SHARE PRICES AND MARKET ANALYSIS

A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 2 June 2023. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.

Against the odds, Republican Congressional Speaker Kevin McCarthy managed to garner enough support from his unruly Senate majority to get President Biden’s proposals to extend the US debt ceiling voted through — and America breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

Investor confidence rebounded, with added boosts from upbeat new jobs growth exceeding estmates mightily during May and the continuing strength of AI-related tech stocks, so Wall Street market indices all finished firmly positive.

The blue-chip S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed on respective 1.8% and 2% weekly gains. S&P’s MidCap 400 was 2.6& up and the NASDAQ Composite — buoyed by the aforementioned tech input — put on 2%.

Among biker stocks, only MidCap-listed Harley-Davidson and Chinese-made electric delivery scooter brand Niu lost value.

Accordling to European Central Bank data, annualised eurozone-wide inflation decelerated by more than anticipated, declining to 6.1% in May — its lowest since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Core inflation in the region, with energy and food prices stripped out, dropped from 5.6% in April to 5.3% in May.

Investors reacted accordingly, lifting key market indices. Germany’s Dax Performance in Frankfurt rose narrowly by 0.4%, with better results for motorcycle-related Teutonic automotive stocks. The Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB in Milan was stronger, 1.3% up, but local PTW flagship Piaggio wasn’t a beneficiary. In the same contrary vein, Austria’s Wiener Börse ATX put on 1.6% while Austrian-based KTM parent Pierer Mobility was still a loser.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo recovered from BoJ central banker scare-mongering in the previous week, rising by 2%. Honda and Suzuki shares pretty much matched the market mood, and Yamaha remained less effusively positive. Kawasaki was the sole biker dunce.

A catastrophic train crash left hundreds dead and deeply embarrassed the Indian government — which has been pursuing a marginally regulated rapid pace of railway development. Investors weren’t amused and Mumbai’s BSE Sensex stock yardstick reflected their disquiet, sinking to marginal positivity by the weekend. PTW transport options were seen as a safer bet, though, as all five motorcycling majors beat the index average — Hero MotoCorp and BSA parent Mahindra by large degrees.

Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed stocks advanced on the back of an unexpected rebound in a key gauge of Chinese factory activity. Shanghai’s all-share SSE Composite index grew by 0.5% and the blue-chip CSI 300 put on 0.3%, both shrugging off substantial losses in the previous week. However, investor bonhomie didn’t extend to the motorcycle industry. Six out of China’s eleven biker listings were stuck in negative territory.