BERLIN (AP) — Just call him Xabi Houdini. Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso has seen his team pull off several scarcely believable escapes from defeat this season as it remains unbeaten across all competitions.
Leverkusen, which has already secured the Bundesliga title, is on a 46-game run without a loss – a record across Europe’s “big five” leagues.
It has been achieved in extraordinary fashion.
Robert Andrich scored with the last kick of the game for a 2-2 draw with high-flying Stuttgart on Saturday. The goal came in the sixth minute of stoppage time when there was only supposed to be five.
Stuttgart had won seven of its nine games since losing to Leverkusen in the German Cup and led 2-0 against Leverkusen, but even that wasn't enough of a cushion to prevent Alonso’s team from coming back and extending its unbeaten record.
The previous weekend, Josip Stanišić scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time for a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund. And in Leverkusen’s previous game, Amine Adli scored in the 90th minute for a 1-1 draw at West Ham in the Europa League.
In all, Leverkusen has eight draws this season to go with 38 wins.
“We’ve scored so many goals in stoppage time this year,” Adli said after the latest drama on Saturday. “But we should score earlier. It would be better for us.”
Andrich’s equalizer against Stuttgart was the 16th goal that Leverkusen has scored in the 90th minute or later across all competitions this season, and the 21st that was scored from the 86th.
“It’s not easy to explain what we did again after last week – again in the last minute,” Alonso said. “There’s no explanation why it happens so often, but it’s good for us.”
Those late goals helped Leverkusen clinch the Bundesliga title ahead of 11-time defending champion Bayern Munich with five rounds to spare.
“We’ve already reached our main target – to be champions – but we want to keep going, we don’t want to stop. There are still three games (in the Bundesliga). We want to stay unbeaten for the rest of the season,” Alonso said.
Leverkusen's next game is against Roma in the first leg of their Europa League semifinal on Thursday. The teams met at the same stage last season, when José Mourinho’s team eliminated Alonso’s thanks to a 1-0 win in Rome. They drew the second leg 0-0 in Leverkusen.
“From the first Europa League game against (Swedish team) Häcken, we spoke about our experience in Rome and now we’re back in the same situation, semifinal vs. Roma," Alonso said. "So yeah, hopefully we can use this experience well.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Leverkusen's Robert Andrich, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marius Becker/dpa via AP)
Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso reacts on the touchline during a German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marius Becker/dpa via AP)
Leverkusen's Robert Andrich, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Marius Becker/dpa via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are rising with hope that inflation is finally heading back in the right direction. The S&P 500 is flirting with the record it set a month and a half ago. A stall in spending by U.S. households, tired after years of high inflation, is keeping the gains in check. The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher early Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite was adding to its own record set a day earlier, up 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 195 points. Treasury yields eased following a report showing growth in consumer prices eased a bit last month.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Wall Steet got a boost early after the government reported that consumer inflation in the U.S. cooled slightly in April, raising hopes that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates soon.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4% less than an hour before Wednesday's opening bell. Both had been flat before the data release.
The government also reported early Wednesday that retail sales in April were unchanged from March as inflation continued to make consumers think twice about their spending. The tepid spending at retail outlets is another data point that the Fed could point to if it decides to cut rates in the coming months as investors hope.
The U.S. central bank began raising its benchmark borrowing rate in March of 2022 in an attempt to stifle the inflation that took hold in the wake of the pandemic. The Fed's rate is at its highest level in 23 years.
Inflation had been unexpectedly high in the first three months of this year after having steadily dropped in the second half of 2023. The elevated readings had dimmed hopes that the worst bout of inflation in four decades was being rapidly tamed.
A report Tuesday showed that prices remain stubbornly high at the wholesale level, before prices changes are passed on to consumers. The producer price index reading for April reached 0.5%, higher than forecast.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.3% after hitting a record high in early trading. Germany’s DAX was up 0.7% and the CAC 40 in Paris was flat.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.1% to 38,385.73 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4% to 7,753.70.
The Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.8% to 3,119.90 after the central bank kept a key lending rate unchanged Wednesday, signaling Beijing’s focus on maintaining monetary stability.
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.8%. In Bangkok, the SET lost 0.6%.
Markets in South Korea and Hong Kong were closed for holidays.
Bond yields edged lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.43% Wednesday from 4.49% late Monday.
Investors have been curtailing their expectations for the speed and frequency of interest rate cuts this year as inflation remains hotter than expected. Traders are betting on one or two rate cuts this year, according to data from CME Group.
Wall Street is still hoping the Fed can pull off its “soft landing,” where high interest rates work to cool inflation without slowing the economy into a recession. The economy remains strong, but consumers might be showing signs of fatigue under the weight of stubborn inflation.
In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude slipped 14 cents to $77.88 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 21 cents to $82.17 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 155.15 Japanese yen from 156.42 yen. The euro cost $1.0864, up from $1.0820.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 index rose 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%.
The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily influenced by technology stocks, jumped 0.8% to 16,511.18, its highest close ever. The tech sector has been a driving force for much of the broader market’s gains this year.
A person passes an entrance to the Wall Street subway station in New York on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Trading on Wall Street is muted early ahead of the U.S. government's latest reports on inflation and retail sales. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A person on a bicycle pauses in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
The front of the New York Stock Exchange is adorned with signs for the tool maker DeWalt in honor of the 100th year anniversary of the company on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Markets on Wall Street inched slightly higher ahead of the release of more inflation data from the U.S. government. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person on a bicycle pauses in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
