outlook for group profit and sales on Monday, sustaining investor hopes that the carmaker can further its recovery despite shouldering billions of costs for its electric-car offensive. The world’s largest automaker by sales announced on Friday more than 34 billion euros ($40.06 billion) of spending on zero-emission cars and digital mobility services by the end of 2022, revising up an investment pledge for more than 20 billion euros made in September. VW said rebounding emerging markets such as Brazil and Russia and demand for new VW-badged sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) may together lead group revenue to exceed the 2016 record of 217 billion euros by more than a quarter by 2020. On Monday evening German chancellor Angela Merkel said she would prefer fresh elections to ruling with a minority government after talks on forming the three-way coalition collapsed. This resulted the DAX to open on the lower-end and the Euro Sterling to reach an 8-day low.

Wall Street managed to make some progress yesterday, as they commenced a new week. At the close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead roughly 72 points; the broader S&P 500 Index was up three points; and the technology heavy NASDAQ was higher by nearly eight points. Market breadth was positive, with winners ahead of losers on the NYSE. From a sector perspective, the industrials and the technology issues pressed ahead, while the energy and utility names retreated. Meanwhile, there was just one notable economic report released this morning. Specifically, the Index of Economic Indicators advanced 1.2% in the month of October, which was quite a bit better than had been widely anticipated. Tomorrow, existing homes sales for the month of October are due to be released. Technically, the stock market has been holding up reasonably well lately. Looking ahead, with the year drawing to a close, it remains to be seen if the bulls can find the strength to produce a holiday rally.

In further news the Chipmaker Marvell Technology Group Ltd said on Monday it would buy smaller rival Cavium Inc  for about $6 billion, as it seeks to expand its wireless connectivity business in a rapidly consolidating semiconductor industry. Shares of Marvell were down 0.8 percent to $20.14, while Cavium was up 7 percent at $81.14 in early trading.

The European Union is relocating two of its key agencies from London to Amsterdam and Paris post-Brexit. On Monday, the EU announced that the European Banking Authority (EBA) will be moving to Paris an early sign of the potential costs for the United Kingdom of leaving the political and economic union.

Todays Earnings Calendar:

• GameStop Corp.
• Guess? Inc.
• HP Inc.

Todays Economic Calendar:

• Chicago Fed National Activity Index
• Existing Home Sales