Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market hesitated between red and green on Tuesday, finally ending on a positive note. Investors were awaiting decisions from the American Federal Reserve (Fed), whose monetary committee met this Tuesday and Wednesday.
In New York, Wall Street lost ground in the morning, caution prevailing before the two-day meeting of the Fed’s monetary committee.
“(Investors) are showing restraint before the Fed and other macroeconomic news of the week,” Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital commented to AFP. At the end of the Fed’s monetary policy meeting, which kicks off on Tuesday, the vast majority of market players are counting on a new cut of a quarter of a percentage point after the reductions of September and november.
“The market is expecting a quarter-point cut and (Fed officials) to suggest they are ready to take a break,” Cardillo said.
In Switzerland, the outlook for the economy has deteriorated slightly compared to the forecasts put forward this fall by economists from the Center for Economic Studies (KOF) and the State Secretariat for the Economy (Seco). They explain it by the uncertain evolution of the international context, particularly in Germany and France.
Real gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for sporting events, is expected to increase by 0.9% in 2024, compared to 1.1% previously, according to the KOF. For 2025, the planned increase is 1.4%, instead of 1.6%, and 1.7% in 2026, as announced this fall. Seco experts, for their part, expect an acceleration of 1.5% in 2025, compared to 1.6% predicted in September.
The SMI ended up 0.33% at 11,740.52 points, with a high of 11,744.28 and a low of 11,622.55. The SLI gained 0.14% to 1941.20 points and the SPI 0.25% to 15,619.46 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 16 rose and 14 fell.
VAT Group (+2.2%) finished on the top step of the podium, ahead of Richemont (+1.4%) and Sonova (+1.3%). Logitech (+1.2%) took the chocolate medal. According to brokers, technology stocks have benefited from the craze for this category of investments on Wall Street.
The other luxury stock, Swatch Group (+0.4%) also gained ground.
In the heavyweight camp, Nestlé (+1.0%) supported the index, as did Novartis (+0.8%) and Roche (+0.6%).
The Vevey giant’s shares benefited from a resumption of coverage at “buy” and a target of 86 Swiss francs by Goldman Sachs. The analyst says he is confident about the long-term organic growth objective of 4%. He considers the coffee, animal feed and health segments particularly attractive.
On the other hand, the future of Nestlé’s bottled waters in France is in question, as the group evaluates options for this portfolio which also includes the Italian brands San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna. It must become its own unit on January 1st.
“It is very unclear about the continuation of the activity,” Christophe Kauffmann, federal secretary CFDT Agri-Agro, expressed concern to the AWP agency. “We have no information on how this desire to isolate the activity and the search for partners will materialize” for this category of products which achieved 3.3 billion Swiss francs in turnover. last year.
The telecommunications giant Swisscom (+0.3%) is expanding its storage capacities with the acquisition of a computing center in Bonvillars, near Yverdon-les-Bains. The acquisition guarantees the conservation of data on Swiss soil, the blue giant said in a press release.
On the losing side, the red lantern goes to Kühne+Nagel (-1.7%), behind Julius Bär (-0.9%), Lonza and Adecco (each -0.8%).
Sandoz (-0.7%) also lost ground. The juggernaut of generic and biosimilar drugs settled a collective complaint in the United States relating to pricing issues, for $275 million. An additional provision of 265 million was set up to cushion the impact of other procedures.
On the broader market, industrialist Georg Fischer (-1.5%) finalized the acquisition of the Traisen foundry, located southwest of Vienna, after a long-standing collaboration with Voestalpine for the manufacture of fittings. piping. The real estate company Plazza (+3.1%) issued a positive warning on results for the year which is ending.
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