Before the bell: Blue Monday

A Monday without Wall Street is not a lost Monday. Markets were mostly up, although there were profit warnings in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Yesterday was supposedly the most depressing day of the year, at least according to the experts on Blue Monday. Investors know better. For them, it was another day not to be missed, even though Wall Street was closed. The Euro Stoxx 50 managed a modest 0.3% rise, as did the Bel20, but many individual stocks posted much larger gains. In Brussels, Sofina (+1.6%), Melexis (+2.2%), and Lotus Bakeries (+2.5%) performed particularly well. Outside the index, Bekaert (+3.3%) and Fagron (+6.2%) also gained significantly. Over in Amsterdam, Randstad (+2%) and ArcelorMittal (+2.3%) led the way, pushing the AEX index up by 0.4%.

Asian markets continued the rally this morning. Gains were modest in Tokyo, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 0.8%, with BYD (+1.8%) continuing its upward momentum. Shares of the Chinese automaker have risen 12% over the past week. Today’s focus will be on Sofina’s semi-annual newsletter, which has been informing shareholders for seven years now. We’re curious about developments in the portfolio of unlisted participations. In the U.S., earnings reports are expected from 3M (pre-market) and Netflix (after-hours).

Your package is on the way

E-commerce is booming, yet PostNL (-5.9%) seems unable to capitalize on the trend. Back in November, the Dutch mail and parcel service warned that full-year operating profits would be just 80 million euro, down from 92 million euro in 2023. Yesterday, PostNL admitted that this year’s profits will amount to only 53 million euro. This new profit warning highlights a dismal fourth quarter. Oddly enough, bpost (+0.1%) managed to avoid the fallout. But for shareholders, this is cold comfort; the Belgian stock has lost 49.5% of its value over the past year.

Through rain and storm

Orsted announced an operating profit of 24.8 billion Danish kroner (3.3 billion euro) after the market closed yesterday. However, the Danish wind farm developer also disclosed a 12.1 billion Danish kroner (1.6 billion euro) impairment charge on its Sunrise Wind project. This offshore wind project, located east of New York, has been plagued by delays and rising costs. Orsted’s shareholders won’t be amused. In 2023, the company posted an operating profit of 24 billion Danish kroner (3.2 billion euro) but recorded a net loss of 20.2 billion Danish kroner (2.7 billion euro). Over the past year, the stock has dropped 19.5%, and shareholders have lost 56% of their investment over three years. Developers of wind farms are struggling to catch the wind in their sails.

Did you know…

The new U.S. president is firmly opposed to new wind farms? Last week, Donald Trump stated that wind turbines are a disaster for the economy and only work with massive subsidies, which he plans to cut off. If it were up to him, no new wind turbines would be built in the U.S.

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