Before the bell: copper producer jumps 5%

Wall Street starts the week at a slower pace, Chinese markets remain closed and BHP surprises with even higher profits and job cuts.

When Wall Street is closed, European markets typically see limited volatility. That was also evident yesterday, as the Euro Stoxx 50 edged down just 0.1%. Individual stocks, however, showed much larger moves. In Frankfurt, Siemens fell 5.9% without any direct trigger. The German technology group had rallied from 256 euro to 275 euro last week but closed yesterday at just under 235 euro. Since the start of the year, Siemens has lost 1.8%, and over the past twelve months the stock is up only 3.5%. Within the Bel20 (-0.3%), Elia (+1.5%) and Ageas (+1.4%) performed best, while Azelis and Sofina each lost 2.5%. After the close, Agfa-Gevaert released negative news. The imaging group from Mortsel was due to receive 19.9 million euro on February 6 from the buyer of its Offset Solutions division but, apart from an earlier payment of 2 million euro, has not received anything. Agfa has now formally declared the buyer in default.

Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China remain closed today and for the coming days due to Chinese New Year. Trading continues in Japan, where the Topix index is down 0.9%. In Germany, investor confidence (ZEW) will be published at 11:00 a.m. After the close, French supermarket group Carrefour will report results. On Wall Street, cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks and healthcare players Medtronic and Kenvue are set to release earnings. Investors can also react today to Hapag-Lloyd’s bid for ZIM Integrated Shipping Services. The German shipping company yesterday launched an offer of 35 euro per share, 58% above Friday’s closing price.

Amsterdamned

Later today, Jim and I are heading to Amsterdam once again. We will participate in an additional webinar organized by Lynx, as a follow-up to the investor debate of January 27. Justin Blekemolen of Lynx will ask us further questions about the companies we highlighted back then. As last year, Jim will also present an extra stock pick. Our members will not hear much new information during the live broadcast. After all, as members you sit in the front row and will always be the first to hear when we discover a gem for the Spaarvarkens. Still, if for once you prefer not to watch Gert’s table, we start at 8:00 p.m. Registration is possible via https://www.lynx.be/beurs/masterclass-beleggen/beleggingsideeen-pascal-paepen-20260217/

BHP performs even better than expected

Mining company BHP saw revenue rise 11% and gross profit surge 25%. In early trading, the stock gained 5% on the Sydney exchange. The Australian group is benefiting from high prices for commodities such as copper and iron ore. Despite posting a profit of 8 billion dollar and raising its dividend by 46%, the company is cutting 750 jobs in Queensland, a state in northeastern Australia. In that region, BHP mines coal, but the taxes and royalties imposed by the local government exceed the gross profit generated by those activities. As a result, BHP is closing a mine and laying off staff. The Queensland government currently collects 5.4 billion dollar in royalties but still faces a budget deficit of 9 billion dollar. The situation reminds us of Ryanair, which recently announced it would scale back operations at Charleroi Airport following a tax increase. Ryanair remains profitable but prefers not to pay more tax on those profits.

Did you know…

that BHP is the world’s largest copper producer? Each year, the company extracts roughly two billion kilograms of the yellow metal.

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