Before the bell: Europe begins the new stock market year as the leader

Favorites gain traction, while Chinese and US stocks start the year in the red. The euro weakens, and Tesla shrinks.

The 2025 stock market year is officially underway! Europe saw gains while Wall Street dipped slightly—a refreshing change to write about. The Europe Stoxx 600 climbed 0.6%, a respectable start, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted modest losses of 0.2%. However, financial media exaggerated the drama around these mild declines. Since December 24, the S&P 500 has fallen 2.6%, marking the weakest final trading week of the year since 1952. Yesterday’s losses added marginally to that decline. Chinese markets also had a rough start, with the CSI 300 index dropping 2.9%—its worst opening since 2016. Meanwhile, the euro continued to weaken, nearing parity with the dollar (1 euro = 1 dollar). In Europe, PMI figures for December showed the industrial index at 45.1 compared to 45.2 in November, indicating continued contraction (below 50 signals a shrinking sector). In Brussels, DEME surged 6.5% after Belgian financial commentator Paul D’Hoore named it one of his top picks for the year on VTM. Alongside DEME, D’Hoore highlighted UCB, Argenx, D’Ieteren, and Solvay as strong Belgian contenders for 2025.

In Asia, Hong Kong gained 0.5%, while the Chinese CSI 300 index slipped another 1%. The usual first-Friday-of-the-month US labor market data release has been postponed by a week due to the holiday season. Later today, the US ISM PMI for December will be released, with expectations of a slight contraction at 48.3, down from 48.4 in November.

Retail real estate under a Belgian banner

It’s rare for a Belgian company to merge with a Dutch firm and choose Brussels as the primary listing. Vastned Belgium and its Dutch parent company, Vastned Retail, had their debut as a unified entity under the name Vastned yesterday, closing with a 5.4% gain. There was some debate over the exchange ratio, but the unified company hopes its consolidated listing will attract more trading activity. With a market value of 407 million euros, Vastned remains relatively small, as about 55% of its shares are held by major shareholders. Belgian shareholders make up only 10% of the free float, compared to their Dutch counterparts. The real estate portfolio is valued at approximately 1.2 billion euros, with a debt ratio of 40%.

From +50% to -1%

Tesla took a 6% hit on Wall Street yesterday after reporting lower-than-expected vehicle sales in Q4. This led to Tesla’s first annual sales decline—down 1%—since becoming a mass-market automaker. While the drop isn’t dramatic, it’s notable considering CEO Elon Musk’s 2022 promise that Tesla would grow annual sales by 50%. For 2023, sales grew just over 30%, falling short of that target. Tesla remains the leader in fully electric vehicles, narrowly ahead of China’s BYD, which is growing faster and also sells many hybrid models. Tesla will release its full-year results at the end of January, providing an opportunity to justify its market valuation of over 1.2 trillion dollars. The electric vehicle market faces challenges from reduced subsidies and intensifying competition.

Did you know…

Filip Balcaen owns 28% of Recticel (10.38 euros per share)? In November, he purchased an additional 134,000 shares at prices exceeding 11 euros, reinforcing his position as the company’s largest shareholder.

This article was translated from Dutch and was originally published on Spaarvarkens.be.