FED warns of higher inflation + Luxury goods group Hermes grows less than expected + Siemens Energy targets record high + Evotec realigns itself + Chip manufacturer TSMC increases profits sharply
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warns of higher inflation and slower growth due to Trump's tariff policy
- He emphasizes that the tariffs will probably lead to a temporary rise in inflation.
- The Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision is due in May, although it is widely expected to remain unchanged.
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warns that US government debt is on an unsustainable path and that this debt trajectory is a problem that needs to be addressed.
- Fed Chairman Powell explains that US economic growth is slowing, with moderate consumer growth and a wave of imports to avoid tariffs likely to weigh on GDP. According to Powell, the Fed intends to stick to the current rates for the time being until there is more clarity about the economic development.
- Fed Chairman Powell emphasizes that the role of the central bank is to ensure that tariffs only lead to a one-off price increase.
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell sees immigration as an important reason for the strong economic growth in the USA in recent years.
- According to his speech to the Economic Club of Chicago, Fed Chairman Powell sees the US economy in a solid position despite increased uncertainty, with the labor market close to full employment and inflation above the 2 percent target.
- The Fed is well positioned to wait for more clarity before any potential adjustments to monetary policy as it continues to analyze incoming data, the evolving outlook and the balance of risks, he said.
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell explains that the larger-than-expected tariffs so far are likely to lead to higher inflation and slower growth.
- US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell describes the US economy as 'solid' despite increased uncertainty and downside risks.
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell believes the US central bank is in a good position to wait for further developments and gain more clarity for the time being.
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell explains that the US Federal Reserve is well positioned and is currently waiting for more clarity.
Luxury goods group Hermes $RMS (-0,61 %)grows less than expected
- The French luxury group Hermes continued to grow in the first quarter.
- However, the manufacturer of products such as Birkin and Kelly bags fell short of expectations.
- Turnover increased by 8.5 percent to 4.13 billion euros in the first three months of the year, as the EuroStoxx 50 heavyweight announced in Paris on Thursday.
- Adjusted for currency effects, growth amounted to 7.2 percent.
- Experts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected an increase of 7.9 percent.
- Business was particularly disappointing in Asia and the Pacific region, the Group's most important market.
- This makes Hermes the second major luxury goods manufacturer after LVMH to miss analysts' expectations.
- Hermes and LVMH are among the most valuable companies in Europe with a market capitalization of around 250 billion euros and 243 billion euros respectively.
Siemens Energy $ENR (-1,09 %)take aim at record high - strong outlook
- A surprisingly good quarter and an optimistic outlook for the year as a whole boosted Siemens Energy shares on Maundy Thursday.
- Compared to the Xetra close on the previous day, they jumped 7.6 percent to 62.12 euros in pre-market trading on Tradegate.
- This would bring them closer to their record high of 64.56 euros reached in mid-February in Xetra trading.
- The energy technology group's outlook is very strong and clearly better than expected, praised one trader.
- The market consensus is now likely to rise by double digits, wrote analyst Akash Gupta from JPMorgan.
Evotec $EVT (-0,48 %)realigns itself - wants to accelerate growth
- The pharmaceutical drug researcher and developer Evotec is realigning itself.
- According to a statement on Thursday, the company intends to focus on high-value services and therapeutic areas in future and reduce its project portfolio by around 30 percent.
- The company intends to withdraw from investments and focus on the two pillars of drug discovery & preclinical development and the Just - Evotec Biologics division in future, it said. In addition to the current cost program, the company plans to save more than EUR 50 million by 2028.
- Between 2024 and 2028, Evotec is targeting an average annual growth rate of eight to 12 percent.
- The margin on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) adjusted for exceptional effects is expected to reach more than 20 percent.
- In the past year 2024, turnover rose by 2% to EUR 797 million in a difficult market environment.
- Adjusted Group EBITDA fell from 66.4 million to 22.6 million euros.
- In the new year, turnover is expected to increase more strongly again, by around five to ten percent to between 840 and 880 million euros.
- Adjusted EBITDA is expected to improve to between 30 and 50 million euros.
