Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market should begin a timid attempt to rebound on Monday, after an unexpected upsurge in US inflation which weighed on equity markets at the end of last week. Corporate news was almost at a standstill in the face of a busy week of annual results, mostly from companies in the broader market.
Friday evening, the New York Stock Exchange ended its worst week of the year at half mast, depressed by an unexpected rebound in consumer prices. Inflation in the United States, measured by the PCE index, the most followed by the American central bank (Fed), stood at 5.4% over one year in January, against 5.3% the month before . Over one month, it accelerated to 0.6%, against 0.2% in December, while analysts were expecting +0.4%.
“This rebound in inflation seems quite logical after all,” commented John Plassard of Mirabaud Banque. According to the analyst, “Fed members have warned that rapid wage growth, in particular, could keep price increases stubbornly high even as supply chains recover and the recent spike in real estate inflation is starting to subside”.
“The ‘puzzle’ therefore continues for the American Federal Reserve which sees on the one hand inflation starting to rise again and on the other hand the (American) economic strength still being on its feet”, he said. he added in a note.
Around 8:10 a.m. on the Swiss Stock Exchange, the SMI was preparing to open up 0.21% at 11,204.70 points, according to pre-market orders compiled by the bank Julius Bär. On Friday, the flagship index closed down 0.59%.
Almost all star stocks climbed into the green, starting with Credit Suisse (+1.1%). The second banking stock UBS (+0.3%) advanced much more modestly.
The three heavyweights Nestlé, Novartis and Roche (all three +0.2%) advanced with the market.
Only “blue chips” in the red, Kühne + Nagel lost 1.5%.
The news was just as anemic on the broader market, where Dufry (+1.0%) nevertheless stood out thanks to an early cover at “overweight” and 50 Swiss francs initiated by Barclays.
Idorsia (-0.4%) was on the other hand one of the rare values of the SPI to be tinged with red, due to a lowering of the price target by Citigroup to 12.20 Swiss francs, against 14.60 francs previously Swiss. The recommendation has been maintained for sale.
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