2023-12-11 08:31:05
Zurich (awp) – The Swiss Stock Exchange opened on a cautious note Monday morning, at the start of a week where central banks and their decisions on key rates will be closely scrutinized by investors. In Switzerland, a series of news focused attention on the values of the pharmaceutical sector.
The American job market was much more solid than expected by analysts in November in the United States, with 199,000 job creations, up from 150,000 in October, according to figures. released Friday by the Department of Labor. As for the unemployment rate, it fell once more to 3.7%, following an increase in October.
“Brokers reacted positively to the latest news that the US labor market is slowing down, not collapsing,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya emphasized in a commentary. According to Swissquote analysts, these data “suggest that the Fed is approaching a ‘Goldilocks’ scenario”, that is to say that the American central bank might defeat inflation without push the economy into recession.
For John Plassard of Mirabaud Banque, these figures have “mitigated bets that the Fed will reduce its interest rates as early as spring 2024”. The expert from the Geneva bank spoke of a “week of ‘all dangers’ where the figures for inflation and retail sales in the United States will be published and where, above all, the American Federal Reserve, the Central Bank will meet European Union, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank.
On the Swiss Stock Exchange around 9:07 a.m., the flagship SMI index fell by 0.07% to 11,064.43 points, contradicting the positive pre-market trend. The SLI fell by 0.08% to 1,746.10 points and the SPI lost 0.09% to 1,455.04 points.
A majority of star stocks were trading in the red, led by Lonza (-2.8%), Zurich Insurance (-1.4%) and Sandoz (-1.0%). The pharmaceutical industry supplier saw its price target and recommendation reduced by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to respectively 270 Swiss francs, compared to 705 Swiss francs previously, and to “underperform” (“outperform”).
VAT Group (+0.8%), ABB (+0.7%) and UBS (+0.7%) on the other hand benefited from the interest of stakeholders. Citigroup analysts raised the engineering group’s price target and recommendation.
Pharmaceutical heavyweights Novartis (+0.5%) and Roche (BP +0.6%, BJ +0.4%) were also sought following, following positive news on the research front.
The drug Fabhalta from Novartis has demonstrated its long-term effectiveness and safety in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). The group also revealed positive results from the Appear-C3G phase III study of iptacopan for the treatment of patients with C3 deposition glomerulopathy (C3G), a nephropathy.
Genentech, the American subsidiary of the pharmaceutical group Roche, for its part presented convincing research results for its drugs Columvi and Lunsumio for the treatment of lymphoma.
The third heavyweight in the rating Nestlé (-1.1%) fell on the other hand.
On the broader market, Basilea (+1.3%) rose, following obtaining new approval from the American Medicines Agency (FDA) for its antifungal Cresemba intended for children suffering from bacterial or fungal infections.
al/vj
1702284772
#Zurich #Stock #Exchange #caution #week #dominated #central #banks #December
