Before the bell: the winner takes it all

Chinese consumers are holding back on spending. Proximus sells to TINC, while UCB and Lotus Bakeries are the top performers.

If a stock has already risen sharply, that’s not necessarily a reason to sell. Yesterday’s trading board showed this clearly. In Brussels, UCB (+1.7%) and Lotus Bakeries (+1.33%) were once again standouts. These stocks have now risen by 123% and 48%, respectively, just this year. On Wall Street, Nvidia (+0.6%) hit a new record high this week. This chipmaker might have experienced a summer dip, but that appears to be fully behind it now, with gains of 191% year-to-date. Tesla also jumped by more than 20% after strong quarterly results. Recently, investors were disappointed by the delay in the launch of the Robotaxi—Elon Musk seems to have other priorities—but that setback seems to be forgotten now. Tesla’s stock has risen by 83% since its low in April. Luxury goods are also expensive and got a bit pricier yesterday. Kering (+3.2%) and LVMH (+2.5%), not exactly the year’s top performers, managed a recovery. Newmont Mining (-14.7%) was among the big losers as investors worried that the gold miner may not be able to capitalize sufficiently on rising gold prices.

This morning in Asia, Tokyo’s Topix is down 0.8%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong is up 1.4%. In Belgium and Germany, we’ll get the results of October’s business confidence survey. We’ll also see quarterly reports from Proximus, Xior, Cofinimmo, and Wereldhave Belgium. In the U.S., pre-market results will include Colgate-Palmolive, transport company Saia, and insurer AON, along with the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence survey results.

Data center

Telecom operator Proximus is selling its data centers to Datacenter United for €128 million. Not long ago, Datacenter United was 75% owned by the listed infrastructure group TINC, with the remaining quarter held by founder Friso Haringsma. Now, ownership of Datacenter United is split 50/50 between TINC and digital infrastructure investor Cordiant. TINC and Cordiant will work together to grow in the digital infrastructure space, and Datacenter United will manage 13 data centers across Belgium.

Chinese consumers hold back

It’s not just luxury goods and European carmakers struggling in Asia; companies like Unilever are also noticing that Chinese consumers are holding back on spending. Unilever saw its sales in China actually decline, with weaker demand for its skincare products and sluggish growth in the food segment. In Indonesia, underlying sales even shrank by 18%. Unilever plans to adjust its strategy in the region and expects to see changes starting in the second half of next year. Across all markets, the company’s sales figures rose by 4.5%, surpassing analyst expectations, largely thanks to the ice cream segment—the very segment with popular brands like Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s that Unilever plans to spin off next year.

Did you know…

that U.S. consumer watchdogs fined Apple and Goldman Sachs $89 million? The two companies ignored regulations when they launched a credit card together.