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 23 May 2025. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.

USA — MORE THREATS FROM TRUMP

In New York, trading began on a dark note, as Moody’s stripped the US of its triple-A credit rating and equities showed signs of a retreat in response. And then President Trump abruptly threatened steep new tariffs on the European Union, based on an across-the-board 50% levy on all EU exports to the US. Startled by this sudden return to all-out trade warfare, investors on both sides of the Atlantic initiated a desperate sell-off.

Key Wall Street market indices therefore closed the week in negativity. The blue-chip S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average respectively booked 2.6% and 2.5% losses. Tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite stocks also fell by 2.5%. S&P’s MidCap 400, where powersports manufacturers lurk, took harsher punishment, plunging by 3.6%. Within that, Harley-Davidson’s share price flatlined, while its LiveWire electric bike spin-off’s value dived, teetering on the cusp of a solitary dollar. The only biker beneficiary was NASDAQ-listed electric delivery scooter purveyor NIU, cashing in on the temporary tariff respite for imports from China.

EUROPE — LAST MINUTE REPRIEVE

Amazingly, Trump’s sudden 50% tariff assault on the EU survived for less than 48 hours. Following a sweet-talking phone call to the White House from European Commission supremo Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, he extended the EU’s deadline to negotiate tariffs by more than a month to 9 July.

However, previously positive eurozone market indices had already taken a hammering on Friday. In Germany, Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax had fallen by 1.6%. The FTSE MIB in Milan copped a 4% decline and the Wiener Börse ATX in Austria dropped by 3.5%. Biker-related European automotives had lost ground too, with the share prices of BMW, Volkswagen and Piaggio all sinking. Notable exception was KTM and its parent Pierer Mobility in Austria. Pierer shares soared upon news that the company had finally been on the receiving end of a massive financial bale-out from leading Indian stakeholder Bajaj Auto.

JAPAN — MONEY TOO TIGHT TO MENTION

The Nikkei 225 market index in Tokyo and Osaka turned negative by 1.1%, after a report that Japanese long-term borrowing costs had hit another record high. Yields on 30-year bonds reached painful levels in intraday trading. Japan still has no resolution in sight for the scale of tariffs it will face from automotive exports to the US. But every indigenous manufacturer has set aside huge amounts to cover the inevitable grief.

INDIA — BANKING ON BOMBS?

The brief post-war rally for Mumbai’s Bombay and National stock exchanges petered out. Both the S&P BSE Sensex 30 and NSE Nifty 50 indices fell in unison to 0.7% losses, as a resurgence of nuclear sabre-rattling between combatants (India and Pakistan) set nerves on edge once more. Motorcycle manufacturing share prices displayed degrees of negativity.

CHINA — STILL IN A FIX

The Beijing government may be resting on its laurels, as far as the recently concluded US-China trade pact goes, but couldn’t have been very pleased with the latest weak Chinese economic and industrial output data knocking Asian equities. Shanghai’s SSE Composite index fell by 0.6% and the blue-chip CSI 300 covering Shanghai and Shenzhen was 0.2% down. Half of the ten listed Chinese motorcycle manufacturers, almost all exporters, were on losing streaks.