The R&D Index for the week ending June 14, 2019 closed at 4,580.03 for the 25 companies in the R&D Index. The Index was up 1.91% (or 85.68 basis points) from the week ending June 7, 2019. Eighteen of the 25 R&D Index members gained value from 0.04% (Oracle and Qualcomm) to 3.64% (Amazon). Seven of the 25 R&D Index members lost value last week from -0.37% (Pfizer) to -5.59% (Eli Lilly Company).
The Labor Department announced last Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.1% in May from April and 1.8% from May 2018, less than the expected 1.9%. This was weaker than the 0.3% increase in April from March and also weaker than April’s 2.0% increase from April 2018. The lower interest rates were touted as being responsible for a 27% surge in mortgage applications during the first week in June.
The Federal Reserve was concerned about a slowing economy over the past two months and had been considering a rate cut which could be put in place at its regular meeting this week on June 19. However, the Commerce Department reported on Friday that retail sales rose 0.5% in May from April muting the need for an interest rate cut at this point in time. The Fed also reported on Friday that manufacturing output rose 0.2% in May, following a 0.5% decline in April and the first actual increase in 2019.
Aerospace firms Raytheon and United Technologies stated last week that they planned to merge by the end of 2019. The firms cited their combined R&D spending of about $8 billion as one of the primary reasons for the merger so that they could more effectively compete with the likes of Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s R&D investments. Boeing and LM each invest between $2 and $3 billion annually in R&D.
South Korea’s leading mobile telecom company, SK Telecom, announced last week that it has signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson to step up collaboration and R&D technologies related to 6G networks. SK Telecom rolled out its 5G commercial networks in April. 6G networks are expected to integrate satellites for global coverage with first commercial development not expected until 2030. China announced earlier this year that it was working on 6G development.
The U.S. Department of Energy last week announced that it was banning its researchers from joining Chinese talent recruitment programs in an effort to stave off China’s pervasive theft of U.S. science and technology assets.
| R&D Index Week Ending June 14, 2019 |
| Ticker | Exchange | 2018 R&D millions U.S. $ | 06/07/19 | 06/14/19 | 6/14/19 to 6/7/19 | 6/14/19 to 12.31.18 | ||
| 1 | Amazon | AMZN | NASDAQ | 26,750 | 1,804.03 | 1,869.67 | 3.64% | 24.48% |
| 2 | Alphabet/Google | GOOGL | NASDAQ | 18,796 | 1,068.37 | 1,086.30 | 1.68% | 3.96% |
| 3 | Apple | AAPL | NASDAQ | 14,037 | 190.15 | 192.74 | 1.36% | 22.19% |
| 4 | Intel | INTC | NASDAQ | 13,702 | 46.03 | 46.19 | 0.35% | -1.58% |
| 5 | Microsoft | MSFT | NASDAQ | 13,558 | 131.40 | 132.45 | 0.80% | 30.40% |
| 6 | Roche Pharm | RHHBY | OTC | 12,284 | 34.24 | 34.55 | 0.91% | 11.16% |
| 7 | Johnson & Johnson | JNJ | NYSE | 11,493 | 138.55 | 140.09 | 1.11% | 8.55% |
| 8 | Merck & Co. | MRK | NYSE | 11,323 | 82.46 | 82.78 | 0.39% | 8.34% |
| 9 | Volkswagen AG | VWAGY | OTC | 10,915 | 16.37 | 16.11 | 1.61% | 3.27% |
| 10 | Toyota | TM | NYSE | 10,848 | 122.39 | 124.39 | 1.63% | 7.16% |
| 11 | Novartis | NVS | NYSE | 8,934 | 88.06 | 89.52 | 1.66% | 4.32% |
| 12 | Honda | HMC | NYSE | 8,180 | 25.58 | 25.34 | -0.94% | -4.20% |
| 13 | Pfizer | PFE | NYSE | 7,942 | 42.92 | 42.76 | -0.37% | -2.04% |
| 14 | Daimler | DDAIY | OTC | 7,615 | 54.01 | 53.19 | -1.52% | 0.80% |
| 15 | General Motors | GM | NYSE | 7,278 | 35.49 | 35.66 | 0.48% | 6.61% |
| 16 | Oracle | ORCL | NYSE | 7,001 | 53.26 | 53.28 | 0.04% | 18.01% |
| 17 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | BMY | NYSE | 6,981 | 46.75 | 47.56 | 1.73% | -8.50% |
| 18 | Eli Lilly Co | LLY | NYSE | 6,769 | 118.35 | 111.74 | -5.59% | -3.44% |
| 19 | GlaxoSmithKline | GSK | NYSE | 6,394 | 39.80 | 40.12 | 0.80% | 5.00% |
| 20 | Cisco | CSCO | NASDAQ | 6,009 | 55.93 | 54.75 | -2.11% | 26.36% |
| 21 | IBM | IBM | NYSE | 5,842 | 133.31 | 135.15 | 1.38% | 18.90% |
| 22 | Bayer AG | BAYN | OTC | 5,743 | 14.98 | 14.83 | -1.00% | -15.59% |
| 23 | Astra Zeneca PLC | AZN | NYSE | 5,483 | 39.02 | 39.67 | 1.67% | 4.45% |
| 24 | Qualcomm | QCOM | NASDAQ | 5,183 | 68.69 | 68.72 | 0.04% | 20.77% |
| 25 | Sanofi SA | SNY | NYSE | 4,694 | 44.21 | 42.47 | -3.94% | -2.17% |
| Total | 243,754 | 4,494.35 | 4,580.03 | 1.91% | 13.72% | |||
| Biopharmaceutical | 689.34 | 686.09 | -0.47% | 2.27% | ||||
| Automotive | 253.84 | 254.69 | 0.33% | 4.23% | ||||
| ICT | 1,747.14 | 1,769.58 | 1.28% | 9.89% | ||||
About the R&D Index
R&D Magazine’s R&D Index is a weekly stock market summary of the top international companies involved in research and development. The top 25 industrial spenders of R&D in 2017 were selected based on the latest listings from Schonfeld & Associates’ June 2018 R&D Ratios & Budgets. These 25 companies include pharmaceutical (11 companies), automotive (5), ICT (8) and conglomerate (1) organizations who invested a cumulative total of more than $209 billion in R&D in 2017, or approximately 10% of all the R&D spent in the world by government, industries and academia combined, according to R&D Magazine’s 2019 Global R&D Funding Forecast. The stock prices used in the R&D Index are tabulated from NASDAQ, NYSE, XETRA and OTC common stock prices (in U.S. dollars) for the companies selected at the close of stock trading business on the Friday preceding the publication of the R&D Index in R&D Magazine’s R&D Daily eNewsletter.
