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DAX:
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    • RWE Cut to Neutral at Citi; PT 39.50 euros
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SDAX:
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  • Evotec (EVT TH) -0.7%

WSJ : Trump Administration in Talks to Take Equity Stakes in Quantum-Computing F

Trump Administration in Talks to Take Equity Stakes in Quantum-Computing Firms
Discussions signal Washington’s wider involvement in key parts of the economy

Several quantum-computing companies are negotiating with the Commerce Department for federal funding in exchange for equity stakes.
The Trump administration is expanding its strategy of taking equity in companies receiving taxpayer funds, following a nearly 10% stake in Intel.
The funding, potentially $10 million minimum per company, would support quantum computing, a critical next-generation technology.

WASHINGTON—Several quantum-computing companies are in talks to give the Commerce Department equity stakes in exchange for federal funding, a signal that the Trump administration is expanding its interventions in what it sees as critical segments of the economy.

Companies including IonQ, Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum are discussing the government becoming a shareholder as part of agreements to get funding earmarked for promising technology companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Other companies such as Quantum Computing Inc. and Atom Computing are considering similar arrangements.

The companies are discussing minimum funding awards from Washington of $10 million each, some of the people said. Other technology companies are also expected to vie for the funding.

The discussions are the latest example of administration moves to become a shareholder in some companies. President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have said the government should share in a company’s upside since taxpayer money provides financial support and a stamp of approval.

In August, the government agreed to take a nearly 10% stake in chip company Intel in exchange for converting almost $9 billion in previously awarded grants to equity. The arrangement would make the government Intel’s largest shareholder and followed a similar deal with one of the few U.S. producers of rare-earth materials. The Energy Department received warrants giving it the right to buy shares of a lithium startup at a set price in exchange for a government loan.


The funding for quantum companies would be one of the first significant signs of support for the sector from Washington. Quantum computers are seen as a critical next-generation technology because they can quickly perform computations that would take today’s computers eons. That sort of advance could make it easier to find new drugs, materials and chemicals while making every segment of the economy more efficient, experts say.

Shares of companies in the space have surged this year, though they have fallen recently.

Companies from International Business Machines to Microsoft are investing in quantum computing, as is China. Google said on Wednesday that it showed a quantum computer can run 13,000 times faster than classic supercomputers and potentially speed drug discovery and materials science.

Deputy Commerce Secretary Paul Dabbar, a former quantum-computing executive and Energy Department official, is leading the funding discussions with companies in the industry, the people said. Bohr Quantum Technology, the company Dabbar co-founded and led as chief executive for four years, isn’t a candidate to receive funding, a Commerce Department official said.

Quantum Computing Inc. Chief Executive Yuping Huang said the government’s potential equity stakes in companies in the industry are exciting. A Rigetti spokeswoman said the company is continuously engaging with the government on funding opportunities. Allison Schwartz, head of government relations for D-Wave, said the company wants to sell systems that can solve the government’s hard problems and get a return on investment. Atom Computing and IonQ declined to comment.

The funding the companies are seeking comes from the Chips Research and Development Office, which Lutnick has reorganized under his overhaul of how the agency manages 2022 Chips Act funding. He recently clawed back several billion dollars from a tech research initiative funded by the Biden administration.

The deals with the quantum companies haven’t been completed and might change. A Commerce document soliciting funding applications says the deals might include warrants, licenses to intellectual property, royalties or revenue sharing in addition to equity stakes.

FT : Porsche hits reverse on EV push as new CEO shifts back to petrol

Porsche hits reverse on EV push as new CEO shifts back to petrol
Luxury-car maker U-turns on strategy after China weakness, US tariffs and disappointing uptake of battery vehicles

Porsche’s new boss was a sceptic of battery motors for luxury vehicles long before he was picked to lead the revival of the petrol engine at the German sports car group.

“The technology isn’t ready,” Michael Leiters told the Financial Times late last year while still in his old job as chief executive of British supercar manufacturer McLaren. Electric vehicles lacked the emotional thrill of noisy engines and were quicker to lose their value, he said.

