Before the bell: KBC shines in Brussels

Good news for self-driving cars! Is Nvidia overheating? And what do analysts expect from the U.S. chip giant’s earnings?

European indices were mostly flat yesterday, with the Belgian Bel20 ending the day down 0.2%. The standout performer in Brussels was KBC (+2%), boosted by investment house Kepler Cheuvreux. Analyst Benoît Pétrarque called KBC the most preferred bank in the Benelux region. Across the Atlantic, markets were slightly greener. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 0.6% higher. One of the big winners on Wall Street was Tesla (+5.6%), after Trump announced plans to relax regulations for self-driving cars. In October, Tesla unveiled its prototype for the self-driving “Cybercab” taxi. Oil prices surged more than 3% yesterday due to production cuts in Kazakhstan and a power outage affecting Norway’s largest oil field.

This morning in Asia, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong is up 0.4%, while the Topix in Tokyo is 0.7% higher. In Germany, ThyssenKrupp will release earnings today, while in the U.S., Walmart, Lowe’s, and test equipment specialist Keysight Technologies will open their books.

Nvidia is hot

Nvidia’s stock has already climbed nearly 200% this year, but maybe it’s running a little too hot. Yesterday, the company’s share price temporarily lost 3.3% of its value during trading after reports surfaced about overheating issues with its new Blackwell AI chips. These chips are critical to Nvidia’s growth and, according to CFO Colette Kress, are expected to contribute significantly to revenue in the fourth quarter. Despite the temporary dip, Nvidia closed only 1.3% lower, thanks to a bullish note from Bank of America that reignited investor enthusiasm. Analysts predict Nvidia will report a quarterly revenue of 33.1 billion dollars and earnings per share of 0.70 dollars when it releases its results after the market closes on Wednesday.

Fresh fruits and vegetables

Fresh produce company Greenyard reported quarterly revenue of 2.64 billion euros, up 6.1% from the same period last year. Revenue in its Fresh segment, which focuses on fresh fruits and vegetables and is the company’s largest division, grew by 6.5%, driven by higher volumes. However, the Long Fresh segment performed less well, with volumes dropping by 4.3%. Despite this, revenue in the canned goods division still rose 4.5%, primarily due to price increases driven by inflation. ING analysts recently downgraded their price target for Greenyard from 7 to 6 euros, citing expectations that European consumers will buy fewer fresh fruits and vegetables. It remains to be seen how the stock will react.

Did you know…

that plastic production in Europe fell by 8.3% last year? Unfortunately, this isn’t good news for sustainability, as we’re not using less plastic; instead, it’s increasingly imported from the other side of the world.

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