Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock market remained in the green on Tuesday, but had slowed down significantly, pending the consumer price index (CPI) in March in the United States but also the minutes of the Fed monetary meeting. The absorption of Credit Suisse by UBS continued to take center stage with the extraordinary session of Parliament, during which the rescue operation of the bank with two veils will be discussed.
Across the Atlantic, “investors came back from Easter considering growing risks that the Federal Reserve will continue to hike interest rates following Friday’s jobs data highlighted a still strong labor market” , underlined Arthur Jurus of Oddo BHF. “The data showed an increase of 236,000 jobs last month and a drop in the unemployment rate to 3.5%. A 25 basis point Fed rate hike is now expected in May.”
With the approach of the publication of the results of the first quarter, John Plassard of Mirabaud Banque notes that this period is often considered as a “relay of growth” for the stock markets. But the first three months of 2023 might “deviate from the rule, the harbingers of the recession in the United States becoming more and more evident”. Analysts expect earnings growth to decline by 6.8% and revenue to rise by 1.8% in the United States, he said.
Around 10:45 am, the SMI index nibbled 0.07% to 11,238.31 points, the SLI 0.36% to 1,762.84 points and the SPI 0.11% to 14,663.94 points. Of the top 30 stocks, 20 were decked out in green and ten in red.
Sika (+2.6%), VAT (+2.4%) and Geberit (+2.1%) occupied the podium. For the construction chemist, Barclays lowered Sika’s price target by 10 Swiss francs but maintained its recommendation to “overweight”, expecting organic growth of 1% in the 1st quarter.
Oddo BHF started to hedge at “outperform” for the vacuum pump equipment manufacturer VAT with a target price of 400 Swiss francs.
Banks UBS (+1.6%) and Credit Suisse (+1.4%) were well placed.
In a letter, the shareholder advisory association Actares said that it “would greatly appreciate that Swiss Re (+0.7%)”, which is holding its general meeting on Wednesday, “returns to the reasonable remuneration paid in the past”. .
Straumann (-0.7%) was visibly penalized by its non-dividend salary of 0.80 francs.
Temenos was penultimate (-0.8%), despite a rather glowing comment from Research Partners, which raised its price target to 100 Swiss francs (vs. 85 Swiss francs) and confirmed to buy.
The heavyweights Nestlé and Roche were struggling, the first scooping the red lantern (-0.8%) and the second shedding 0.7%. Novartis lost 0.5%.
On the broader market, the real estate company Peach Property (+2.6%) modified the conditions of its convertible loan, which must now enable a maximum of 65 million Swiss francs to be raised.
At Softwareone (+1.7%), Daniel von Stockar will not seek a new presidential mandate. Adam Warby, current administrator of the group, is designated to succeed him.
ck/al
