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| This week's gainers and losers |
| Gainers: Rivian (+30%): Investors welcomed the figures and outlook for the producer of electric SUVs. The group delivered 12,640 vehicles in the quarter to the end of June, marking a real take-off compared with 4,467 deliveries in the same period last year. It believes it is well on the way to achieving its annual target of 50,000 units produced. In addition, the partnership with Amazon is beginning to take concrete form: the online retail giant announced on Tuesday that it would begin deploying electric vans produced by the American company in Germany. Polestar (+11.5%): The Swedish-based electric vehicle manufacturer listed in the US signed up to access Tesla's charging infrastructure across the United States, contributing to making the Elon Musk-led company's superchargers the industry standard. Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) is more widely available and reliable than rivals', so Polestar will benefit. Tesla (+5%): The Tesla rocket is showing no signs of slowing down. On Monday, investors were seduced by the Group's figures. In the second quarter, the manufacturer, led by Elon Musk, delivered 466,000 vehicles. This is 21,000 more than analysts had forecast. It's also a message to the market: Tesla's strategy of lowering prices is paying off. Tesla has no intention of stopping there. On Wednesday, it announced price cuts for its Model 3 and Y models in Japan. The share price has risen 125% since January 1. Losers: Casino (-28.1%): The French retailer's rescue appears to be taking shape. The group has received two equity offers: the first from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky (already a shareholder) and the second from the trio of Niel, Pigasse and Zouari. But whatever happens, existing shareholders will see their stake reduced to nothing, as the restructuring is accompanied by enormous dilution. ICBC (-13%): This was a bad week for Chinese banks. Goldman Sachs lowered its recommendations on several Chinese financial institutions, including Industrial and Commercial Bank Of China. The reason: persistent tensions between the United States and China. In particular, the world's leading economy is considering banning Chinese companies from accessing the cloud services of major technology groups such as Alphabet and Microsoft. Laboratory Corporation (-13%): The American medical diagnostics company is coming back down to earth after a bullish rally that lasted the whole month of June. The group, which employs 60,000 people, finalized the spin-off of its Fortrea contract research entity for $1.6 billion. The proceeds will be used to finance a share buyback program and reduce debt. The announcement was already known, but it reminded investors that Laboratory Corporation is coming off a mediocre quarter, with results down sharply. |
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| Commodities |
| Energy: Oil prices regained a little ground this week, a rise that is being achieved by force as investors remain obsessed with the economic outlook, which looks uncertain insofar as the Federal Reserve could press its rates harder and longer. Nevertheless, the market is moving towards a tighter balance, with reduced supply from both Saudi Arabia (which will renew its voluntary production cuts in August) and Russia. Indeed, Moscow has declared its intention to reduce exports by 500,000 barrels a day in order to boost domestic demand. In terms of prices, North Sea Brent is trading at around USD 76.8 a barrel, compared with USD 72.1 for its American counterpart, WTI. Metals: Industrial metals ended the week in mixed order. Copper, zinc and aluminum remained stable, while nickel and zinc advanced fairly significantly. Lead, on the other hand, retreated to around USD 2060. The last major statistic came not from China, but from Chile, which confirmed that its copper production had slowed by around 1% year-on-year. As for gold, there's nothing to report, as the barbaric relic continues to evolve within a narrow price envelope of between 1900 and 1930 USD. Agricultural products: The drought in the USA continues to take its toll on crop yields. In its latest report, the US Department of Agriculture estimates that only 51% of corn crops are in good to excellent condition. This represents a tiny improvement on last week, but is still a long, long way from last year's levels (around 65%). In Chicago, the price of corn is stabilizing at around 500 cents a bushel, compared with 650 cents for wheat. |
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| Macroeconomics |
| Atmosphere. Investors seem to be struggling to find the right path. Up until now, a buoyant employment market was seen as a driver of stock market indices, lending credence to the much-hoped-for soft-landing scenario. But that was before the minutes of the last Fed meeting. However, nothing surprising came out of the minutes: the majority of Fed members are in favor of further monetary tightening, starting in July. With a possible further tightening in September. Even if this has been repeated over and over again, it seems that the financial community is only just beginning to take this on board. So we'll be watching for the start of any paradigm shift. If employment remains buoyant - which the NFPs do not fully confirm - the Fed will continue to raise rates, and this will weigh on growth. But if employment falters, consumption will follow, which isn't good for the stock market either, rekindling fears of a recession. Would you like to play the "heads I win, tails you lose" game? Currencies: Overall, there's little to report this week. The euro depreciated very slightly against the Swiss franc (EUR 1 = CHF 0.9741) and the British pound (EUR 1 = GBP 0.8533). The dollar is stable against its main counterparts. This is evidenced by the EUR/USD, which gained just 0.13% over the week. |
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| Things to read this week | ||||||
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*The weekly movements of indexes and stocks displayed on the dashboard are related to the period ranging from the open on Monday to the sending time of this newsletter on Friday. The weekly movements of commodities, precious metals and currencies displayed on the dashboard are related to a 7-day rolling period from Friday to Friday, until the sending time of this newsletter. These assets continue to quote on weekends. |
