A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 12 January 2024. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — WHOOPS!
Wall Street’s rocky start to the year continued. Initial upbeat anticipation of latest inflation data and some muscular early Q4 results predictions saw stocks rising. But this good mood didn’t last. Annualised US consumer price inflation in December unexpectedly rose to 3.4%, up from 3.1% in November. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, fell slightly — but less than expected — to 3.9% from 4%. Many analysts took this news as an apparent vindication of the US Federal Reserve’s caution with regard to cutting interest rates any time soon.
However, a late boost on Friday came from the producer-price index decreasing by 0.1% in December, against economists’ forecasts of a 0.1% rise. So all four key New York market indices were lifted out of negativity. For the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P’s MidCap 400 this was a narrow achievement, finishing respectively 0.3% and 0.6% up. Blue-chip S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite techie stocks, more geared to those promising Q4 reports, did much better. The former put on 1.8% while the latter climbed by 3.1%.
But the leading MidCap powersports players we monitor, Harley-Davidson and Polaris Industries, both continued to register losses. Harley’s electric LiveWire spin-off also fell into arrears, as did NASDAQ-listed Ideanomics and Niu electric biker shares.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 34.10 | -3.3% | -3.9% |
| Polaris Industries | 88.16 | -1.1% | -4.1% |
| Textron | 79.38 | +1% | +0.1% |
| Ideanomics (Energica) | 1.64 | -19.6% | +2.5% |
| Niu Technologies | 1.98 | -4.8% | -8.3% |
| LiveWire | 10.93 | -2.2% | +0.1% |
EUROPE — INDECISIVE MOVES
European market indices struggled for several sessions during a busy period for inflation and economic data. But dovish comments from ECB president Christine Largarde late on Thursday, indicating that “the hardest and worst bit” of the eurozone fight against inflation was over, got most off the hook. Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax was a notable exception, closing 1.5% down. And BMW was among Dax listings on the receiving end of more grievous spankings. The FTSE MIB in Milan crept into 0.1% positivity and Piaggio rose by slightly more. KTM parent Pierer Mobility made a stronger recovery on the Wiener Börse in Austria.
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 96.85 | -3.8% | -6.2% |
| Volkswagen | 120.45 | +0.7% | -3.3% |
| Pierer Mobility | 53.00 | +3.5% | +11.8% |
| Piaggio Group | 2.97 | +1% | +1.7% |
JAPAN — CURRENCY DELIGHT
A dramatic weakening of the yen, perceived as a major boost for Japanese exporters, saw the Tokyo and Osaka exchanges’ Nikkei 225 index hit a 34-year high on Tuesday and then go on to close 6.6% up on Friday. Among motorcycle manufacturing stock gains, Suzuki exactly matched that. Of course, acquisitional eagerness for its equities was driven by the the company’s huge Asian compact car business, rather than anything to do with bikes.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 1563.5 | +2.2% | +9.8% |
| Yamaha | 1347 | +2.9% | +7.3% |
| Suzuki | 6453 | +6.6% | +15.9% |
| Kawasaki | 3262 | +0.2% | +11% |
INDIA — BUY-BACK BOUNTY
Early in the week, Bajaj Auto launched a share buy-back proposition worth £387m, briefly pushing its stock price to an all-time record high. Excited investors rushing to cash in their Bajaj chips evidently assumed leading competitors Hero and TVS would follow suit and duly hiked their shares too. Royal Enfield parent Eicher and BSA owner Mahindra clearly weren’t invited to join this fantasy guest list, which never actually stretched beyond Bajaj. Market indices stood aloof from these shenanigans. Both the BSE Sensex 30 and NSE Nifty 50 rose by a tame 0.8%.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 4383.15 | +9.8% | +12.5% |
| Bajaj Auto | 7301.95 | +4.6% | +16.4% |
| TVS Motor | 2085.80 | +5.4% | +3.3% |
| Eicher Motors | 3870.85 | -0.2% | -4.7% |
| Mahindra | 1624.45 | -1.1% | -5.8% |
CHINA — BANKRUPTCY BLUES
Latest Chinese economic woe featured China’s largest “shadow bank” commercial loan provider, Beijing-based Zhongrong International Trust and its parent Zhongzhi Enterprise, going bust with around £50bn in debt exposure. The implications for borrowers are enormous. Unsurprisingly, equities investors dived for cover and market indices sank. Shanghai’s all-share SSE Composite closed 1.6% down and the blue-chip CSI 300 (which had previously included Zhongzhi) fell by 1.3%. Only one of the ten listed Chinese motorcycle manufacturers finished without weekly loss, Lifan adding a gestural 0.3% gain..
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 12.04 | -0.1% | -3.7% |
| Zongshen | 6.50 | -1.5% | -2.4% |
| Sundiro | 2.81 | -2.1% | -5.1% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 12.83 | -2.7% | -8.6% |
| Lifan | 3.39 | +0.3% | -8.6% |
| Loncin | 5.07 | -1.4% | -5.4% |
| Linhai | 9.81 | -1.7% | -20.2% |
| Guangzhou Auto | 8.50 | -0.1% | -4.8% |
| CFMoto | 99.95 | -1.6% | +11.4% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 12.27 | -3.8% | -0.5% |