A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 24 January 2025. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — AMERICA ON A ROLL
As soon as President Trump was safely inaugurated and esconced in the White House, his flurry of crazy prognostications and policy statements ensured that New York market indices flicked back and forth to briefly touch record highs, before calming down as the weekend approached.
Bumper quarterly results for tech businesses, many representing the Silicon Valley oligarchs freshly recruited to Trump’s cause, lifted NASDAQ’s Composite to sit alongside blue-chip S&P 500 stocks, both closing on relatvely modest overall 1.7% weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 2.2% up and only S&P’s MidCap 400 showed any signs of underlying weakness, with a 1.1% rise.
Imminent disappointing full-year powersports results, from the likes of Harley-Davidson, Harley’s LiveWire sparky spin-off, Polaris and Textron are set to drag the MidCap lower.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 28.30 | -2.5% | -6.5% |
| Polaris Industries | 53.82 | -3% | -0.9% |
| Textron | 77.20 | -2.5% | N/A |
| Niu Technologies | 1.97 | +3.7% | +4.2% |
| LiveWire | 3.51 | -13.1% | -23% |
EUROPE — GOODBYE, STEFAN PIERER
A studied lack of Trump tariff assaults — so far — on European targets boosted eurozone sentiment remarkably, aided and abetted by some muscular quarterly revelations from big-league continental corporates. These included Teutonic automotives with biker connections, helping to raise Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax to a comfortable 2.4% weekly advance. The FTSE MIB in Milan wasn’t so hunky, falling by 0.3%. Piaggio was among local losers.
Surprise of the week came from what was probably an enforced departure for KTM supremo Stefan Pierer from his crumbling Pierer Mobility empire after more than 30 years in the saddle. With an investment saviour yet to emerge, he has been replaced by recent shoe-in Gottfried Neumeister, who may also prove to be a temporary boardroom leader. Pierer Mobility’s lamentably low share price on Austria’s Wiener Börse gained some respite for hopeful speculators.
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 78.84 | +2.2% | +0.6% |
| Volkswagen | 99.65 | +4.3% | +9.1% |
| Pierer Mobility | 18.90 | +11.5% | -6.9% |
| Piaggio Group | 2.11 | -1.9% | -2.8% |
JAPAN — HONDA PLAYS HARDBALL
Tokyo and Osaka’s key Nikkei 225 market index surged by a useful 3.9%, shrugging off three weeks of consecuctive losses, following a bold rise in base interest rates by the Bank of Japan. However, Honda’s stock price was untroubled, after Mitsubushi announced it was pulling out of the putative Honda union with Nissan.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 1479 | +1.3% | -3.4% |
| Yamaha | 1301 | +1.2% | -8.3% |
| Suzuki | 1867 | +7.1% | +4.1% |
| Kawasaki | 6874 | +0.1% | -7.4% |
INDIA — MARKET CONFUSION
Mumbai’s losing streak continued without relief, as the S&P BSE Sensex 30 and NSE Nifty 50 market indices dropped once more, respectively declining by 0.6% and 0.5% in the past week. Royal Enfield parent Eicher was the solitary Indian motorcycle manufacturing stand-out, boasting a share price rise. All the rest lost value. Confusion as to Bajaj involvement in the Pierer Mobility rescue reigns. Hero, TVS, Eicher and even Mahindra could also be contenders competing for a slice of the action.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 4051.90 | -1.1% | -4.4% |
| Bajaj Auto | 8401.50 | -2.1% | -5.9% |
| TVS Motor | 2270.70 | -1.3% | -6.2% |
| Eicher Motors | 5206.30 | +3.9% | +6.8% |
| Mahindra | 2801.40 | -4% | -8.1% |
CHINA — DESPERATION DEALING
Latest wizard wheeze by Chinese authorities to boost China’s stock markets and restore confidence in the world’s second-largest economy is a blunt instruction to insurance companies and mutual funds to invest more in domestic stocks.
Regulators have told state insurers to invest a minimum of 30% of their new policy premiums in local shares, while mutual funds are obliged to increase their shareholdings by 10% annually for the next three years. This policy shift could mean that up to Rmb500bn ($68bn) could flow into the equities market from the three biggest Chinese state-owned insurers alone. The immediate impact of such an edict was difficult to gauge.
Of the ten listed Chinese motorcycle producers BDN tracks, seven of them accrued value during the past week, but most not by significant amounts.
On another subject altogether, the latest Chinese rumour appertaining to Pierer Mobility woes is that CFMoto could be in the running to buy out the 50.1% Pierer stake in MV Agusta, originally worth €220m but now surplus to requirements and probably going for a lot less. MV Agusta would therefore be joining Benelli and Moto Morini as erstwhile storied Italian legends in the Chinese fold.
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 19.74 | +5.6% | +7.1% |
| Zongshen | 22.40 | +0.8% | -14.4% |
| Sundiro | 3.39 | -1.7% | -5.6% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 12.74 | +0.5% | -7.8% |
| Lifan | 6.36 | +2.3% | -12.4% |
| Loncin | 10.09 | +9.6% | +18% |
| Linhai | 9.07 | +0.1% | -1.2% |
| Guangzhou Auto Group | 8.60 | +0.2% | -8.9% |
| CFMoto | 193.13 | -0.6% | +25.4% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 10.14 | -1% | -7.1% |