Like last week, the Swiss Stock Exchange hesitated Monday morning as to the direction to take, while Wall Street ended Friday in disorganized order. The corporate news front being bare, investors will focus in particular on some macroeconomic data, including Seco’s growth forecasts for Switzerland.
Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, the S&P 500 ended its series of four consecutive record closes, ending slightly lower. The Nasdaq rose by 0.1%, extending its series of record closes to five, observes John Plassard of Mirabaud Banque. Market sentiment was dampened by Michigan’s consumer confidence index which unexpectedly fell to a seven-month low and rising five-year inflation forecasts, the report added. expert.
Among the first information of the day, retail sales increased by 3.7% year-on-year in May in China, after an increase of 2.3% the previous month. On the other hand, growth in industrial production slowed, posting an increase of 5.6%, compared to 6.7% in April, a sign of an uneven recovery in the world’s second largest economy.
In Switzerland, the State Secretariat for the Economy (Seco) raised its forecast for growth in gross domestic product (GDP) excluding sporting events to 1.2% this year, compared to 1.1% previously, while now that expected for 2025 at 1.7%. As for the Center for Economic Research (KOF) of the ETH, it has reduced its expectation of GDP growth to 1.3% in 2024, compared to 1.6% previously.
After starting the session with an imperceptible decline of 0.01%, the SMI remained below the waterline at 12,041.39 points (-0.03%) shortly before 9:20 a.m., the flagship index being weighed down by its three heavyweights , namely the good Roche and the registered Novartis (both -0.9%) as well as that of Nestlé (-0.1%). The Swiss Leader Index (SLI), on the other hand, increased by 0.25% to 1,953.01 points and the expanded Swiss Performance Index (SPI) indicator by 0.1% to 16,009.72 points.
Of the thirty constituent values of the SLI, ten lost ground and nineteen gained ground, while Sonova stood still.
At the top of the table, Julius Bär (+2.2%) embarked on a breakaway, followed by VAT Group (+1.5%) and UBS (also 8+1.5%). The number one Swiss bank has presented an offer to withdraw from Credit Suisse’s Supply Chain funds, linked to the British factoring company Greensill, which filed for bankruptcy in spring 2021. The proposal includes reimbursement to 90% share holders of the net asset value of said funds as of February 25, 2021, after deduction of reimbursements already made.
At the last count just a year ago, the number two Swiss bank since bought by the number one announced a seventh payment to investors in the Greensill fund, bringing the total repayment to 7 billion dollars. The late bank with two veils assured that it had recovered 7.4 billion, out of the 10 billion in funds under management at the time of their suspension.
Other financial stocks were also in demand, with Swiss Life taking 0.8%, Partners Group 0.6%, Zurich Inusrance 0.4% and Swiss Re 0.2%.
At the bottom of the ranking, the Basel pharmaceutical giant Novartis inherited the red lantern behind competitor and neighbor Roche, Lindt (-0.3%) and Nestlé. Kühne +Nagel (-0.1%), Swatch Group (-0.1%) Logitech and Swisscom (both -0.2%).
Pierer reviews his ambitions
On the broader market, Pierer seriously stalled (-10.96%) shortly after 10:00 a.m. Faced with the slowdown in its sales dynamics in the United States and Europe, the Wels group revised downwards its ambitions for the current financial year on Friday evening. The Austrian two-wheeler manufacturer now anticipates a decline in its revenues of 10 to 15% compared to 2023, whereas it had previously expected stable turnover and an operational loss. (AWP)
