What’s happening: Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company gained on Wednesday, after the company reported its fourth-quarter results.
What happened: The company behind household brands like Gillette and Pampers reported better-than-expected sales and earnings for the latest quarter.
P&G said there were signs of recovery in one of its biggest markets.
How were the results: The Cincinnati, Ohio-based company reported low single-digit growth in sales for the quarter.
Why it matters: P&G witnessed an increase in demand for its dish soaps and toilet papers in the US. The company also noted that there were some signs of a recovery in the Chinese market after several rough quarters.
Sales in China, which is one of P&G’s biggest markets, declined by 3% during the latest quarter, after plunging 15% and 9% in the previous two quarters.
Sales in North America rose 4%, with the company doubling down on new product launches to bring back its shoppers who had moved away due to several price hikes over the past two years.
The company’s operating margins expanded by 550 basis points (bps) to 26.2% for the quarter, while operating income surged 30% to $5.7 billion.
“The P&G team delivered an acceleration in organic sales growth, core EPS growth and strong cash return to shareowners in the second quarter,” CEO Jon Moeller said.
Management reiterated their organic sales growth forecast for the full year of 3% to 5% and total sales growth outlook of 2% to 4%. The company also kept its earnings growth guidance unchanged at 10% to 12%.
P&G also left its adjusted earnings forecast unchanged at $6.91 to $7.05 per share.
How shares responded: Procter & Gamble’s shares climbed 1.9% to close at $164.74 on Wednesday, following the release of quarterly results. The stock has jumped around 11% over the past year.
What to watch: Investors will continue monitoring the company’s new launches, which are expected to provide a significant boost to its overall results ahead.
Context: The EUR/USD forex pair fell on Wednesday amid strength in the US dollar.
Details: The euro started Wednesday’s trading session by surged to a five-week high against the greenback, with expectations of the new US President Donald Trump avoiding harsher tariffs.
Trump mentioned a potential duty of 10% on China’s imports and concerns remain around tariffs being imposed on the Eurozone.
Expectations of the European Central Bank announcing an interest rate cut of 25 bps at its meeting next week also lent support to the euro.
However, strength in the US dollar exerted pressure on the EUR/USD forex pair. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, rose around 0.1% to 108.17 on Wednesday.
The EUR/USD forex pair fell around 0.2% to 1.0410 on Wednesday. The euro remained under pressure this morning, falling slightly against the greenback this morning.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index gained 0.39% to close at 528.04 on Wednesday. Germany’s DAX 40 closed higher by 1.01% at 21,254.27, recording gains for the eighth straight session. France’s CAC 40 surged 0.86% to settle at 7,837.40, notching the strongest level since June 2024.
What to watch: Investors await the release of Eurozone’s consumer confidence (1900 UAE Time) today. Consumer confidence in the Eurozone, which declined by 0.7 points from the previous month to a reading of -14.5 in December, is expected to improve slightly to -14.2 for January.
Other Markets: US trading indices closed higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones index, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 up by 0.30%, 0.61% and 1.33%, respectively.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer supported activist Bill Browder’s suggestion of spending frozen Russian assets worth $300 billion on Ukraine. The news sent the safe-haven US dollar index higher in forex trading this morning.
Japan’s trade surplus widened to ¥130.94 billion in December, from ¥32.35 billion in the year-ago period. The latest reading topped market expectations of a deficit of ¥55 billion, lending support to the JPY/USD forex pair.
South Korea’s economy expanded by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, short of market estimates of 0.2% growth, which sent the KRW/USD pair lower in forex trading this morning.
New Zealand’s number of visitor arrivals rose 5.9% year-over-year to 321,200 in November, lending support to the NZD/USD forex pair.
Argentina’s retail sales jumped 134.8% year-over-year in November, following a 127.1% gain in the previous month, which sent the ARS/USD pair higher in forex trading this morning.
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