Trump signs decree to mitigate tariffs for carmakers + DHL slightly increases operating profit + Mercedes-Benz posts another profit slump at the start of the year + Hims & Hers enters into partnership with Novo Nordisk + Spotify disappoints with outlook for the second quarter + PayPal disappoints with revenue
Trump signs decree to mitigate tariffs for carmakers
- US President Donald Trump has signed a decree to mitigate tariffs for car manufacturers.
- An order signed by Trump on Tuesday stipulates that car manufacturers will not be subject to multiple "overlapping" tariffs.
- Companies that pay tariffs of 25 percent on foreign-built cars should not also have to pay a 25 percent tariff on steel or aluminum, according to a representative of the Department of Commerce.
DHL $DHL (-3.21%)increases operating profit slightly
- DHL performed surprisingly well in the first quarter with moderate revenue and profit growth.
- However, Group CEO Tobias Meyer referred on Wednesday to the economic environment, which was characterized by general restraint as well as US customs and trade policy.
- The management confirmed its forecast for the year, although possible effects from changes in US customs and trade policy are not included in the targets.
- Revenue rose by 2.8 percent to a good 20.8 billion euros in the first quarter, DHL announced in Bonn on Wednesday.
- Of this, almost 1.4 billion euros remained before interest and taxes (EBIT), which is 4.5 percent more than a year ago.
- The free cash inflow increased by more than 17 percent to 732 million euros, which was also higher than estimated on the market.
- The same applies to the profit attributable to shareholders, which rose by a good 6 percent to 786 million euros.
- Annual targets confirmed without customs consequences
Mercedes-Benz $MBG (+1.72%)another profit slump at the beginning of the year
- The car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz continued to struggle at the beginning of the year due to weak business in China.
- In the first quarter, the DAX-listed company's profits plummeted by almost 43 percent to 1.73 billion euros, as the Stuttgart-based company announced on Wednesday.
- Turnover fell by a good 7 percent to 33.2 billion euros because, as already known, sales had shrunk worldwide. In day-to-day business, i.e. before interest and taxes, the result slipped by almost 41 percent to 2.29 billion euros due to the difficult situation.
- In the important passenger car division, the adjusted operating profit margin, which is highly regarded by investors, shrank by 1.7 percentage points to 7.3 percent.
- This was a smaller decline than analysts had feared.
Hims & Hers $HIMS (+2.9%)enters into partnership with Novo Nordisk $NOVO B (-0.1%)enters into
- Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk has partnered with Hims & Hers Health HIMS to sell its popular weight-loss drug through a bundled offering on the telemedicine company's platform, the two companies announced on Tuesday.
- Customers will get access to offerings of all dosage strengths of Wegovy and a membership starting at $599 per month, Hims said.
- The offer will be available on the Hims & Hers platform starting this week, it added.
- The companies are working on a longer-term roadmap of bundled offerings that will have a unique consumer rating and pricing that we hope to unveil in the coming quarters, Hims CEO Andrew Dudum said.
- Earlier this month, Hims announced that it plans to sell Eli Lilly LLY's Zepbound through its platform.
- While Novo's Wegovy and Lilly's competing drug, Zepbound, were in short supply, several telehealth companies were allowed to sell cheaper copies of the treatments.
- The brand-name drugs have since been removed from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's shortage list, which could limit mass production.
- Dudum added that the company will continue to offer personalized compound versions of semaglutide on its platform.
- Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Novo's Wegovy.
Spotify $SPOT (-0.41%)disappoints with second quarter outlook
- After a strong start to the year, music streamer Spotify is expecting less momentum in the second quarter.
- In the short term, some disruptive noise is to be expected, said company boss Daniel Ek on Tuesday, according to a statement on the presentation of quarterly figures.
- The number of monthly active users, an important indicator for advertisers, for example, is likely to grow less strongly in the current quarter than recently.
- The forecast disappointed analysts' expectations.
- Spotify shares came under pressure in pre-market trading and lost six percent.
- However, Ek remains confident in the long term.
- Spotify's freemium model gives customers a lot of flexibility in uncertain times.
- Users can choose between a free, ad-financed offering or paid premium services.
- In the first quarter, the number of premium subscribers rose surprisingly sharply by twelve percent to 268 million.
- Monthly active users increased by ten percent to 678 million.
- Spotify expects a further increase to 689 million in the second quarter - although analysts had more on the cards here.
- Sales rose by 15 percent to 4.2 billion euros at the start of the year.
- Thanks to lower expenditure on personnel and marketing, the operating result soared from 168 million euros in the same quarter of the previous year to 509 million euros.
- Here too, however, experts had expected more from the music streamer in advance.
PayPal $PYPL (+2.46%)disappointed in sales but EPS up
- Earned more in the first quarter of 2025.
- Earnings rose from USD 0.830 per share to USD 1.29 per share, meaning that the company performed better than the market had expected.
- Analysts had previously estimated EPS of USD 1.16 per share.
- On the sales side, things went better than a year ago: revenues rose from 7.699 billion US dollars to 7.791 billion US dollars.
