Before the bell: stomachache for cookie lovers

Donald Trump’s new wave of tariffs sent Wall Street into the red.

The average European stock gained 1% yesterday. Belgium’s benchmark index, the Bel20, barely moved and ended the day just 0.1% higher. Investors in biscuit maker Lotus Bakeries didn’t fare so well, closing the day with a stomachache. The stock fell 4.8%, ending at 7,800 euro per share, after analysts at Degroof Petercam cut their price target from 10,330 euro to 9,200 euro. Even though the Lembeke-based company now trades 38% below its all-time high, the analysts still believe it’s richly valued. Across the Atlantic, markets turned red after Donald Trump announced a series of new tariffs. The U.S. president has postponed the effective date of these tariffs to August 1. The S&P 500 dropped 0.8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.9%. Meanwhile, shareholders of Tesla were not amused by the news that Elon Musk wants to launch his own political party—the stock fell 6.5%.

This morning in Asia, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong is up 0.7%, while Japan’s Topix edges 0.2% higher. On the macro front, Germany will report May trade balance figures today.

Park + Ride + Charge

Just ahead of its IPO, EnergyVision has secured a tender from NMBS, the Belgian railway company. The energy firm will install 2,500 EV charging stations across railway station parking lots in Belgium. Remarkably, the company won the contract with a considerable lead over rival operators—most of whom were only willing to pay half the compensation EnergyVision offered. That raises concerns that the margins on the deal may be razor-thin. Meanwhile, investors have already subscribed to 5.46 million shares at the lower end of the price range, 9.50 euro per share. The IPO raised just under 52 million euro as of Monday evening. The retail offering period ended yesterday, and the institutional subscription window closes today.

Falling behind

That’s exactly what Samsung Electronics is doing. This morning, the company announced it expects its operating profit for the second quarter of 2025 to fall 39%. The reason? The South Korean electronics and chip giant has still not succeeded in getting its memory chips approved by AI chip designer Nvidia. The latest generation of AI chips requires high-bandwidth memory, and while Samsung is one of the world’s top memory chip manufacturers, Nvidia’s standards are extremely demanding. Samsung has been trying for months to meet them. Rivals like SK Hynix and Micron have already passed the bar and are supplying chips to Nvidia. It’s a missed opportunity for Samsung, as margins in this segment are much higher. Over the past year, Samsung’s stock has lost nearly 30% of its market value.

Did you know…

that luxury giant LVMH is selling its only hotel in the United States? The El Encanto Hotel in Santa Barbara, California, which has 90 rooms, is being sold to two brothers for 92.2 million dollar—that’s just over 900,000 dollar per room.

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