Before the bell: Will the Bel20 cross the 5,000-point mark today?

The gold price hit a new record this morning, while in Belgium Sipef reported record-breaking results.

With a closing level of 4,778.50 points, the Bel20 now stands just half a percent away from the symbolic 5,000-point milestone. If today’s trading goes as well as yesterday’s, we’ll get there. The Euro Stoxx 50 gained 1% yesterday, thanks to strong results from Dutch chipmaker ASML (+3.1%).

In Asia, chipmakers are also on the rise today, following ASML’s upbeat figures. In Hong Kong, tech firm ZTE Corporation gained 7.7%, while in South Korea, SK Hynix rose 7.5%. Oil prices climbed after Donald Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to halt oil purchases from Russia. Meanwhile, gold reached a new all-time high of 4,241 dollar per ounce this morning. In Asian trading, investors are speculating on another U.S. rate cut later this month — good news for the yellow metal. The Dutch holding company HAL Trust announced it will acquire the infrastructure division of VolkerWessels for 1.6 billion euro. Later today, TSMC, Bank of New York Mellon, Infosys, Charles Schwab, and Interactive Brokers will all release results.

Billions in cost savings at Nestlé

In Vevey, Switzerland, where Nestlé’s headquarters are located, tough decisions are being made. The group announced today that it plans to cut costs by 3 billion Swiss francs over the next two years. That will involve significant job reductions, according to management. The company’s sales figures, published this morning, put additional pressure on management to act. Group revenue fell 1.9%, with a 4.8% drop in North America alone. As unions noted, it would be unacceptable for Nestlé to use those numbers as justification for layoffs. Nestlé continues to struggle with the strong Swiss franc, which leads to heavy currency losses across all regions. However, adjusted for exchange-rate effects, sales actually grew 3.3%.

A hidden investor in biotechnology

At Sipef, money is quite literally falling from the trees these days. The company’s quarterly results this morning showed production up 28.1% year-on-year. That growth comes not only from more fruit, but also from the fact that each fruit now contains more oil than before. What some investors don’t know is that Sipef is also active in biotechnology, through its investment in Verdant Bioscience. The goal: to develop new seed varieties that will deliver higher palm oil yields in the future. Thanks to higher selling prices, Sipef was able to sell its production at prices 12.5% higher than last year. With 84% of this year’s output already sold, the company now expects net profit between 115 and 125 million euro. Sipef is thus on track for another record year.

Did you know…

that Nestlé employs more than 339,000 people worldwide? It’s the largest food company on the planet, and its chairman of the board, Paul Bulcke, is Belgian.

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