Before the bell: market pressure

Red markets, a sputtering engine at Boeing, and more growth for artificial intelligence.

Yesterday, we saw red markets everywhere we looked. However, there was a bright spot in Brussels. The Belgian star index, the Bel20, remained unchanged against the downward trend. The average European stock lost 0.3%. Across the Atlantic, the storm hit much harder. The S&P 500 fell by 0.9%, and the Nasdaq dropped by 1.6%. Major losers included Enphase Energy (-14.9%), which makes home batteries and smart inverters for solar panels. The company missed analysts’ expectations by almost 16.8%. McDonald’s, which we mentioned yesterday was dealing with an E. coli outbreak in the U.S., lost more than 5%.

This morning, we see more of the same in Asia. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index is down 1.2%, and in Tokyo, the Topix is down 0.2%. Closer to home, we’ve just learned that visitor numbers at Kinepolis fell by 13% in the third quarter. Later today, we’ll get results from Ontex. In the Netherlands, it’s Besi, Vastned, Relx, and Unilever’s turn to release their numbers. In Germany and France, Beiersdorf and Renault will report their results. In the U.S., we’ll hear from American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, UPS, Carrier, and footwear companies Deckers Outdoor and Skechers.

Sputtering engine

Boeing has been struggling with this for some time. The company reported a loss of $6 billion in the third quarter. The aircraft manufacturer has already burned through more than $10 billion this year to ramp up production of the 737 Max. New CEO Kelly Ortberg said in the earnings release that the company is currently at a crucial crossroads and that the corporate culture must change. Confidence in the company is gone, and debt levels are high. Customers, investors, and employees are disappointed. Over 33,000 employees have been on strike for weeks. They voted on a deal yesterday, but it was unsuccessful. This morning, it was announced that the strike is expected to continue for a while.

More growth for AI

Last night, we received the results from SK Hynix. The South Korean chipmaker’s revenue grew by 94%, largely due to the strong demand for memory chips. These chips are used by companies like Nvidia in the development of AI applications, showing that the demand for artificial intelligence is far from over. Since the beginning of the year, SK Hynix’s stock has risen by 39.5%. The company also announced a $3.9 billion investment to build a research center in Indiana, U.S. Additionally, it will spend $14.6 billion on a new memory chip factory in South Korea.

Did you know…

that accounting and consulting firm EY has fired several U.S. employees after they completed multiple online courses simultaneously? They cheated by doing this to collect extra career points. Now, after their dismissal, those career points are, of course, worthless.

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