Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market ended on a positive note on Thursday, regaining ground after the slight slump the day before in the wake of the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Investors regained confidence and were preparing to digest the monetary policy decisions of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) in the evening.
In New York, Wall Street progressed in the morning. Investors were digesting the previous day’s record gains following Donald Trump’s victory and were now turning their attention to the Fed’s decision.
Wall Street is “very focused on the discussions of the American central bank (Fed)” which should announce a further cut in its rates, underlined Quincy Krosby, of LPL Financial.
The Fed cut its key interest rates by half a percentage point in September, and rates are currently in the 4.75 to 5.00 percent range. A drop of a quarter of a percentage point is mostly anticipated by the markets, according to CME Groupe’s assessment.
The Bank of England, unsurprisingly, lowered its key rate by a quarter of a point, for the second time this year, to 4.75%.
The SMI ended up 0.59% at 11,917.00 points, with a high of 11,990.69 and a low of 11,855.47. The SLI gained 0.84.% to 1961.62 points and the SPI 0.56% to 15,865.33 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 23 rose, 6 fell and UBS finished unchanged.
For once, it was Novartis (-0.8%) which finished bottom, behind Sonova (-0.7%) and Givaudan (-0.4%).
The two other heavyweights Roche (+0.6%) and Nestlé (+0.1%) gained ground.
Swiss Re (+7.2%) finished on the highest step of the podium, ahead of Logitech (+3.6%) and the good Schindler (+2.2%).
The Zurich reinsurer has massively increased its reserves for its civil liability activities in the United States and has therefore significantly lowered its profit forecasts for the current financial year. But the decision was expected, with analysts judging that the relative weakness of provisions constituted the main drag on the stock for many years.
Logitech stock recovered after losing more than 5% the day before, reaching a new annual low. The market has undoubtedly expressed its fears of seeing the computer accessories manufacturer affected by increasing protectionism from the future Trump administration. The Valdo-California would, however, be armed in the face of such a scenario, noted a broker, believing that the market reaction on Wednesday was exaggerated.
The two other insurers, Zurich Insurance (+0.3%) and Swiss Life (-0.1%), performed differently.
Zurich Insurance recorded an increase in premiums in its main property and casualty business over the first nine months of 2024, benefiting in particular from a particularly strong acceleration in the Latin America region. The group collected premiums up 4% over one year to $36.13 billion in the Property & Casualty unit, its core business.
The Geneva group of luxury brands Richemont (+2.1%) finished close to the podium, on the eve of the presentation of its half-year results. Analysts expect a turnover of 10.18 billion euros and a net profit of 1.88 billion.
On the broader market, the Austrian-German semiconductor and photonics specialist AMS Osram (-13.2%) reported an improvement in its profitability in the 3rd quarter, while its revenues declined.
The insurer Bâloise (unchanged) has been the subject of rumors about a possible takeover by another major player in the insurance market, Zurich Insurance. The latter denied any interest in its Basel competitor.
The food group Orior (-4.7%) announced the immediate departure of its general director Daniel Lutz, in office for almost ten years. It is also postponing its investor day.
The private equity holding company Private Equity Holding (PEH, unchanged) recorded a loss in the first half of its 2024/2025 financial year, closed at the end of September. She puts this poor result down to inflation and a difficult geopolitical situation.
The Valiant banking group (+0.8%) improved its revenues and results over nine months with consolidated profit up 5.3% to 105 million Swiss francs. It expects an increase in its consolidated profit for the whole of 2024.
Bank Vontobel (unchanged) saw its assets under management increase over nine months thanks in particular to significant inflows of new money. The objectives are maintained and a savings program is underway.
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