2023-08-16 16:16:07
Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market ended on an undecided note on Wednesday. After opening in the red, the SMI quickly climbed back into the green and above 11,000 points, before losing its momentum and beginning to oscillate around equilibrium in the followingnoon and until at the close.
In New York, Wall Street moved in dispersed order in the morning before the minutes of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) and the day following a sharp decline.
Investors have been awaiting the release of the Fed’s “minutes”, seeking to gauge how inclined the central bank is to pause rate hikes while determined to keep them high for a while, as the inflation is showing mixed signs.
On July 26, the US central bank resumed rate hikes, bringing them to between 5.25% and 5.50%, a 22-year high.
Among the indicators of the day, industrial production in the United States rose once more in July, following two consecutive months of decline, exceeding market expectations. Carried mainly by public utility services such as the supply of electricity for air conditioning in this period of extreme heat, it increased by 1% over one month, following a drop of 0.8% in June. Over one year, it remains down 0.3%.
In Switzerland, the interim earnings season continued, with a slew of smaller companies. Listed among the 20 largest quotations on the Zurich market, the ophthalmology giant Alcon delivered a generous overview of its performance between April and the end of June on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.
The SMI ended up slightly up 0.06% at 10,992.31 points, with a high of 11,028.54 points and a low of 10,971.14 points. The SLI edged down 0.05% to 1732.64 points and the SPI edged down 0.02% to 14,498.19 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 11 rose and 19 fell.
Today’s podium consists of Nestlé (+1.2%), UBS (+1.1%) and Alcon (+1.0%).
Bank of America took over coverage of the Vevey giant’s stock at “buy” and a target at 128 Swiss francs. Nestle is the fastest growing food maker with a balanced portfolio, according to the analyst, whose earnings per share estimates for 2025 are 7% above average.
The other two heavyweights Novartis (-0.2%) and Roche (-0.6%) weighed on the index.
The Moscow City Arbitral Court has issued a judgment prohibiting the Russian subsidiaries of Credit Suisse and UBS from freely disposing of their share capital. Asked, the management of the merged banking giant declined to comment.
The Geneva-Texan multinational Alcon maintained an upward trend between April and the end of June, both in terms of revenue and profitability. The management immediately raised its forecasts for the entire current financial year.
In the losing camp, Swatch and Lonza (each -1.7%) share the red lantern, behind Temenos (-1.5%) and Straumann (-1.1%).
The day following the figures from the dental implant specialist, JPMorgan, Bernstein and Research Partners reduced the price target while confirming “overweight” for the first two and “keep” for the third.
Richemont (-0.1%) also lost some ground. The day before, the two luxury stocks had suffered from fears linked to the economic situation in China.
Geberit (-0.6%) publishes its half-year results on Thursday. Analysts expect a turnover of 1.75 billion Swiss francs and a net profit of 397.4 million.
In the broader market, the construction group Implenia (-5.4%) saw its turnover contract slightly in the first half, but is doing well in terms of profitability. The Zurich company will benefit from the integration of Wincasa this year and confirms its objectives for the current financial year.
Feintool (+1.3%), Gurit (-1.3%), Inficon (-0.9%), Novavest (-0.3), the Cantonal Bank of St. Gallen (SGKB, -0.8% ) and VZ Holding (stable) reacted differently to the publication of their interim performance.
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