Leiters will take over at Porsche in January at a critical juncture for the Stuttgart-based company, as it tempers its electric ambitions and ploughs new investment into petrol engine models in an attempt to turn its fortunes around.

Leiters cut his teeth as the personal assistant to one of Porsche’s CEOs in the early 2000s and also spent time as Ferrari’s chief technology officer. He was “one of a very small handful of people who ticks all the boxes”, according to Scott Sherwood, an independent analyst of luxury car brands.

“Given the challenges Porsche is facing, they need a CEO who brings an outside perspective yet understands Porsche, the Porsche family, the German culture and Porsche’s operating environment,” he added.

The luxury car brand has long been one of the most reliable sources of profits in the Volkswagen stable. While Porsche’s vehicle sales only accounted for 3.6 per cent of Volkswagen’s deliveries on average worldwide in the past three years, the brand produced almost 30 per cent of the group’s operating profit.


However, its shares have plunged almost two-thirds from their peak in May 2023 after a series of profit warnings this year brought on by a slump in China as well as writedowns.

The group in September slashed its operating margin forecast for 2025 to 0-2 per cent, down from 14 per cent the previous year. And while it set its midterm profitability target to 10-15 per cent, it would “be some time before we even get to that”, said Bernstein automotive analyst Stephen Reitman.

Leiters will replace Oliver Blume, who led Porsche for the past decade, holding the post alongside his CEO role at the Volkswagen group since 2022. VW holds 75.4 per cent of Porsche and, together with the Porsche-Piëch family, owns all of the voting stock.

Blume’s dual role did not seem “outrageous”, when Porsche’s strategy seemed to be moving “on rails”, said Reitman. But as the problems have mounted at Porsche, the company needed a CEO who could dedicate “25 hours a day” to resolving them, he said.


Porsche has invested billions into new all-electric models under Blume, but demand has fallen short of expectations with EVs making up only 12.7 per cent of units sold last year.

The weaker than expected outlook has forced the manufacturer into costly changes. The company last month shelved plans for a new electric SUV, booking an impairment of €1.8bn related to development costs. Meanwhile, the company is seeking to undo its earlier decision to halt the development of petrol or hybrid successors for its best-selling Macan and Cayman models.

Porsche had bet on electrification in the wake of Volkswagen Group’s Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal but had been “too bullish”, said Metzler Research analyst Pal Skirta.

The sports-car maker’s challenges have been compounded by its struggles in China and the US, its two most important markets. In China, previously boasting strong growth and healthy profits, sales slumped by almost 40 per cent between 2022 and 2024 as local rivals emerged.

In the US, new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump will foreseeably apply to every unit sold. Unlike rivals, Porsche does not have a factory locally and imports all its vehicles from Europe.

The effects of the crisis are already being felt at Porsche’s factories. The company said earlier this year it would cut 3,900 jobs by 2029, the equivalent of 9 per cent of its workforce, and it is in talks with unions about more cost savings.

Porsche will have to smooth out persistent EV product delays because of software problems, where Chinese newcomers have set the standard in recent times. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Sajjad Khan, Porsche board member for IT and software, said the quality of its products and technologies would be better in 2026 and 2027. “We have to work hard to execute perfectly,” Khan said.

Leiters may be one of the few well-placed executives to lead Porsche, but one question he faces will be how to preserve the premium status of its vehicles. His former employer Ferrari has thrived on scarcity of its sought-after supercars, but analysts have long wondered how Porsche will square its high prices with a push to sell more cars.

The German group’s U-turn on combustion engines also raises questions over its aim to establish itself as a maker of premium EVs.

“That’s the risk of the strategy that they will focus again too much on combustion engine vehicles, and then we’ll lose the EV race in the long run,” said Skirta.

