Before the bell: eyes on Nvidia’s earnings tonight

Nvidia reports tonight, and in Brussels, Gimv and Aedifica are making headlines.

Nvidia Day

Few stocks spark as much excitement as Nvidia. In the past, fans even rented out cafés to watch the earnings release live and hear CEO Jensen Huang speak. Tonight’s report is expected to be another blockbuster. Companies like Microsoft and Google have already said they will keep investing heavily in artificial intelligence — something that should continue to support Nvidia’s numbers in the coming quarters.

The S&P 500 rose 2.1% yesterday after US consumer confidence data came in stronger than expected. In Asian markets this morning, Xiaomi is up 1.4% after posting better-than-expected earnings from its electric vehicle and smartphone division. Things went less well for PDD Holdings (–13.6%) after the Temu parent company reported earnings 40% below analyst expectations. The company continues to suffer from the ongoing trade war.

In Brussels, Gimv announced this morning that it sold its 40% stake in stroller brand Joolz. The return is said to be in line with Gimv’s historical long-term average, though no further details were disclosed. Citi slightly lowered its price target for Aedifica from 79.70 euro to 77.80 euro, citing risks related to the takeover bid for Cofinimmo.

In the US, both Abercrombie & Fitch and Macy’s will report today. Still, the real focus will be on Nvidia and Salesforce, which release results after the bel.

A golden share

Trump’s love of gold-themed rhetoric is well-known. He has coined phrases like “Golden Dome” (his missile defense shield proposal), launched the “Trump Gold Card” (a residency-by-investment scheme that allows foreigners to live in the US for 5 million dollars), and often refers to a coming “Golden Era” for the country. Now, we may be adding the term “golden share” to that list.

Investors are increasingly speculating that the U.S. Steel–Nippon Steel deal might go through after all — but only if the US government gets a golden share. While such a share is unusual in the US, countries like Italy and Brazil sometimes give governments this kind of veto-wielding equity in sensitive industries.

Based on the share price of Nippon Steel, markets seem to believe the deal will proceed. Nippon previously offered 55 dollars per share. Today, U.S. Steel is trading at 53 dollars.

Will Meta be forced to break up?

It’s a tense time for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Yesterday, a seven-week-long court case between Meta and the US government came to an end. The central question? Does Meta hold a monopoly in the social media market, and should it be forced to divest Instagram and WhatsApp?

If the court sides with the government, the ruling would be remarkable. After all, the acquisitions happened in 2012 and 2014, and both businesses have long been part of Meta. The Federal Trade Commission continues to argue that these subsidiaries must be sold to break up Meta’s monopoly.

Experts call the case a “coin flip,” with either outcome possible. A decision is expected by the end of the year.

Did you know…

Meta acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for 19 billion dollars and Instagram in 2012 for just 1 billion dollars? WhatsApp has been the weaker performer so far, generating just 1.3 billion dollars in revenue in 2023, while Instagram turned out to be a home run, bringing in 50 billion dollars last year.eign 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.