Before the bell: dollar keeps sliding

The dollar remains under pressure on global markets. Today, PDD Holdings, owner of Temu, will report its quarterly earnings.

So far, 2025 has not been a good year for European investors holding US stocks. At first glance, that’s surprising: the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are down only 1.1% and 2.8% respectively since the end of 2024. Still, a Belgian investor who placed their funds in the S&P 500 at the start of the year is facing losses of more than 10%. The culprit? The sharp decline of the dollar. Yesterday, the euro rose to its highest level against the dollar since July 2023. The US budget deficit and ongoing trade tensions are weighing on demand for the dollar. To be clear: the dollar remains by far the world’s most important currency. Once markets digest the tariff-related news, a recovery is plausible. In the meantime, European stocks are doing well. The Euro Stoxx 50 gained 1.3% yesterday and is now up 9.7% for the year. Japanese shares are lower today as investors fear further interest rate hikes.

With Wall Street closed yesterday, corporate news was limited. Kinepolis rose 7.9%, benefiting from a strong blockbuster weekend in the US. Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and the new Mission: Impossible film starring Tom Cruise grossed over 500 million dollars globally, with Kinepolis benefiting from ticket sales. Sequana Medical raised 6.3 million euro through a convertible loan from the Federal Holding and Investment Company. Meanwhile, European car sales this morning showed pressure on Stellantis brands such as Citroën, Fiat, and Opel, with the group’s sales down 11.1% in April. Later today, Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings will publish its results, alongside Golar LNG and Scotiabank. DEME will go ex-dividend.

How is Temu performing?

Do you occasionally order products directly from China? In the past, Alibaba dominated this space, but in recent years PDD Holdings has gained ground in Western markets. While PDD (also known as Pinduoduo) is little known in Belgium, its platform Temu has become a familiar name to local online shoppers. The company has been under pressure since the trade war with the US began, yet its stock is up 23% this year thanks to a recent de-escalation agreement between Washington and Beijing. Today, the market will focus on two key figures: will revenue grow at least 19.2% to 14.3 billion dollars? And will earnings per share fall by 7.1% to 2.63 dollars, as analysts expect? If the company beats expectations again—as it has in 88% of earnings releases over the past two years—a rally is certainly possible. Will Pinduoduo surprise again?

A buying opportunity?

A stock worth keeping on your watchlist right now? That would be Belgian tech group EVS, in our view. Shares of the specialist in live sports video have fallen 11% since the May earnings report. Revenue was disappointing as clients postponed orders from March to April. Still, EVS reaffirmed its full-year 2025 guidance: revenue between 195 and 210 million euro. Those familiar with EVS know the company tends to be conservative and has often raised forecasts later in the year. Following the recent pullback, the stock is back on our radar. For our buy & sell portfolio, we’re placing a speculative limit order at 31.50 euro for 85 shares.

Did you know…

You can easily track the strength of the dollar via the DXY ticker or the U.S. Dollar Index? This index tracks the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies including the euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound, and Swedish krona. Investors use it to gauge how the dollar is performing relative to other major currencies.

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