Stockmarkets do not reward firms for investing in Trump’s America
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. What do the following three companies have in common? Stellantis, owner of the Fiat, Jeep and Chrysler brands; Merck, which makes the world’s bestselling cancer drug; and Barry Callebaut, a Swiss chocolate-maker, which is particularly proud of its ruby flavour, neither sweet nor bitter. One answer: their capital-expenditure (capex) plans.
All three have announced investments in America since Donald Trump won last year’s presidential election. In January Stellantis (whose largest shareholder part-owns The Economist’s parent company) said that it would build the next Dodge Durango in Detroit and reopen an assembly plant in Illinois, putting union members back to work. Two months later Merck announced the opening of a vaccine plant in North Carolina.
And on April 10th Barry Callebaut said it would expand a plant in America to help it cope with the “disruptive environment" Mr Trump’s new administration has created. Mr Trump is, of course, delighted by this kind of news. The White House added the chocolate-maker to a list of more than two dozen companies that have announced investments in America since the president’s return to power.
“We are already seeing progress in reshoring American industry," it said. The spending is presumably good for America. But is it good for the companies themselves? Even the president should care about this question.
Trump Media, one of his firms, has just launched new investment accounts that let people bet their money on MAGA themes like “Made in America". So do capex announcements that gratify Mr Trump also please shareholders? In theory, the answer is ambiguous. The impact of capex on a company’s share price can be sweet, bitter or neither.
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