Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: The Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves
Speaker 2: in the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.
Speaker 3: Let's take a look at some of the stocks on
Speaker 3: the move today in Europe. I'm Tima Adabaya with Caroline
Speaker 3: HaCaT and we're joined by our reporter Chloe Melee. Chloe,
Speaker 3: let's start with Partners Great. This is the Swiss private
Speaker 3: markets firm. It's fallen to its lowest level in more
Speaker 3: than six years. Can you tell us what's responsible for
Speaker 3: the drop?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So this company has kept withdrawals from one of
Speaker 1: it's a private equity fund. So it's an evergreen private
Speaker 1: equity fund. And so what that means is a fund
Speaker 1: that typically allows investors to withdraw at least a portion
Speaker 1: of their investments rather than locking up the capital for
Speaker 1: a set period. And Partners Group is actually one of
Speaker 1: the pioneers in that space of evergreen private equity funds.
Speaker 1: But the problem here is that it said that it
Speaker 1: has been there had been quite an important pickup in
Speaker 1: a redemption request from private wealth clients across this evergreen portfolio,
Speaker 1: and those clients make up a particularly large portion of
Speaker 1: that investor base for Partners Group, and so that has
Speaker 1: essentially forced the company to gate that fund to avoid
Speaker 1: too many redemptions. And so what this shows is that
Speaker 1: there's this anxiety around private credit that is starting to
Speaker 1: really spill over into other parts of private markets. And
Speaker 1: so that's kind of the broad thing, but then for
Speaker 1: Partners specifically, it's kind of yet another challenge after a
Speaker 1: short seller report recently also alleged that it systematically overvalues assets.
Speaker 1: So there's quite a few things happening there for Partners Group,
Speaker 1: and shares are taking quite the hit, as you mentioned, Ta.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, ASML, your's largest company by market cap, benefiting from
Speaker 1: an analyst upgrade. Yeah, so JP Morgan analyst gave ASML
Speaker 1: a new Street high price tag and they also increase
Speaker 1: their estimates by a quite big margin. Said consensus was
Speaker 1: well behind the curve. So of course this fits within
Speaker 1: this broader AI enthusiasm sort of narrative with really expectations
Speaker 1: of continued growth for all of those companies within that sector,
Speaker 1: the chip makers, the chip making equipment manufacturers. So shares
Speaker 1: for ASML already up about sixty percent yet today, but
Speaker 1: it seems that there might be even further to go.
Speaker 1: This is, of course, as well a global story. If
Speaker 1: we go over to the US, we recently had the
Speaker 1: chip maker Micron joining that trillion dollar valuation club. We
Speaker 1: had Nvidio CEO saying this week that Marvel Technology, which
Speaker 1: is another company in that space, could be the next
Speaker 1: one to join that one trillion dollar club. So this
Speaker 1: really shows that the AI trade, the AI story is
Speaker 1: not going anywhere, and that ASML is going to be,
Speaker 1: of course one of the really big beneficiaries of that,
Speaker 1: because it's the only company making the most advanced machines
Speaker 1: for that chip making.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, we're going from a joint street high price
Speaker 3: target for ASML to the high street now for B
Speaker 3: and M, and it seems like their turnaround plan might
Speaker 3: just be working. Can you tell us a bit more
Speaker 3: about the gains that the retailer are seeing this morning?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, BNM is having a very good morning this morning,
Speaker 1: but it has had quite a tough year. The thing
Speaker 1: now that is really driving those shares is that it
Speaker 1: is cautiously optimistic. So it said that it's starting to
Speaker 1: see some of the benefits from the turnaround that had
Speaker 1: launched in October, which was really about more competitive pricing
Speaker 1: and better store availability as well, and so it said
Speaker 1: that bnm UK was on track to return to stronger
Speaker 1: margins over the medium term, and also that the company
Speaker 1: would be able to offset the impact from higher energy costs,
Speaker 1: higher shipping costs that we've seen because of the Iran War.
Speaker 1: And so this echoes what we heard from Debenham's as
Speaker 1: well this morning, which was known before as Boohoo, that
Speaker 1: is a company that returned to growth this quarter, expects
Speaker 1: very strong momentum for the rest of the year. And
Speaker 1: so those two updates from those two companies point to
Speaker 1: perhaps a more resilient retail sector than was feared by
Speaker 1: some investors and analysts. The challenges are still there, you know,
Speaker 1: we still have low consumer spending, still the prospect of
Speaker 1: higher interest rates. But for now the sector is doing
Speaker 1: okay despite all of those potential hurdles.
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