Chip manufacturer TSMC $TSM (-1,58 %)increases profit strongly
- Demand for AI servers and smartphones as well as pull-forward effects before US tariffs came into force have boosted the profits of Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC in the first quarter.
- The surplus rose by a good 60 percent year-on-year to 362 billion Taiwan dollars (9.8 billion euros), as the world's largest chip contract manufacturer announced on Thursday.
- This is slightly more than analysts had expected.
- As already announced, TSMC increased its turnover by almost 42 percent to 839 billion Taiwan dollars.
- This is the strongest growth since 2022.
- Electronics manufacturers had stocked up on goods in US warehouses in anticipation of trade and shipping disruptions.
- The international trade disputes triggered by the US had recently weighed on sentiment in the industry.
- Recently, however, the US government exempted smartphones, laptops and other important electronics from special tariffs against numerous countries, including China.
- This is a relief for American suppliers of computer technology, most of whose devices are manufactured in Asia.
- It is also positive for US companies that are expanding their data centers for artificial intelligence.
- The devices are mainly built outside the USA by US companies such as Dell, using chips from the Californian company Nvidia, which come from Taiwan.
- Much of the technology was already less affected because many of the servers are assembled in Mexico and fell under exemptions for trade agreements.
- In addition, chip companies such as Intel and TSMC are currently in the process of expanding their production in the USA with new factories.
- It was only at the beginning of March that TSMC announced investments of 100 billion dollars in the coming years.
- However, there are now increasing signs that investment in data centers and AI chips could slow down somewhat.
- Microsoft, for example, has scaled back projects worldwide.
- Some analysts have recently warned that TSMC may have to lower its sales target for the current year in view of the global uncertainty and the potential economic consequences.
- To date, the company has expected sales growth in the mid-20 percent range.
- The company's outlook for the second quarter could now possibly alleviate these fears to some extent.
- According to information released on Thursday, TSMC expects sales of 28.4 to 29.2 billion US dollars for the second quarter of the year.
- This is more than the 27.2 billion US dollars expected by analysts on average.
Thursday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures
Small expiry day | Stock exchange holiday in Oslo, Copenhagen | Stock exchange trading shortened in Stockholm
- ex-dividend of individual stocks
- PostNL EUR 0.04
- Quarterly figures / company dates USA / Asia
- 07:30 Taiwan Semiconductor quarterly figures
- 11:55 Unitedhealth Group quarterly figures
- 13:00 American Express | Blackstone quarterly figures
- 13:30 State Street | Ally Financial quarterly figures
- 22:00 Netflix quarterly figures
- Quarterly figures / Company dates Europe
- 07:00 ABB Ltd | Evotec | Hamborner Reit Annual Report
- 08:00 Hermes International quarterly figures
- 09:00 Pernod-Ricard 3Q sales
- 10:30 Beiersdorf AGM
- 14:00 Evotec analyst and press conference
- 18:00 L'Oreal 1Q sales
- 18:30 L'Oreal analyst conference
- Economic data
08:00 DE: Manufacturing orders on hand and backlog February | Producer prices March FORECAST: -0.1% yoy/+0.3% yoy previous: -0.2% yoy/+0.7% yoy
08:00 DE: Building permits February | Hospitality sales February
08:00 CH: Trade Balance March
14:15 EU: ECB, outcome of the Governing Council meeting Deposit rate FORECAST: 2.25% previously: 2.50%
14:30 US: Housing Starts/Permits March Housing Starts FORECAST: -6.1% yoy previous: +11.2% yoy Building Permits FORECAST: -1.1% yoy previous: -1.2% yoy
14:30 US: Initial jobless claims (week) PROGNOSE: 225,000 previous: 223,000 | Philadelphia Fed Index April PROGNOSE: 3.5 previous: 12.5
ECB, PK after Governing Council meeting
16:00 US: IMF chief Georgieva, opening speech at the spring meeting of the IMF and World Bank
No time specified:
- US: Japan's Economy Minister Akazawa meets US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Trade Representative Greer
- US: US President Trump receives Italian Prime Minister Meloni at the White House
- MY: China's President Xi, state visit to Malaysia
