Before the bell: Chinese exports rise

Econocom and Moderna surge, government shutdown hits Delta Air Lines.

Yesterday, the average European stock gained 0.2%. Belgium’s Bel20 did better, climbing 0.7%. On the Brussels exchange, IT services provider Econocom jumped sharply (+15.2%) without any immediate catalyst. In the United States, the S&P 500 (-0.2%) and the Nasdaq (-0.1%) edged lower. JPMorgan Chase (-4.2%) was sold off following disappointing quarterly results. At airline Delta Air Lines (-2.4%), the final months of 2025 were weaker than expected, partly due, according to the company, to the US government shutdown. Adobe fell 5.4% after analysts at Oppenheimer downgraded their recommendation for the creative software group. The strongest gainer on Wall Street was vaccine maker Moderna (+17%). The company expects revenue growth of up to 10% in the new year while simultaneously cutting costs.

In Asia this morning, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong is up 0.4%, while Japan’s Topix is trading 1.15% higher. China released its trade balance figures for December earlier today. Exports rose 6.6% year-on-year in December. Despite China exporting as much as 20% less to the US in 2025, shipments to other regions increased. Exports to the EU rose by 8.4%, while exports to Africa jumped by as much as 26%. Today in the US, results are due from Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America.

The glue no longer sticks in China

Swiss construction materials group Sika saw its revenue rise by 0.6% in 2025. That increase was mainly driven by acquisitions completed during the year. On an organic basis, however, revenue actually declined by 0.4%. That was not what investors had expected, and they sent the shares down 9.5% on the Zurich stock exchange. In 2024, the company’s revenue had still grown by 7.4%, and in 2023 even by 14.5%. The main drag on sales in 2025 was China’s construction sector, where Sika’s sales fell by more than 10%. Nevertheless, the company says it managed to gain market share in all regions. In the rest of Asia, revenue grew by 2.9%. Sales in Europe and the Americas also rose by 2.2%, albeit less than the year before. The company plans to cut costs and accelerate digitalisation, aiming to save up to 200 million Swiss francs per year by 2028.

If you cannot beat them…

Google parent Alphabet has become the fourth US company to surpass a market capitalisation of 4,000 billion dollars. Only Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple have reached that milestone before. One factor that will certainly have helped is Apple’s decision to run its revamped virtual assistant “Siri” on Alphabet’s Gemini AI models. Apple is trying to close its gap in artificial intelligence that way. Apple’s vote of confidence reassures investors that Alphabet has a top-tier product in Gemini. A year ago, Alphabet’s shares were still lagging well behind its peers, but those days are over. Since its low point in April last year, Alphabet’s market value has more than doubled.

Did you know…

that aircraft manufacturer Boeing received more orders on an annual basis than Airbus for the first time in ten years? In 2025, the US plane maker booked 1,075 orders, while its European rival sold exactly 1,000 aircraft.

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