A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 15 November 2024. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — TRUMP RALLY FADES
The tremendous post-election surge for US stocks came to a juddering halt, after investors were startled by some of Trump’s more bizarre nominations to senior roles in his forthcoming administration. These included somewhat unhinged vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Junior as Health Secretary and rabidly anti-woke former National Guardsman Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary — a candidate with a decidely chequered military record facing a string of sexual misconduct allegations — who immediately promised to sack most of the Pentagon’s General Staff.
Wall Street market indices reflected their disquiet. The blue-chip S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average respectively retreated by 2.1% and 1.3%. NASDAQ’s tech-heavy Composite closed 3.1% down and S&P’s MidCap 400 fell by 2.7%. The five MidCap powersports listings we follow all delivered weekly losses.
To make matters worse, latest US inflation data showed an uptick and Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell promptly indicated a delay in further interest rate cuts.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 32.36 | -1.7% | -10.6% |
| Polaris Industries | 66.82 | -3.1% | -19.1% |
| Textron | 84.91 | -3% | -5.8% |
| Niu Technologies | 1.99 | -7% | -17.8% |
| LiveWire | 5.98 | -10.2% | -6.1% |
EUROPE — WINTER BECKONS
Eurozone stocks struggled after the European Commission downgraded its 2025 growth forecast for the region. European gas prices also hit fresh highs for the year following news that Russian supplier Gazprom was due to cut off pipeline gas supplies to Austria this week. In Germany, Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax index slipped by a relatively slight 0.2%. But Milan’s FTSE MIB remained comparitively strong with a 1.1% weekly gain.
Pierer Mobility’s stock price on the Wiener Börse continued to slide, as its executive board urgently negotiated with Indian shareholder Bajaj Auto to increase liquidity of KTM’s main Austrian manufacturing operation. In Italy, Piaggio’s share-price negativity was also uninterrupted as the scale of Q3 under-performance became inescapable.
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 67.92 | +0.5% | -9.6% |
| Volkswagen | 86.75 | -0.7% | -9.5% |
| Pierer Mobility | 9.54 | -23.1% | -53% |
| Piaggio Group | 2.11 | -0.9% | -14.6% |
JAPAN — ENTHUSIASM PETERS OUT
Initial applause for Japanese motorcycle manufacturing brands faded as stock-pickers became more selective and the key Tokyo-Osaka Nikkei 225 index turned to close 2.2% down, reacting to concerns about forthcoming tariffs on exports to the US. However, Honda’s punitive stock decline, provoked by its Asian car sales slump, ameliorated once investors realised the motorcycle business was racing ahead.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 1351.5 | -2.2% | -11.8% |
| Yamaha | 1368 | -2.3% | +1.2% |
| Suzuki | 1597 | +1.5% | +6.8% |
| Kawasaki | 6425 | -8.6% | -0.2% |
INDIA — SOUR TASTE AS THE NEW YEAR APPROACHES
Mumbai market indices slumped further, with S&P’s BSE Sensex 30 and the NSE Nifty 50 respectively falling by 2.4% and 2.5%. Royal Enfield parent Eicher charged ahead on its own, making a solitary gain fuelled by new models in receipt of top billing by overseas markets.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 4604.00 | -3.4% | -11.7% |
| Bajaj Auto | 9482.95 | -4.3% | -5.8% |
| TVS Motor | 2396.15 | -2.9% | -11.8% |
| Eicher Motors | 4883.70 | +2.1% | +2.5% |
| Mahindra | 2807.20 | -5.6% | -5.3% |
CHINA — BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME?
The previous week’s $1.4 trillion government economic stimulus package proved to be remarkably ineffectual. Investors voted with their feet heading towards stock exchange exits. Market indices turned firmly negative. Shanghai’s SSE Composite and Shanghai-Shenzhen CSI 300 blue-chips posted respective weekly losses of 3.5% and 3.3%. Nine of the ten Chinese listed biker stocks recorded losses. Only Guangzhou Auto Group, trading as Wuyang Honda on two wheels, made a minor gain.
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 17.44 | -1.6% | -3.3% |
| Zongshen | 23.62 | -10.9% | +37.5% |
| Sundiro | 3.70 | -4.1% | +0.5% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 14.43 | -7.2% | +0.3% |
| Lifan | 7.04 | -20.5% | +49.5% |
| Loncin | 8.09 | -1% | -0.4% |
| Linhai | 9.38 | -4.9% | +5.4% |
| Guangzhou Auto Group | 8.77 | +2.6% | +7.4% |
| CFMoto | 148.35 | -4% | -4.5% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 10.73 | -1.1% | +0.3% |