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Novo Nordisk just lost its title of Europe’s most valuable company to German software giant SAP

The Danish pharma company’s stock has shed a lot of its gains in the last year.

Millie Giles

Novo Nordisk, the Danish company that developed GLP-1 receptor agonists Ozempic and Wegovy, saw a meteoric ascent after 2021 as these therapies hit the mainstream and kickstarted the weight-loss drug revolution.

But, since peaking last summer, Novo’s shares have slimmed down consistently, and now they’ve slumped another ~2% in Monday trading.

Weighed down

The latest trial results for CagriSema, Novo’s experimental weight-loss drug, disappointed investors. In a study released earlier this month, patients without Type 2 diabetes on CagriSema reduced their weight by 22.7%, down from the previous 25% forecast — and patients with Type 2 diabetes lost only 15.7% of their weight.

Furthermore, the company also announced that it was spending up to $2 billion to license a Chinese-made weight-loss drug that could potentially rival Ozempic, as reported by Barron’s on Monday morning.

Novo Nordisk’s decline means that the title of Europe’s most valuable company has just this morning passed to German software giant SAP, which now boasts a market cap of some $339 billion, having excited investors about the potential of its AI-driven cloud data business.

Novo Nordisk Vs. Sap Vs. LVMH
Sherwood News

As European stock markets enjoy a rare bit of outperformance relative to their US counterparts, German equities have been a particular bright spot, with Frankfurt’s Dax index up almost 19% year-to-date.

The stellar performance of the Dax 40 can be largely attributed to just seven companies (Magnificent Sieben, anyone?) — but mostly SAP, which accounts for almost 40% of the index’s gains.

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The average price of a new vehicle in the US passed $50,000 for the first time ever in September

The average price of a new vehicle in the US surpassed $50,000 in September, according to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book.

At $50,080, that’s the highest industry average ever, reflecting the price hikes faced by new car buyers in recent years amid pandemic supply shortages, tariff-induced increases, and the high cost of EV production. The figure marks a 3.6% jump from the same month last year.

“Tariffs have introduced new cost pressure to the business, but the pricing story in September was mostly driven by the healthy mix of EVs and higher-end vehicles pushing the new-vehicle ATP into uncharted territory,” Cox executive analyst Erin Keating said. Passing the $50,000 mark was inevitable, Keating said, especially considering that the country’s bestseller is a Ford truck that “routinely costs north of $65,000.”

Year over year, new vehicle prices rose nearly 6% for GM, while Ford’s climbed 2.5%. Volkswagen new prices were up 12.5%.

As prices climb, so do delinquencies on loans to borrowers with lower credit scores. Recent data from Fitch Ratings shows the portion of subprime US auto loans 60 days or more overdue reached 6.43% in August.

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Alibaba slides as the e-commerce giant’s cloud arm reportedly plans to slash overseas prices

Alibaba slipped more than 3% Tuesday morning following reports that its cloud unit will cut prices of select Elastic Compute Service products by up to 10.2% in overseas markets including Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Dubai.

The cuts, effective October 30, reflect the company’s push to expand its global footprint. The moves reflect a more targeted regional approach for the company as it seeks to strengthen its footprint in Europe and Asia. Alibaba Cloud made similar price cuts on international cloud products last year.

Competition is hot: Alibaba Cloud sits behind behemoths Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in the global cloud race, coming in fourth worldwide, according to data from Gartner.

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GM dips after revealing it will take a $1.6 billion Q3 hit due to its EV pullback

A few weeks after the end of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit — and the end of General Motors’ attempt to extend itGM says slowing EV sales will cost it $1.6 billion in its third quarter.

“Following recent US Government policy changes, including the termination of certain consumer tax incentives for EV purchases and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations, we expect the adoption rate of EVs to slow. These developments have caused us to reassess our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint,” GM wrote in a Tuesday filing.

As a result, GM said, the company will take a $1.2 billion charge pegged to EV capacity adjustments. An additional $400 million cash hit will come from canceled EV contracts with suppliers. The automaker said it’s “reasonably possible” that it will incur more EV-related charges in the coming quarters.

GM reports its third-quarter earnings next week. In the first half of the year, rival Ford has posted losses to the tune of $2.18 billion related to its EV business.

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