The Swiss Stock Exchange was well anchored in the green in the morning of Thursday, after having opened in confidence despite the entry into force of customs duties of 39% imposed by the United States in Switzerland. The displacement of the president of the Confederation to Washington has not so far been inflected the position of Donald Trump. On the front of business results, the semi -annual figures for Zurich Insurance and Swisscom, long -awaited from investors, were revealed.
“Although Switzerland has expressed its desire to revise its commercial proposal, the situation remains uncertain and prolonged disturbances could place Swiss companies in a situation of significant competitive disadvantage”, are of the opinion analysts of the UBS bank. Their basic scenario remains positive, however, since it expects a tariff agreement between Switzerland and the United States “similar to that concluded between the EU and the United States, reducing customs duties to 15%”.
However, the outcome of tariff surveys conducted by the United States for article 232 and the efforts made by Donald Trump to lower the prices of medicines will have a decisive impact on foreign trade, they add.
The discussions of Karin Keller-Sutter, accompanied by the head of the Department of Economy (DEFR) Guy Parmelin, with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “will not dissipate the concerns about the customs duties of 150 to 250% that Trump wishes to impose on imports of pharmaceutical products”, notes the expert of Swissquote Ipek Ozkardekaya, automobile. “But, of course, as a single man decides as he sees fit and no one can prevent it, uncertainty and lack of visibility will remain on the agenda for years,” she said.
“The threat remains lively (…) This morning in Bern, the stupor dominates and the criticisms are bursting, some accusing Keller-Sutter of having underestimated the balance of power, others pointing the responsibility of the large exporting groups”, points out for his part John Plassard, the partner of the bank Cité Gestion, head of the investment strategy.
At 10:47 am on the Zurich Stock Exchange, the Swiss Market Index (SMI) had gained ground, taking 0.65% at 11,831.59 points, the Swiss Leader Index (SLI) getting 0.92% to 1977.04 points and the Swiss Performance Index (SPI) from 0.83% to 16.413.19. Of the 31 main valuations, 26 progressed and five retreated.
Sandoz was still at the top of the race, up 6.9% now. The turnover of the producer of generic drugs swelled 4% over one year to $ 5.23 billion (4.22 billion francs).
It was followed by Geberit (+3.2%) and Adecco (+2.6%). Vontobel noted the price of courses of the sanitary technique group at 550 francs. As for the specialist in temporary work, Bernstein SG has raised its objective at 27.50 francs, and Morgan Stanley at 21.50 francs, while Vontobel lowered it to 35 francs.
Swisscom climbed 0.9%. The semi -annual turnover of the telecoms giant was tied 2.3% at an annual rate at 7.45 billion francs.
Amrize still lost ground, displaying the most important decline (-8.9%), after having published his results for the first time for the first time since his empowerment of his parent company, Zugois Holcim. The group of building materials, listed in Zurich and New York, displays almost stable income of 3.22 (3.24) billions of dollars in the second quarter.
He was followed by Straumann (-0.3%) and Lonza (-0.2%). Novartis then came (-0.1%). Among the other heavyweights, Roche had passed into positive territory (+0.8%), while Nestlé grew up 0.4%.
Zurich Insurance earned 1.5%. The insurer has limited the impact of natural disasters and other damage to its results in the first half, in particular thanks to a more selective subscription policy and by increasing its premiums on average by 3% in damage insurance.
On the enlarged market, Swissquote was in the lead peloton (+6%). Deutsche Bank began to cover the online bank with a “buy” recommendation and a price target of 620 francs. Galenica released 0.2% following the publication of a half -year turnover increasing by 5% over one year to 1.99 billion francs. (Awp)
