The fourth wave of COVID-19 has failed to slow down European stock exchanges. The modest rise this morning is enough to send the Euro Stoxx 50 index to new highs since 2008. Modest changes also for the FTSE and for the DAX in Frankfurt +0.2 % and new historical highs.
The stock market picture remains set on the upside, even if the pandemic numbers are starting to become worrying in some regions and especially in Europe. Infections, in fact, have been declining since July in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, while the WHO reports that Europe is the only region in the world where deaths are rising.
Over 3.3 million new infections have been registered, 2.1 million of which on the European continent. The highest infections were recorded in Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom, while deaths rose by 67% in Norway and 38% in Slovakia.
It is the seventh consecutive week that infections from COVID-19 continue to rise in the 61 countries that WHO counts in the European region, which also covers Russia. It is highly probable that with such numbers some governments will be forced to intervene with more drastic measures than those possibly adopted today.
Data on car registrations in enlarged Europe in October came out this morning: the total is 798,693 cars, down 29.3% on October 2020. In the European Union alone, last month's decline was 30.3%. 665,001 units, the weakest result in terms of volumes for the month of October since the beginning of the historical series, underlines Acea.
Most European countries have recorded double-digit declines, including the four main markets: Italy (-35.7%), Germany (-34.9%), France (-30.7%) and Spain (-20.5%). Wall Street futures are up slightly, NASDAQ +0.5%, S&P 500 + 0.3%.
Macro Variables
The bond market is quiet. The United States 10-Year Treasury Note returned to 1.58%, the level of two days ago: there were no problems with the $23 billion Treasury auction with a maturity of twenty years. Euro BTP Futures + 0.95%, Euro Bund Futures -0.23%.
EUR/USD has barely moved at 1.1325, on the lows of the period. gold at $ 1,867, roughly yesterday's levels. Brent and crude oil WTI is down 0.5%, yesterday -2.5%. Reuters wrote that the White House is going around asking Asian heavy oil-consuming countries to consider releasing a portion of their strategic stocks.
Joe Biden appears to have addressed this request to China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Natural gas for Europe (93.5 euro) is again below 100 euro per megawatt/hour, from the 101.82 euro reached in the moment of greatest volatility yesterday.
Stocks To Watch
JD.com (NASDAQ:JD): Q3 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.49 beats by $0.17; GAAP EPS of -$0.28 misses by $0.44. Revenue of $33.9B (+25.5% Y/Y) beats by $360M.
Selling pressure is piling up on some favorite electric vehicle stocks of investors with Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) on a path to see its first down day, while Lucid Group (NASDAQ:LCID) (LCID -4.8%), Fisker (NYSE:FSR), Arrival Vault USA (NASDAQ:ARVL), Lordstown Motors (NASDAQ:RIDE) and Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (NASDAQ:FFIE) are all notably in red.
IPO newbie Sono Group NV (NASDAQ:SEV) is holding to its big early gain and is about 93% higher than the IPO pricing level of $15. The high point for shares of the solar-powered car maker so far is $32.34.
The company raised $150M today after selling 150M shares in the IPO. Sono is a European-focused electric vehicle player so far with pre-orders coming in from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Sono Motors (SEV) has a partnership with MAN Truck & Bus., which is under the Volkswagen (OTC:VLKAF) corporate umbrella.
Sono Motors (SEV) was on Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch this week with some fireworks anticipated due to its going public right when EV interest is sky-high.
Elsewhere in the auto sector, Hyzon Motors Inc (NASDAQ:HYZN) is recovering from yesterday's drop and Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) is riding higher after Morgan Stanley called it its favorite EV stock. Meanwhile, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is having a solid day considering Elon Musk has now unloaded about $8.8 billion worth of shares after his latest batch of sales.