17.10.2024

Adidas weak + Airbus cuts up to 2,500 jobs in defense and aerospace division + LVMH under pressure after figures + Nestle lowers annual targets + Nokia sees turning point coming

For the share of Adidas $ADS (-0.15%) fell by 6.3 percent after the sporting goods manufacturer raised its forecast the previous evening. The stock market criticized the fact that the forecast was now where the consensus of analysts had already seen it beforehand - and therefore did not provide a positive surprise. Deutsche Bank analysts pointed out that operating costs had risen by around 5 percent in the third quarter compared to a stable first half of the year. In addition, luxury goods manufacturer LVMH reported that the short-term outlook remains cautious, as it is unclear whether demand in China has bottomed out and whether growth in the US and Europe is accelerating.

Airbus $AIR (-0.84%) is struggling with huge losses in the satellite business and therefore wants to cut up to 2,500 jobs in its defense and aerospace division. The aerospace company announced on Wednesday that the cuts would take place by mid-2026. The Airbus division employs almost 35,000 people in Germany and other European countries. The locations affected are to be clarified at the end of the year following talks with the trade unions and works councils. Airbus mainly builds satellites in Immenstaad on Lake Constance, in Toulouse, in London and in Munich.

Disappointing quarterly figures from LVMH $MC (-0.25%) put the entire sector under pressure on Wednesday. Luxury and consumer goods stocks fell significantly. LVMH fell by 5.1 percent to 593.70 euros. Also Kering $KER (+0.06%) and numerous other stocks in the sector also lost ground. Negative analyst opinions also played a role for the French cosmetics manufacturer. LVMH continued its disappointing performance in the current year with these losses. The downward trend since the spring is intact, after the share marked new lows for the year and wiped out the recovery attempts of the past week. The French luxury goods group continues to struggle with subdued demand. In the third quarter, turnover fell by three percent, excluding currency effects and acquisitions and disposals of parts of the company. Analysts had expected slight growth of 0.9 percent on average. Overall, turnover fell by 4.4 percent to 19.08 billion euros. This is also less than experts had expected. The analysts at Goldman Sachs therefore spoke of a disappointment, although expectations before the report had already been cautious. The fashion and leather goods segment in particular had suffered from weak demand from China, but the spirits segment had also missed estimates. The economic environment for luxury goods remains difficult and the next six months are unlikely to be easy. L'Oreal $OR (-0.71%) recently lost 3.4 percent to 363.70 euros after JPMorgan downgraded the shares from "Neutral" to "Underweight" and lowered the price target from 390 to 325 euros.

The food group Nestle has lowered its forecasts for the current year following a disappointing quarter. Growth in the first nine months was too low to maintain the previous targets. The new CEO Laurent Freixe has therefore cut expectations for 2024 and the company now expects growth of around two percent. Former CEO Mark Schneider had recently emphasized that Nestle would grow organically by "over 3 percent" for the year as a whole, but this seems too optimistic. Laurent Freixe, who took over as CEO in August after a long career at the food multinational, has now rejected these false hopes and lowered his expectations for the year as a whole.

The network equipment supplier Nokia $NOKIA (-0.2%) is gradually seeing the turning point in its weak markets. "Net sales are recovering more slowly than we expected, but we are compensating for this in part with an improved gross margin and cost savings," said Group CEO Pekka Lundmark in a statement on Thursday. Signs of recovery are already visible in business with fixed-line and IP products. The market for mobile networks, on the other hand, is proving more difficult. In the third quarter, Nokia therefore fell short of analysts' expectations: in the three months to the end of September, net revenue slipped by eight percent year-on-year to 4.3 billion euros. Industry experts had expected more on average.

Thursday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures

Quarterly figures / company dates USA / Asia

07:30 TSMC quarterly figures

12:30 KeyCorp quarterly figures

13:00 Travelers Cos quarterly figures

22:00 Netflix quarterly figures

Quarterly figures / Company dates Europe

07:00 ABB | Nordea | Nokia | Essilor-Luxottica

07:00 Sartorius quarterly figures | Hella sales 3Q

07:15 Nestle 9 months sales

09:00 Pernod-Ricard 1Q sales

09:00 Sartorius PK

Economic data

• 08:00 DE: Manufacturing orders on hand and backlog August
• 08:00 CH: Trade Balance
• 11:00 EU: Trade balance sb August FORECAST: n/a previous: +15.5 bn euro
• 11:00 EU: Consumer prices September Eurozone FORECAST: -0.1% yoy/+1.8% yoy PREVIEW: -0.1% yoy/+1.8% yoy PREVIEW: +0.1% yoy/+2.2% yoy CORE RATE FORECAST: +0.1% yoy/+2.7% yoy PREVIEW: +0.1% yoy/+2.7% yoy PREVIEW: +0.3% yoy/+2.8% yoy
• 14:15 EU: ECB, outcome of the Governing Council meeting Deposit rate FORECAST: 3.25% previously: 3.50%
• 14:30 US: Retail Sales September PROGNOSE: +0.3% yoy previous: +0.1% yoy Retail Sales ex Motor Vehicles PROGNOSE: +0.1% yoy previous: +0.1% yoy
• 14:30 US: Initial jobless claims (week) FORECAST: 260,000 Previous: 258,000
• 14:30 US: Philadelphia Fed Index October FORECAST: 3.0 PREVIOUS: 1.7
• 14:45 EU: ECB, PK after Governing Council meeting
• 15:15 US: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization September Industrial Production PROGNOSE: -0.2% yoy previous: +0.8% yoy Capacity utilization PROGNOSE: 77.8% previous: 78.0%
• 16:00 US: Inventories August PROGNOSE: +0.3% yoy previous: +0.4% yoy