FT : Gold as an equity hedge requires patience

Gold as an equity hedge requires patience
The yellow metal still offers investors diversification benefits

Investors who had recently jumped on the gold bandwagon learned a painful lesson on Tuesday when prices posted their largest one-day fall in 12 years. It’s a lesson they should remember for when the broader equity market cycle eventually turns: gold’s diversification benefits rarely come without some bumps along the way.

While this week’s sell-off is unlikely to change the more structural reasons investors have been adding gold to portfolios, that doesn’t mean a repeat won’t happen. Indeed, history shows a consistent pattern in which gold prices fall alongside stocks before decoupling and usually heading higher. Those who want the benefits of portfolio diversification through gold need patience.

Looking at the last six instances where the S&P 500 fell by 15 per cent or more, gold prices initially declined as well. By the time the S&P troughed, however, gold had outperformed by a noteworthy average of 40 percentage points and with absolute positive returns in four of the six instances. 

The correlation, and admittedly small sample size behind this conclusion, is less important than understanding why gold behaves this way. That’s especially true today with equity prices near record highs and growing investor questions about how much longer the rally can continue.

When sustained equity drawdowns start, investors begin to prioritise increasing cash holdings. This often means not just selling what you want but what you can, since periods of market stress often limit the ability to sell less liquid assets at reasonable prices. Gold, a relatively liquid commodity, tends to get caught up in this dynamic. As a result, it often sees lower prices alongside equities for days or even several weeks.

For those new to gold investing, those initial losses on gold holdings can feel like a betrayal. How did this asset that was supposed to cushion a portfolio not work the way they expected?

What’s important to know is that these gold-price pullbacks usually prove less extreme than those in equities, both in degree and duration. There are a few reasons for this. First, central banks respond to financial instability by lowering interest rates, which in turn reduces the opportunity cost of owning assets like gold that do not offer a yield.

Second, as investors reassess the market environment and adjust portfolios, they usually reduce risk assets like equities and credit and add safer ones, including longer-duration government bonds and gold.

Gold prices are also supported by their limited supply and an expectation that key holders of gold — namely, central banks — are unlikely to suddenly sell reserves given their long-term investment horizon focused on liquidity and stability.

Today, conditions appear to be building for a repeat of this historical pattern, in which gold might see a period of negative returns before once again showing its diversification ability. Such risk seems relatively more likely after a run-up in gold prices of more than 57 per cent this year alone (including the recent sell-off).

Even if some of the shine wears off gold in this potential scenario, there is good reason to expect the price decline will once again be shorter and less deep than that in risk assets.

First, central banks are adding to gold reserves as a way to reduce exposure to US dollar-denominated assets. This trend is likely to continue, with nearly a third of 75 central banks surveyed by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum saying they plan to increase gold holdings in the next 1-2 years.

Gold may also appear relatively more attractive in a world where both fiat money and low and stable inflation are increasingly questioned. Gold is seen as an alternative to fiat money as a store hold of wealth, if not an efficient payment vehicle.

One factor that could limit gold’s outperformance in the next potential equity bear market is the Federal Reserve. Back in 2022, when the S&P fell in part because of fears that Fed tightening would weigh on earnings growth, gold prices declined as well. Higher interest rates reduced its relative attractiveness. But even then, gold still managed to buffer overall portfolio returns, outperforming US equities over the pullback by more than 18 percentage points.

When equities eventually take a step down from their current heights, history suggests diversifying assets such as gold will help limit portfolios losses. Investors should know what to expect before that period arrives if they are to avoid tactical mistakes along the way.

FT : Sweden’s new green challenger could evade the Northvolt curse

Sweden’s new green challenger could evade the Northvolt curse
Producing steel using hydrogen instead of coal is not a technology play

There are several parallels between Swedish green steel start-up Stegra and now-defunct battery maker Northvolt. Among the things the two companies shared: a common equity investor, high hopes of driving forward Europe’s green ambitions, and Swedishness. 

Northvolt sank spectacularly after raising $15bn from investors including Goldman Sachs and Volkswagen, and took Europe’s hopes of building a domestic battery supply chain down with it. So the news that, after raising $6.5bn, Stegra is racing to resolve a worsening funding crisis is unwelcome. Yet there is one important difference between the two companies. Northvolt was a bad idea to start with. Stegra is not. 

