A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 22 September 2023. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — ECONOMIC DISQUIET SPREADS
American equities progressively retreated for most of the past week, buffeted by rising crude oil prices and hawkish US Federal Reserve policy guidance, reinforcing the prospect that high interest rates are going to stick around into next year. And despite a rebound on Friday, all major Wall Street indices finished with losses.
S&P 500 blue-chips sank by 2.9% and S&P’s MidCap 400 wasn’t far behind, 2.8% in arrears. Tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite stocks took the hardest knock, 3.6% down, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average copped a 1.9% reversal.
Striking automotive workers at the three biggest US car manufacturers — Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent Stellantis — stepped up UAW industrial action, spreading walk-outs to more plants and other manufacturers. Their underlying theme is job security and earnings power in the face of vehicle electrification. Harley-Davidson, which has a broadly unionised workforce too, may possibly be sucked into this conflict.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 32.60 | -2.3% | -2.8% |
| Polaris Industries | 104.37 | -2.3% | -5.7% |
| Textron | 77.79 | +2.1% | +3.4% |
| Ideanomics (Energica) | 1.86 | -11.4% | -56.7% |
| Niu Technologies | 2.84 | -2.7% | -5.3% |
| LiveWire | 7.77 | -22.3% | -32.3% |
EUROPE — CATCHING A COLD TOO
A series of business surveys in both the US and Europe, including a crucial eurozone purchasing managers’ index, further soured sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic. Overall, they signalled economies remaining sufficiently resilient for central banks to stick with restrictive policies, even though growth is distinctly elusive. Leading European market indices therefore responded negatively.
In Frankfurt, Germany’s key Xetra Dax fell by 2.1%, although the two big Teutonic automotives featuring motorcycle side-lines avoided punishment. Conversely, Austria’s Wiener Börse ATX was only 0.7% down, while its domestic listing for KTM parent Pierer Mobility plunged sharply. And the FTSE MIB in Milan lost just 1.1%, as Piaggio shares suffered a harsh dive. Investor displeasure with a boardroom takeover, by the lacklustre offspring of recently deceased company supremo and corporate superstar Roberto Colaninno, could have been behind that.
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 99.27 | +1.8% | +2.9% |
| Volkswagen | 132.25 | +6.2% | -0.3% |
| Pierer Mobility | 65.40 | -8.9% | -15.3% |
| Piaggio Group | 3.32 | -7% | -3.2% |
JAPAN — WHOOPS!
Giving a derisory middle finger to the Japanese government, Bank of Japan central banking samurai announced continuation of their controversial ultra-low interest rate policy, which simply further savaged the yen’s value against the US dollar. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock market index promptly reflected investor anger at this move via a 3.4% drop. Kawasaki’s resultant share price reduction exactly matched this decline. Honda and Yamaha narrowly managed to stay shiny side up. Suzuki didn’t.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 5255 | +0.1% | +16.4% |
| Yamaha | 4000 | +0.6% | +6.3% |
| Suzuki | 6024 | -4.4% | +12.7% |
| Kawasaki | 3751 | -3.4% | +6.5% |
INDIA — KILLERS ON THE LOOSE
The Indian government threw all the toys out of its pram after being implicated in the assassination of Canadian citizen and Sikh nationalist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, shot dead in British Columbia by professional hitmen. According to Canada’s spooks, India had issued the licence to kill. Tit-for-tat sanctions from both sides ensued.
Economic fall-out will surely follow, Indian investors assume. Mumbai’s S&P BSE Sensex market index felt an associated 2.7% weekly decline. Four out of India’s five indigenous motorcycle manufacturers lost value.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 3022.70 | -1.4% | +3.8% |
| Bajaj Auto | 5001.05 | -2.5% | +9.1% |
| TVS Motor | 1494.10 | -0.6% | +11.5% |
| Eicher Motors | 3409.45 | -0.5% | +2% |
| Mahindra | 1607.15 | +0.4% | +5.7% |
CHINA — A SHRINKING PTW GRID
Better news for Chinese business helped an upbeat mood gain momentum. Market indices expressed modest growth in response. Shanghai’s all-share SSE Composite put on 0.5% and the CSI 300 spanning blue-chip enterprises across the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges added 0.8%. Among the dozen Chinese biker stocks we now list — one less than a week earlier as sector consolidation begins to gather pace — eight made gains.
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 14.46 | +1.3% | +2.2% |
| Zongshen | 6.73 | +1.8% | +2.9% |
| Sundiro | 2.48 | -1.6% | +5.5% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 14.61 | +9.9% | +24.1% |
| Lifan | 3.68 | +1.1% | +2.8% |
| Loncin | 5.86 | +8.7% | +16.3% |
| Linhai | 9.23 | -0.1% | +5.6% |
| Guangzhou Auto | 10.05 | -0.4% | -0.3% |
| CFMoto | 140.31 | N/A | +1% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 13.91 | +1.8% | -6% |