Before the bell: investors oppose telecom merger

Elon Musk’s investment drive fails to convince Tesla investors. Kinepolis reports rising visitor numbers.

An average European stock, as measured by the Euro Stoxx 50, lost half a percent yesterday. The biggest loser within the index was Deutsche Telekom (-4.8%), which wants to fully acquire T-Mobile US (-3.3%), in which it already holds a majority stake. Investors clearly see no need for the combination. The French defence player Safran also lost 3.5%, while chipmaker Infineon Technologies gained 3.5%. In Brussels, the Bel20 fell 0.8% under pressure from heavyweights KBC Group (-2%) and UCB (-1.6%). Across the Atlantic, the S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq rose by 1.1% and 1.6% respectively. One of the biggest decliners there was TE Connectivity (-9.1%). The results of the company, which is active in data centre technology, disappointed investors.

In Asia this morning, markets are struggling to gain traction. The Topix is down 1.2% in Tokyo, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is trading 1.1% lower. At Kinepolis, visitor numbers rose by 27% to 8.22 million moviegoers, driven mainly by a richer film offering in the first quarter of 2026. Later today in Belgium, Sipef, Quest for Growth and Qrf will publish results. In the Netherlands, BE Semiconductor Industries, Fugro, Heineken, AkzoNobel and RELX report earnings. In Finland, Nokia publishes results, while in the United States Intel, American Airlines and Dow Chemical are due to report.

Tesla to increase investments

Yesterday evening, Tesla reported its quarterly results. Profit rose in the first quarter to 477 million dollar, an increase of 17% compared to the same period a year earlier. Shareholders were satisfied and pushed the stock higher in after-hours trading—until Elon Musk announced plans to invest 25 billion dollar in robotaxis, electric trucks and artificial intelligence. That amount is three times higher than last year and erased the after-hours gains. Notably, revenue from services increased by 42% to 3.7 billion dollar. This segment—mainly maintenance, repairs and charging—thus represents the fastest-growing part of the business. The carmaker is clearly building recurring revenue streams. Some link this to robotaxis, but in our view that is not yet the case.

Flight cancelled

Since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, the price of aviation fuel (kerosene) has more than doubled. Several airlines have already raised ticket prices, and further increases are expected. Some carriers, such as Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines, have even cancelled routes entirely due to a lack of profitability. Yesterday, Germany’s Lufthansa announced it will cancel as many as 20,000 flights within Europe. Passengers with tickets for cancelled flights will, where possible, be rebooked onto flights operated by another Star Alliance member or receive a refund. According to Lufthansa, this measure will save 40,000 tonnes of kerosene, equivalent to cost savings of 56 million euro.

Did you know…

that Lufthansa is accelerating the phase-out of its regional subsidiary CityLine? The group operates 27 older aircraft mainly used on short-haul routes, but due to high fuel costs these planes are no longer profitable and are better kept grounded.

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