Northvolt had two problems. The first was that it burnt through piles of cash and failed to deliver on its main project. The second was that, even if it had managed to do what it hoped, its batteries faced daunting competition from China’s world-leading producers.

Stegra’s situation is different. True, it too is finding it challenging to deliver its project: its giant plant, which is currently 60 per cent complete, is now expected to cost €1bn or so more than it budgeted. That’s a 15 per cent overrun. But once built, the plant has none of Northvolt’s competitive disadvantages. Producing steel using hydrogen instead of coal is not a technology play. The main differentiating factor is the cost of energy.

Thanks to super cheap and almost entirely renewable electricity in Sweden, Stegra’s cash costs — including iron ore, labour, electricity and hydrogen — should be somewhere in the region of $600 per tonne of steel produced. Its revenue, meanwhile, should equate to the $675 per tonne that ‘dirty’ steel fetches in Europe, plus the saving from avoided carbon emissions and any extra premium that customers such as Microsoft pay on top of that, for the benefit of being ‘green’.

This will ebb and flow over time, but for the sake of argument, plug in $200 per tonne for that premium. On that basis, Stegra would make a cash margin of around $300 per tonne of steel produced. Factoring in the 2.5 million tonnes of steel the company expects to produce in its first phase, that’s 10 per cent of its projected capital expenditure of $7.5bn. Production is expected to double by 2030, although that will require additional investment.


Granted, such assumptions may be overly optimistic. Giant new plants have a habit of running late and producing less than expected. And, while Europe is still relatively steadfast, policymakers elsewhere have rowed back on green pledges. Customers’ willingness to pay a premium for non-polluting steel may also erode over time.

But in broad terms Stegra’s project still has a reasonable chance of stacking up. It should be possible for the company to attract new money, although incoming investors may demand that existing equity holders take a haircut. There’s a risk that investors, skittish over a growing green backlash, simply shun this kind of complex venture altogether. But if rationality in capital markets prevails, so should Stegra.

FT : The tweeting turmoil inside Sequoia Capital

The tweeting turmoil inside Sequoia Capital

Tumult at a Silicon Valley institution
Sequoia Capital has become Silicon Valley’s most sought after venture firm by letting its investments do the talking. 

The 53-year-old group has backed Google, Apple and OpenAI, all while adopting a position its current chief Roelof Botha describes as “institutional neutrality”.

That position appears to be under strain following the departure of Sequoia’s chief operating officer over another partner’s comments which she regarded as Islamophobic.

Sumaiya Balbale left Sequoia after five years in August. The FT revealed on Tuesday that her resignation was precipitated by social media posts by Shaun Maguire, one of Sequoia’s most successful investors and a close ally of Elon Musk.

The pugilistic partner wrote on X in July that New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything. It’s literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda. The West will learn this lesson the hard way.”

Balbale, a practising Muslim, complained to other senior figures at the firm about the post, according to sources the FT spoke to.

Some shared concerns about Maguire’s language, the people said, but no action was taken to sanction Maguire, a physicist whose investments including SpaceX, xAI and Neuralink have netted billions of dollars of paper gains for the firm. 

Past Sequoia partners have not been afraid to take political positions, even where those clash. Doug Leone and Michael Moritz, its prior generation of leaders, were vocal from opposite sides of the political spectrum.

But Maguire’s outspoken online persona — spanning a passionate defence of Israel’s actions in Gaza, to endorsements of UK anti-immigration activist and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson — is something new, while Sequoia also lacks a counterbalancing public voice this time round.

(Maguire didn’t respond to requests for comment for the story.)

That is turning off some of the group’s portfolio companies and investors, particularly those in the Middle East. One financier from the region who has worked closely with Sequoia in the past described Maguire’s comments as “a humiliation”.

