A snapshot of bike and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 20 January 2023. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — FRAGILE INVESTOR CONFIDENCE
After a strong start to the year with two weeks of gains, fears of an imminent recession and persistently high interest rates resurfaced, dragging down US equities. So most New York indices turned negative. The blue-chip S&P 500 finished 0.7% down but a firmer retreat of 2.7% hit the Dow Jones Industrial Average. S&P’s MidCap 400 sank by 0.9%. However, tech stocks dominating the Nasdaq Composite rallied on Friday, lifting it back into 0.6% positivity.
Harley-Davidson’s brief 2023 winning streak rumbled to a halt, as the entire roster of American petrolhead and electric biker shares recorded weekly losses.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 43.19 | -5.1% | +4.3% |
| Polaris Industries | 103.89 | -2.4% | +3.1% |
| Textron | 67.85 | -3.4% | -3.6% |
| Ideanomics (Energica) | 0.18 | -5.3% | +20% |
| Niu Technologies | 5.13 | -5.5% | +2.6% |
| LiveWire | 5.09 | -2.3% | +2% |
EUROPE — SINGING THE SAME DIRGE
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde joined in a chorus with US Federal Reserve vice-chairman Lael Brainard, to pledge they would stay the course on interest rate increases, pointedly stressing to markets on both sides of the Atlantic that borrowing costs are unlikely to fall any time soon.
New Year optimism in the eurozone was promptly killed at a stroke and leading indices turned sour. Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax in Germany declined by 0.4%. The pair of motorcycle-related Teutonic automotive monsters fell further. The Borsa Italiana in Milan ended a milder 0.1% in arrears. Piaggio bucked that trend mightily, its good fortune probably preceding excellent full-year 2022 financial results due shortly.
Austria’s Wiener Börse ATX index managed a 0.2% improvement and Pierer Mobility doubled the average with a 0.4% rise — a final suck of the sauce bottle from its KTM and Husqvarna brands achieving their anticipated clean podium sweep in the Dakar Rally?
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 89.97 | -1.9% | +7.7% |
| Volkswagen | 158.40 | -1.5% | +6.6% |
| Pierer Mobility | 79.00 | +0.4% | +29.1% |
| Piaggio Group | 3.32 | +12.9% | +19% |
JAPAN — STRENGTH THROUGH WEAKNESS
Japanese core inflation rose to a 41-year high of 4% in December, twice the Bank of Japan’s 2% inflation target. But the BoJ ignored market pressure and vowed to maintain an ultra-loose monetary policy (and therefore a weak yen). Such news cheered exporters and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index stacked on 1.7%. Indigenous exporting motorcycle manufacturers saw their share prices benefit accordingly. Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki are about to reveal Q3 results imminently, alongside Q4 and full-year results from Yamaha.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 3069 | +0.1% | +0.8% |
| Yamaha | 3065 | +2.3% | +0.8% |
| Suzuki | 4329 | +2.3% | -0.6% |
| Kawasaki | 2836 | +0.3% | -7% |
INDIA — GROWTH FEARS ABOUND
Mumbai’s BSE Sensex 30 market index repeated modest 0.6% positivity for a second successive week, as business sentiment tries to shake off a New Year slump in activity. But Reuters has reported concerns about a global economic slowdown are now sorely troubling Indian investors. Many are keeping their hands in pockets, particularly in relation to large industrials — which obviously include the nation’s huge motorcycle producers.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 2746.45 | +0.7% | +4.2% |
| Bajaj Auto | 3572.75 | -0.9% | +0.9% |
| TVS Motor | 969.90 | -3.2% | -4% |
| Eicher Motors | 3150.50 | -0.4% | +1.2% |
| Mahindra | 1314.75 | -1% | +7.4% |
CHINA — LUNAR OR LUNATIC NEW YEAR?
Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations — marking the Year of the Rabbit — kicked off, and markets faced a forthcoming holiday week of statis. Stock exchanges are shuttered for the duration, as vast hordes of people pile onto trains and set off to destinations all over China, visiting their parents, children or ancestors. Cynics are billing it as a gargantuan Covid super-spreader event, given Beijing’s newly liberalised perspective eliminating lockdowns, quarantines and travel restrictions.
But immediately-prior investor confidence was unsullied. Shanghai’s all-share SSE Composite index and the blue-chip CSI 300 respectively rose by 2.2% and 2.6%. Driving force was governmental measures to reboot China’s reputation as a global exporting powerhouse. All but two of China’s eleven biker listings added value. Five of them can boast double-digit percentage over the past month.
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 25.09 | +0.8% | +43.9% |
| Zongshen | 6.47 | +4% | +10.6% |
| Sundiro | 2.44 | +3% | +3.8% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 15.00 | +13.6% | +10.7% |
| Lifan | 4.22 | +3.4% | +8.2% |
| Loncin | 5.15 | +0.4% | +10.5% |
| Linhai | 9.03 | +3.3% | +3.7% |
| Guangzhou Auto | 11.53 | +2.7% | +2% |
| CFMoto | 118.43 | -5.4% | +6.4% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 19.49 | -7.1% | +10.4% |
| Currency:Â HK dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Jianshe | 5.03 | +3.5% | +3.5% |