The Week Ahead | Calamatta Cuschieri

The U.S. stock market, on Friday, posted one of its best weekly performances in years, recapturing half of the losses from the startling market correction earlier this month and discovering a new “wall of worry” to climb. The S&P 500 closed nearly flat at 2,732. 22 and booked a 4.3% weekly gain, and is now only 5% below the all-time peak set in January. Dow industrials also halved its peak-to-trough losses, while both indexes are up about 2% year to date.

Investors will have a chance to reflect on the performance over a three-day weekend, with U.S. financial markets closed on Monday in observance of the Presidents Day holiday.

For the week ahead, the investors will be focused on the Reserve Bank of Australia and Federal Reserve of America that will release minutes respectively for its February and January meetings. On the corporate side, some of the big companies that will announce their earning include: Walmart, Home Depot, HSBC, BHP Billiton, Glencore, Barclays.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury plans to sell $151 billion in three auctions that will result in the heaviest day of T-bill supply on record, according to analysts.

Richard Branson announced Hyperloop plans for India

The founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson, signed a preliminary agreement on Sunday in Mumbai for a broad hyperloop framework, the company said in a statement. A demonstration track will be built in two to three years from the signing of the final agreement, while the second phase will aim to complete construction of the full Pune-Mumbai route in five to seven years.

The Pune-Mumbai hyperloop project could result in $55 billion in socio-economic benefits over 30 years of operation, according to an initial study by Virgin Hyperloop One.

Virgin Hyperloop One is working to meet a goal of having three production systems by 2021, according to its website. The startup is working on technology that would use magnetic levitation in low-pressure tubes to transport people and goods at airplane-like speeds.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is plowing about $133 billion to upgrade the nation’s rail networks and last year kicked off a plan to build a 316-mile bullet train line linking the commercial hubs of Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Branson said “I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century”.

Siemens IPO will be one of the biggest ever sales in Germany

Siemens AG is planning Initial Public Offering of its health-care unit, as Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser unloads another key business at Europe’s largest engineering company. The IPO of “a meaningful minority share” in Siemens Healthineers, as the company is known, will be completed in the first half of the year on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, subject to market conditions, as said by the company.

While the company didn’t give details on the size of the sale, it’s likely to be one of the biggest equity offerings ever in Germany. Siemens aims to raise as much as 10 billion euros ($12.4 billion) by selling up to 25% of the business.

The IPO is part of a broad overhaul by Kaeser, who merged Siemens’s wind power unit with Spanish competitor Gamesa SA in 2017 and is combining the company’s train business with that of Alstom SA. The new holding-company structure has been described by the CEO as shifting Siemens from being an aircraft carrier to a nimble fleet of ships.

The health business had revenue of 13.8 billion euros in fiscal 2017 and adjusted profit of 2.5 billion euros. The company said that Siemens Healthineers will aim to pay a dividend of 50% to 60% of net income.

Siemens advanced 0.9% to 112.20 euros on Friday morning in Frankfurt. The shares are down 3.4% this year, giving the company a market value of 95.4 billion euros.

Disclaimer

This article was issued by Linda De Luca, Trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article is being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.