2024-02-01 08:31:11
Zurich (awp) – The Swiss Stock Exchange began Thursday’s session in clearly negative territory, following closing sharply lower the day before. The president of the American central bank (Fed), Jerome Powell, dampened the hopes of the markets, ruling out the hypothesis of a first cut in the key rate in March. In Switzerland, the setbacks of Julius Bär and Roche’s figures occupied people’s minds.
Mr. Powell “wanted to make it clear to everyone that a rate cut in March is unlikely,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote.
The Fed “needs more proof that its rate increases have had the expected effects. See you tomorrow, when the American employment figures are published,” commented analyst John Plassard of Mirabaud Banque.
This morning, it will be the turn of the Bank of England to deliver its monetary policy decision. December unemployment and January inflation in the euro zone will be on the agenda, as will the ISM manufacturing activity index for January in the United States. Without forgetting the results of big companies Apple, Amazon and Meta (Facebook).
In Switzerland, turnover in the tertiary sector (adjusted for the effect of working days) fell by 9.9% in November year-on-year, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Commerce suffered the most, while hotels and restaurants saw little growth.
Around 9:10 a.m., the SMI plunged by 1.81% to 11,238.32 points, the SLI by 1.23% to 1803.13 points and the SPI by 1.50% to 14,676.25 points. Of the thirty main values, ten were moving in the green and twenty in the red.
Straumann (+3.3%) led the exchanges, ahead of Julius Bär (+3%) and Holcim (+1.2%).
Concerning the Zurich asset manager, investors were visibly relieved to learn of the settlement of the Signa affair, even at the cost of a heavy write-off. Julius Bär still benefited from an influx of new money in the last months of 2023. And a new CEO is being sought.
Industrial conglomerate ABB (+1%) ended 2023 strongly and the dividend should be revised upwards.
Novartis (+0.3%) was the only heavyweight to keep its head above water. The Roche dividend certificate plunged 3.6%, falling behind, following its turnover fell 7% to 58.72 billion Swiss francs last year. Shareholders must be able to count on a further increase in the dividend.
Nestlé (-0.4%) sees its financial director (CFO), François-Xavier Roger, leave, announced at the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, where he will take up his position on April 1.
On the broader market, Comet gained 0.5% despite a significant decline in sales. There are signs of a recovery this year.
The Bernese Cantonal Bank (BCBE) (unchanged) saw its profitability improve significantly, in a context of rising rates.
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