- However, this disappointed analysts' expectations, which had previously stood at 7.85 billion US dollars.
Wednesday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures
Stock exchange trading in Sweden shortened
- ex-dividend of individual stocks
- Hochtief EUR 5.23
- Morgan Stanley 0.93 US
- Quarterly figures / company dates USA / Asia
- 02:00 Samsung Electronics quarterly figures
- 12:30 Caterpillar | GE Healthcare Quarterly figures
- 22:00 Meta | Qualcomm | Align Technology quarterly figures
- 22:05 Microsoft | Ebay | Allstate quarterly figures
- Quarterly figures / Company dates Europe
- 06:45 Societe Genera | Equinor | UBS | Banco Santander quarterly figures
- 07:00 OMV | DHL | Fuchs | Kion | Mercedes-Benz | Nemetschek
- 07:00 Wacker Chemie | Arcelormittal | AMS-Osram | DSM-Firmenich
- 07:00 Siltronic | Credit Agricole quarterly figures
- 07:30 Erste Group Bank | Aixtron | Compugroup Medical | Volkswagen | Adyen
- 07:30 Baader Bank | Befesa | Deutz | Drägerwerk | Fielmann quarterly figures
- 08:00 LPKF Laser | Repsol | Air France-KLM | Barclays | GSK quarterly figures
- 08:00 Stellantis 1Q revenue and sales figures | Mercedes-Benz analyst conference
- 08:30 DHL PK
- 09:00 Iberdrola | Aston Martin quarterly figures
- 09:15 Mercedes-Benz PK
- 10:00 Sto SE Annual Results | Gea Group | Knorr-Bremse | Munich Re | RWE AGM
- 10:00 Fuchs PK | DHL Group Analyst Conference
- 11:00 Atoss Software AGM
- 11:30 OMV Analyst Conference
- 12:00 Fuchs Analyst Conference
- 15:00 Kion Analyst Conference
- 17:45 Airbus quarterly figures + PK
03:30 CN: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI manufacturing (CFLP/National Bureau of Statistics) April FORECAST: 49.8 previous: 50.5 | Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI non-manufacturing (CFLP/National Bureau of Statistics) April FORECAST: n.a. previous: 50.8
03:45 CN: Purchasing Managers' Index/PMI manufacturing Caixin/S&P FORECAST: n/a previously: 51.2
07:30 FR: GDP (1st release) 1Q | Private Consumption March
08:00 DE: Retail Sales March seasonally adjusted real FORECAST: -0.2% yoy previous: +0.3% yoy | Employment March | Import/Export Prices March Import Prices FORECAST: -0.8% yoy/+2.4% yoy previous: +0.3% yoy/+3.6% yoy
08:45 FR: Consumer prices (preliminary) April PROGNOSE: +0.4% yoy/+0.7% yoy previous: +0.2% yoy/+0.8% yoy HICP PROGNOSE: +0.4% yoy/+0.7% yoy previous: +0.2% yoy/+0.9% yoy
09:55 DE: Labor market data April seasonally adjusted unemployment rate FORECAST: +20,000 yoy previous: +26,000 yoy Unemployment rate seasonally adjusted FORECAST: 6.3% previous: 6.3%
10:00 DE: GDP (1st release) 1Q calendar and seasonally adjusted yoy FORECAST: +0.2% yoy Q4: -0.2% yoy Q4 calendar-adjusted yoy FORECAST: -0.2% yoy Q4: -0.2% yoy
10:00 IT: GDP (1st release) 1Q FORECAST: +0.2% yoy qoq/+0.4% yoy 4th quarter: +0.1% yoy qoq/+0.6% yoy
11:00 EU: GDP (1st release) 1Q Eurozone FORECAST: +0.2% yoy/+1.0% yoy 4th quarter: +0.2% yoy/+1.2% yoy
11:00 IT: Consumer prices (preliminary) April FORECAST: n/a /+2.0% yoy previous: +0.3% yoy/+1.9% yoy
14:00 DE: Consumer prices (preliminary) April PROGNOSE: +0.3% yoy/+2.0% yoy previous: +0.3% yoy/+2.2% yoy HICP PROGNOSE: +0.5% yoy/+2.1% yoy previous: +0.4% yoy/+2.3% yoy
14:15 US: ADP Labor Market Report April Private Sector Employment PROGNOSIS: +120,000 jobs previously: +155,000 jobs
14:30 US: Labor Cost Index 1Q PROGNOSE: +0.9% yoy 4th quarter: +0.9% yoy
14:30 US: GDP (1st release) 1Q annualized PROGNOSE: +0.4% yoy Q4: +2.4% yoy GDP deflator PROGNOSE: +3.0% yoy Q4: +2.3% yoy
15:45 US: Chicago Purchasing Managers Index April FORECAST: 45.5 previous: 47.6
16:00 US: Personal Spending and Income March Spending / Income FORECAST: +0.5% yoy/+0.4% yoy previous: +0.4% yoy/+0.8% yoy
