Zurich (awp) – The Swiss Stock Exchange ended Wednesday’s session in disorganized order. The SMI, which had once again turned red at the end of the morning, beginning of the afternoon, registered its highest of the day in the middle of the afternoon before weakening and falling again to stabilize around the balance in the wake of Wall Street.
Caution remains in order as the rest of the week will be marked by the monetary policy decisions of the European Central Bank on Thursday and the official employment statistics for May in the United States on Friday. Investors also digested a disappointing manufacturing index published the day before across the Atlantic and the “growing uncertainties about the direction the US economy is taking”, noted Pierre Veyret, at Activtrades.
In New York, Wall Street lost ground in the morning, hesitating while waiting for news from the American labor market.
“Investors are waiting for more data that could increase concerns about the health of the economy,” said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.
“After Monday’s figures showed that factory production slowed, attention now turns to a report that is expected to show a monthly decline in job openings,” he said, referring to the JOLTS survey of the Ministry of Labor on job offers.
In Switzerland, inflation remained stable in May at 1.4%, within the range of 0 to 2% considered acceptable by the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The low price pressure could motivate the SNB to consider a further cut in the key rate at its next meeting in mid-June.
In Germany, the unemployment rate stagnated over the same period, at 5.9%.
The SMI ended with a minimal gain of 0.02% at 12,008.94 points, with a high of 12,064.99 and a low of 11,967.50. The SLI lost 0.06% to 1,948.79 points and the SPI dropped 0.02% to 15,978.79 points. Of the 30 star stocks, 14 rose, 15 fell and Novartis finished stable. The latter raised no less than 2.2 billion Swiss francs in five tranches.
Today’s podium is made up of Lonza (+1.6%), carrier Roche (+1.4%) and Nestlé and Givaudan (each +1.2%).
The Vevey giant’s shares have been on a downward trend for around a year. Inflationary fears and internal problems such as disappointing organic growth are the main reasons. But since the “Fireside Chat” that the group’s managing director Mark Schneider led last week with JPMorgan, and therefore just before the investors’ conference in June, the title has come back to life. The boss painted a positive picture of real internal growth (RIG), which could further strengthen during the year, according to the market.
Good Roche (+0.9%) also occupies the top of the table,
In the losing camp, UBS Group (-2.3%) finished bottom, behind SIG Group (-2.2%) and Swiss Re (-1.8%).
Julius Bär (-1.2%) and Zurich (-0.8%) also lost weight.
According to brokers, the packaging manufacturer’s stock is suffering from spite sales. As for banking and insurance stocks, they were struggling at the European level.
Bank of America raised Logitech’s price target (-0.3%) and confirmed “buy”. The analyst believes that demand for conventional laptop computers (PCs) remains rather moderate, but a refresh cycle could take place from 2026. The launch of PCs with artificial intelligence this year and next year should help the valdo- Californian to sell more PC peripherals and higher-margin categories like webcams.
On the broader market, the piston compressor manufacturer Burckhardt Compression (+4.0%) posted a significantly improved performance during the staggered 2023/24 financial year. The Zurich company, whose sales grew to a record level, saw its net profit jump 28.7% over one year to 90.1 million Swiss francs. Shareholders will be offered the payment of a dividend of 15.50 Swiss francs per share, an increase of 3 Swiss francs.
The online apothecary Docmorris (-7.2%) suffered from a lowering of its price target by UBS which confirmed its sell recommendation. Analyst Vogel recalls that the company operates in a German market generously supplied with stationary pharmacies.
The action of the dermatological and cosmetic laboratory Galderma (+2.4%) will be integrated into the Stoxx Europe 600 at the end of June.
The banking software publisher Temenos (-3.4%) announced a new collaboration with Mastercard. This partnership aims to accelerate the implementation and delivery to banks and their customers of Mastercard Move, Mastercard’s portfolio of money transfer capabilities.
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