“A lot of sovereign wealth funds from this part of the world are not going to work with this guy, that’s for sure . . . he is not welcome here.”

>>> US After Hours Summary: TSLA -3.1%, LRCX -3% head lower on earnings; MEDP +1

After Hours Summary: TSLA -3.1%, LRCX -3% head lower on earnings; MEDP +17.4%, CLB +11.2% sharply higher on earnings

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: MEDP +17.4%, CLB +11.2%, KALU +9.8%, QS +7.6% (also began shipments of QSE-5 B1 samples), CCS +7.1%, CBAN +6.5%, GSHD +6.3%, LC +6.2%, WDFC +5.7%, LVS +5.3% (also increases dividend; also increase stock repurchase authorization to $2 bln), VKTX +3.6%, CHDN +3.3% (also increases dividend), LUV +2.8%, FAF +2%, HXL +1.9% (also $350 mln accelerated share repurchase program), GTY +1.7%, ASGN +1.5%, CACI +1.5%, SSB +1.5%, WSBC +1.4%, BANC +1.3%, CCI +1.2%, EPRT +0.7%, RJF +0.6%, STC +0.5%, FE +0.4%, ORLY +0.3%, NLY +0.3%, TCBI +0.2%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: VTYX +78.5% (results from Phase 2 study of VTX3232), HDSN +6.9% (awarded $210 contract with US DLA), DBRG +3.6% (OpenAI, ORCL and Vantage Data Centers announce data center site in Wisconsin), FPI +3% (People Company to acquire Murray Wise Associates from FPI), WTTR +2.2% (breaks ground on water lithium extraction facility), FTI +2.1% (authorizes new $2 bln share repurchase program), JBHT +1.8% (authorizes new $1 bln share repurchase program), DOV +1.7% (new NACS cable configuration), IFF +1.6% (appoints new Board members), ALTS +1.6% (CEO removed from duties), TPC +1.2% (subsidiary awarded electrical services contract), TXT +1.1% (names new CEO and Chair), HON +0.6% (updated business segment structure), BRO +0.5% (increases dividend; also authorizes additional $1.25 bln to share repurchase program), AMRN +0.3% (appoints new CFO), C +0.1% (names new Chair), FBP +0.1% (authorizes new $200 mln share repurchase program), MCD +0.1% (increases dividend)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: MOH -18.3%, RBBN -13%, OII -10.2%, PKG -7.1%, VRE -7%, IBM -6.2%, WH -4.7%, TSLA -3.1%, ICLR -3.9%, URI -3.9%, LRCX -3%, KNX -2.9%, SIGI -2.7%, SEIC -2.3%, GGG -2%, RS -1.8%, AA -1.6%, ELS -1.4%, SON -1.2%, PLXS -0.8%, SAP -0.5%, EGBN -0.5% (also cuts dividend), RHI -0.2%, ARR -0.2%, KMI -0.1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: TBN -13.7% (commences public offering of 2.32 mln shares), MRNA -5% (announces phase 3 study of mRNA-1647), APPS -1.8% (stock offering by selling shareholders), AMBO -1.7% (files $80 mln mixed securities shelf offering), CRWV -1.6% (comments on Proxy Advisor recommendations), NB -1.3% (successfully casts aluminum-scandium alloy), HWM -0.5% (CFO to retire), VST -0.4% (closes purchase of 2.6 GW natural gas portfolio), RKLB -0.2% (clearance of Systems Integration Review), ALAB -0.1% (enters agreement to acquire aiXscale Photonics GmbH), TCBX -0.1% (merger agreement to acquire Keystone)

WSJ : U.S. Lifts Key Restriction on Ukraine’s Use of Western Long-Range Missiles

U.S. Lifts Key Restriction on Ukraine’s Use of Western Long-Range Missiles
The move coincides with a Trump push to pressure Moscow into talks on ending the war and to withhold U.S. Tomahawk missiles from Kyiv

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration has lifted a key restriction on Ukraine’s use of some long-range missiles provided by Western allies, enabling Kyiv to step up attacks on targets inside Russia and increase pressure on the Kremlin, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Ukraine used a British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missile on Tuesday to strike a Russian plant in Bryansk that produced explosives and rocket fuel, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces announced on social media. It called the strike a “successful hit” that penetrated Russian air defenses.

