2023-11-29 17:16:08
Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market resumed its march forward on Wednesday, ending on a positive note following two sessions of decline. The SMI rose once more above the 10,800 point mark, finishing just above this level. The corporate news front remained quiet.
In New York, Wall Street gained a little ground in the morning.
The US government has released a revision of US economic growth in the third quarter. It was revised upwards to 5.2% at an annualized rate, compared to 4.9% previously estimated. “These figures do not convey any economic pressure,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com.
“They show that indeed the American economy was booming in the third quarter despite higher interest rates (…). But activity in the fourth quarter should not be as robust,” he said. he added.
The day before, Christopher Waller, a Fed governor, had said that October’s economic data “are consistent with the type of moderation in demand and easing of price pressure that will help bring inflation back to 2%”. He was optimistic regarding the slowdown in inflation in the United States. His comments opened the door to a future rate cut, which the most impatient investors see happening next spring.
In Germany, inflation continued to fall in November to 3.2% year-on-year, the lowest since June 2021, confirming the probability of a rate cut next year by the European Central Bank (ECB), according to provisional figures.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has slightly raised its growth outlook for Switzerland. In 2023, gross domestic product (GDP) must grow by 0.8%, compared to 0.6% according to its previous projections. In 2024, it is expected to increase by 0.9% (+1.2%). For 2025, the organization issues an initial growth estimate of 1.4%.
The SMI ended up 0.39% at 10,802.88 points, with a high of 10,835.48 points and a low of 10,761.64 points at the very start of the session. The SLI gained 0.63% to 1709.77 points and the SPI 0.51% to 14,177.30 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 23 rose and seven fell.
Swiss Re and Novartis (each -0.5%) share the bottom position, behind Julius Bär, SGS, Swisscom and Nestlé (all -0.3%). Sandoz (-0.2%) also lost ground.
JPMorgan lowered Nestlé’s price target and confirmed “overweight”. The food giant should experience revenue growth of 4.3% in 2024 and real internal growth of 2.3%, according to the analyst. The latter particularly sees risks regarding the recovery of volumes in Latin America, which might in turn impact the growth of the company as a whole.
Roche (good +0.2%, carrier +0.7%) has gained ground.
Today’s podium is made up of VAT Group (+4.4%), UBS (+3.0%) and Sonova (+2.3%).
Also sought following, Richemont (+0.9%) does not plan to lend or invest in the online sales platform Farfetch, which is currently facing financial difficulties. “Richemont would like to remind its shareholders that the group has no financial obligations towards Farfetch,” the Genevan underlined in a press release.
Richemont’s competitor from Bienne Swatch (+1.5%) was also popular.
On the broader market, the struggling biopharmaceutical laboratory Spexis (-16.4%) indicated that Sprim Global Investiments (SGI), its main creditor, has agreed to begin discussions with a view to reaching an agreement on a restructuring of ready.
The Plan-les-Ouatien Addex laboratory (-1.9%) continued to draw on its reserves between July and the end of September. Cash and equivalents have consequently dwindled to less than 5 million Swiss francs.
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