Swiss Stock Market Remains Green, US Labor Market Shows Signs of Cooling

2023-09-04 09:30:10

Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market remained weakly anchored in the green on Monday morning, supported by a still solid US labor market but showing signs of running out of steam. The session remained very calm in the absence of Wall Street, closed due to a public holiday (Labor Day), and with very little news from the side of companies in Switzerland.

Last Friday, the highly anticipated monthly US jobs report showed that the US economy added 187,000 jobs in August, more than the 170,000 expected by economists. This upward surprise was however tempered by the downward revision, of 110,000 jobs in total, of the June and July figures.

These figures “showed that the labor market is cooling, which allows the Fed to take a break in the tightening cycle”, estimated John Plassard of Mirabaud Banque in a commentary.

“Last week ended on a positive note and this week started off on solid risk appetite, with US jobs data suggesting a slowdown in the labor market as Chinese equities bounced back on the back of new support measures from the Chinese authorities for the struggling real estate market,” summarized Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote, in a note.

The week will be punctuated by some macroeconomic data. In Switzerland, gross domestic product stalled in the second quarter on a quarterly basis, following a dynamic start to the year. The August PMI indices in China will follow on Tuesday and July retail sales in the euro zone on Wednesday as well as the August PMI indices in the United States.

Around 10:51 a.m. on the Swiss Stock Exchange, the flagship SMI index rose 0.41% to 11,120.19 points, following opening up 0.18%. The SLI gained 0.54% to 1754.60 points and the SPI gained 0.42% to 14,658.74 points. Almost all of the star values ​​remained in the green.

At the top of the rankings were now AMS-Osram (+2.2%), Straumann (+2.0%) and Swatch Group (+1.9%).

Nestlé (+0.2%) remained on the right side of the balance, following the announcement of the sale of the anti-allergic Palforzia, which it had been trying to get rid of since the end of last year. The sale price was not disclosed. The other two heavyweights went in opposite directions with Novartis (-0.3%) and Roche (+0.2%).

Apart from Novartis which was at the bottom of the pack, Swisscom (-0.1%) and Holcim (-0.2%) were the only stocks to lose ground

On the broader market, Flughafen Zürich (-0.4%) reduced its losses. The airport operator confirmed its medium and long-term financial objectives ahead of its investor day. Apart from a few minor adjustments that will be made, the group says it is on the right track to achieve its goals.

Burkhalter (+1.0%) moderated the pace, however. The building technician reported a marked increase in results, following the first full consolidation of Poenina, integrated into the group at the end of June 2022. The outlook for the current financial year is optimistic.

al/jh

1693821691
#Zurich #Stock #Exchange #SMI #poor #shape #employment #United #States