The unannounced U.S. move to enable Kyiv to use the missile in Russia comes after authority for supporting such attacks was recently transferred from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon to the top U.S. general in Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who also serves as NATO commander.

The shift coincided with a push in early October by President Trump to pressure the Kremlin into talks on ending the war, including the possibility that he would approve sending Kyiv U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 miles. Trump has since backed off that proposal.

However U.S. officials said they expect Ukraine to conduct more cross-border attacks using the Storm Shadow, which is launched from Ukrainian aircraft and can travel more than 180 miles. The U.S. can restrict Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow because the missiles use American targeting data.

In a statement, a White House official said: “This is a war that never would have happened had President Trump been President, something [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin himself acknowledged, and President Trump is trying to get it stopped. The President also negotiated a historic agreement to allow NATO allies to purchase American-made weapons.”

The Pentagon didn’t respond to requests for comment. Ukraine’s General Staff didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Ukraine’s renewed use of Storm Shadows isn’t a game changer on the battlefield. They have a far shorter range than U.S. Tomahawks, and have been used to strike targets in Russia before. But the missiles do enable Kyiv to expand its attacks inside Russia.

Former President Joe Biden approved Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow and U.S. missiles known as Atacms against targets inside Russia toward the end of his administration. But after Trump came into office, the Pentagon set up a review procedure for approving cross-border strikes using U.S. missiles or those from other countries, including Storm Shadow, that rely on U.S. targeting data.

Under the mechanism, the defense secretary had final say over whether Ukraine could employ Western long-range weapons to strike Russia. No attacks were approved until recently when authority for approving such attacks was returned to European Command, two U.S. officials said.

Ukraine is also carrying out attacks well inside Russia with domestically-produced drones and a small number of homegrown missiles. Many of the strikes have been directed against Russian oil refineries and energy infrastructure. The Wall Street Journal reported in September that Trump has approved sharing that targeting data, which notably includes oil refineries.

“As it has shown, Ukraine is incredibly capable itself of striking deep inside Russia at legitimate military targets that enable the Kremlin’s senseless war, which is straining its economy and has killed or injured more than a million Russians,” said Col. Martin O’Donnell, a NATO spokesman. “It does not need our permission.”

Trump last week expressed interest in holding a second summit with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss ending the war, but talks between the two governments quickly broke down. Trump on Tuesday said such a meeting would be a “waste of time.” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

Sen. Angus King (I., Maine), who met with Rutte for an hour on Wednesday morning, said that while sending Tomahawks would strengthen Ukraine’s hand against Putin, the U.S. should be able to have a say over the targets Kyiv hits.

“If we could have some control over the targeting, that it was targeting only military facilities and only facilities supporting the assault on Ukraine, I think that it would be an effective part of convincing Putin that he’s not going to win this war,” King told reporters Wednesday.

The decision to lift the restriction on Storm Shadow occurred before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Trump at the White House last week, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. Zelensky was seeking Tomahawks, which would greatly expand Kyiv’s long range striking power if provided in sufficient numbers. Trump’s rebuff of the request has limited the West’s negotiating leverage with Moscow, analysts said.

The U.S. recently approved selling Ukraine 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munition air-launched missiles, or ERAMs, which can travel 150 to 280 miles. The Biden administration also provided Atacms surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of nearly 200 miles, but which haven’t been used against targets inside Russia since Trump returned to the White House.

Ukraine has a small remaining stockpile of Atacms, which stands for Army Tactical Missile Systems. The Trump administration had not said whether it is willing to send more or whether the U.S. European Command will approve their use.

A joint statement from European leaders and Zelensky on Tuesday vowed to “ramp up the pressure on Russia’s economy and its defense industry” until Putin “is ready to make peace.”