Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market ended on a slightly positive note on Tuesday. After spending the morning and early afternoon clearly in the red, the SMI recovered and began to oscillate around the equilibrium, finishing on the right side of the bar. Investors were already awaiting US inflation figures on Wednesday.
In New York, Wall Street gained a little ground in the morning after an unpleasant surprise on the inflation side in the United States, wholesale prices having increased more than expected in April.
Published on Tuesday, producer prices (PPI index) in the United States accelerated in April more quickly than the markets anticipated, to +0.5% over the month compared to +0.1% in March (revised figure down) and +0.3% forecast. Over one year, wholesale prices increased by 2.2% in April, compared to 2.1% in March.
These figures made investors “wary” on the eve of the publication of the CPI general American inflation index, underlined Chris Low of FHN Financial.
“The PPI index surprised on the rise,” acknowledged Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist for HFE, in a note. “Coupled with persistent CPI inflation, the data supports the Federal Reserve’s view that rates should remain high for longer than initially expected,” she noted.
Elsewhere, inflation in Germany stabilized in April at 2.2% year-on-year, held back since the start of the year by the prices of energy and food products.
In Switzerland, producer and import prices increased in April in a monthly comparison. Swiss GDP growth should be penalized by the weak economy in the euro zone this year, UBS economists anticipate.
The SMI ended up 0.14% at 11,784.07 points, with a high of 11,791.70 and a low of 11,697.77. The SLI gained 0.36% to 1922.78 points and the SPI 0.18% to 15,739.11 points. Of the 30 star values, winners and losers balance each other out.
Lonza (-1.7%) finished bottom, behind the two stocks Roche (bearer -1.6%, good -1.4%) and Swiss Re (-1.4%).
The pharmaceutical industry supplier said it achieved results in line with its expectations in the first quarter. These, which are not quantified, allow it to confirm its objectives for the whole year.
Roche suffered from the publication by the Danish Novo Nordisk of favorable data for its hemophilia treatment Mim8, which should represent the first serious competitor to Hemlibra.
Nestlé (-0.4%) also lost ground, while Novartis (+0.5%) supported the index.
Reinsurer Swiss Re publishes its quarterly results on Thursday and analysts expect a net profit of $995 million.
Zurich Insurance (-0.6%) also reveals quarterly data on Thursday and analysts forecast a total of gross P&C (damage/accident) premiums of $12.56 billion.
Swisscom (-0.8%) has obtained the broadcast rights for Swiss football for another five years from 2025. No financial details have been disclosed.
The day after its quarterly results, Alcon (+7.5%) topped the debates, followed by Sonova (+6.8%) and Logitech (+3.0%).
The giant of ophthalmic consumables and ocular implants, whose shares were traded excluding a dividend of 24 cents, remained on the path of growth between January and the end of March. The pace is, however, less sustained than the 10% excluding currency effects posted for the last partial period of 2023.
The Zurich specialist in hearing aids and prostheses certainly saw its annual results contract, but performance partly exceeded market expectations. The management of the Stäfa group presented a new roadmap for the staggered financial year 2024-2025, banking on sales growth and favorable exchange rate effects.
On the broader market, Vetropack (+1.1%) confirmed the closure of its glass production site in St-Prex, in the canton of Vaud. A social plan will soon be put in place for the nearly 180 employees affected by the job cuts.
Hochdorf (-2.8%) holds its general meeting on Wednesday. The struggling Lucerne dairy processor has announced that a candidate for the board of directors is withdrawing his candidacy. Helmut Bösiger, although proposed by the reference shareholder Newlat, invoked “a botched restructuring plan” by the transalpine group.
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