The AEX (-1.2%) closes this disappointing stock market week in style. We still opened in the green, but thanks to a disappointing inflation figure, the main index ends at the lowest level of the day.
American setback
The price index for personal consumer spending rose 4.7% in January from a year ago, data from the Department of Commerce showed on Friday. Wall Street had expected 4.4%. Including the volatile food and energy components, headline inflation increased by 5.4% respectively.
With disappointing economic data, the hawks are also emerging from the woodwork. So is Philip Jefferson. He said the following this afternoon: “The persisting imbalance between labor supply and demand, coupled with the large share of labor costs in the services sector, suggests that high inflation will ease only slowly.”
Cleveland Fed Chair Loretta Mester, commenting for the same discussion, said she believes the risks to the Fed’s inflation forecast are on the upside and that the costs of sustained high inflation are significant. In short, not good news for stock investors.
Sector Rotation
The defensive harbors lived up to their reputation, so to speak Shell (+0,3%), KPN (+0.2%) in Wolters Kluwer (+1.2%) to keep their heads above water. On the other hand, the chippers are giving up ground.
Met name Iron (-5.5%) is a nice step back, although the share has risen sharply in recent days. So think of it as a healthy correction. Adyen (-4.5%) you should not have on a day like today.
Fastned (-5.7%) goes down because the major shareholders have sold part of their shares. This also includes CEO Michiel Langezaal. On the other hand, this does not come as a surprise, because this sale has been announced well in advance.
The top 3 risers and fallers
Azerion (+7.9%) was the biggest faller of the Damrak an hour ago, but at the end it is suddenly the winner of the day. However, we do not encounter big news at Bloomberg. The trading volume of almost 1 million pieces is huge. Have we seen the bottom?
Yesterday came ForFarmers (+4.8%) by interpreting them positively a day later with the annual figures and the market. OCI (+2.0%) goes up with the sector.
Ebusco (-4.6%), on the other hand, is bad in the current climate. The electric bus manufacturer has not been doing well on the stock exchange for a while and is also being punished today.
Galapagos
Bee Galapagos (-4.1%) lacks guidance for investors, concludes our equity analyst Martin Crum. The biotech group failed to impress with its annual figures and in passing adjusts the expected sales peak for Jyseleca/Filgotinib to €0.4 billion, against an aforementioned estimate of €0.5 billion.
The most realistic scenario for Galapagos investors to consider: continued losses and a dwindling bank account. CEO Paul Stoffels wants to have one or two new medicines on the market before 2028. That is still a relatively long way off, and there are no guarantees in this sector that new medicines will actually come onto the market.
Stoffels has a strong track record, but there is no ‘quick fix’ for the biotech group. It will take time before it becomes clear whether the strategy change that has been initiated – from inflammatory diseases and lung fibrosis, to a shift in focus to oncology – will lead to tangible results.
Galapagos net loss slightly higher than expected IEX Premium https://t.co/tCJlJKbOPN via @IEXnl
— IEX Investors Desk (@Beleggersdesk) February 24, 2023
Annuities
It will not surprise you that interest rates are going up today. The Dutch return on ten-year government paper rose by 7 basis points to 2.85%.
- Netherlands: +7 basis points (2.85%)
- Germany: +7 basis points (2.55%)
- Italy: +9 basis points (4.46%)
- United Kingdom: +9 basis points (3.68%)
- United States: +6 basis points (3.94%)
The weekly lists
- AEX this week: -2.4%
- AEX this month: -0.2%
- AEX this year: +8.6%
- AEX reinvestment index this year: +8.6%
Down every day
It’s not something that fits the 2023 stock market year, but the AEX (-2.4%) went down every day this week with today being the all-time low. What is striking is that the European stock markets managed to contain the losses better. Only Wall Street is performing worse. The Dow Jones this year even recorded 1% in the red.
AEX
The order intake of Iron (+4.4%) was very strong in the fourth quarter and therefore it seems that turnover will recover strongly in the second half of the year. The market is already anticipating this. Also Wolters Kluwer (+6.9%) got investors’ hands together. This is opposite to that Adyen (-9.6%) takes another big hit. Sentiment is bad this week and then a high beta stock as Adyen down extra hard.
AMX
The usual suspects note at the top of the row of bleeders. One of which is Just Eat Takeaway (-7.6%). The meal delivery service is already under €20. Furthermore, the figures of SBM Offshore (-7.1%) do not appeal to investors. PostNL (-4.3%) presents the annual figures on Monday morning. The expectations in advance are certainly not high.
ASCX
B&S Group (-18.9%) was forced to postpone the annual figures. In addition, CEO Tako de Haan and RVC member and major shareholders Willem Blijdorp resigned. This is what we call a red flag in the stock market. The winner among the small funds is accommodate (+4.7%). The trading company delivered better-than-expected annual figures.
Finally, I wish you a nice weekend. This week ArendJan writes the preview.
This article was written in collaboration with Tom Steenstra.
