The cement manufacturer Holcim is completely reorganizing itself by spinning off its U.S. business. The Swiss company appointed Miljan Gutovic as the new CEO effective May 1. Jan Jenisch, the previous CEO, will in future focus on his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Holcim, the Group announced. At the same time, Holcim announced its intention to float its North American business on the U.S. stock exchange as a fully independent company. The transaction is to be carried out as a spin-off and will therefore benefit all shareholders. The move is planned for the first half of 2025, when the U.S. company will implement an accelerated growth strategy with the aim of generating more than 20 billion USD in sales and over 5 billion USD in EBIT with industry-leading margins by 2030. Following the spin-off, the Swiss company itself aims to achieve net sales of 22 billion Swiss francs and EBIT of over 4 billion Swiss francs as well as free cash flow of more than 3 billion Swiss francs by 2030.

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The Switzerland market ended on a buoyant note on Friday, tracking positive cues from other markets in Europe, thanks to a batch of encouraging data and signs of cooling inflation. The benchmark SMI ended with a strong gain of 181.11 points or 1.62% at 11,390.13. The index scaled a low of 11,239.14 and a high of 11,421.24 intraday. Lonza Group soared 14.4%. The company reported sales of CHF 6,717 million for the year 2023, compared to CHF 6,223 million in the previous year. Net income for the full-year was CHF 654 million compared to CHF 1,215 million a year ago, the company sid. Richemont surged 6.2%, while Nestle and Roche Holding ended higher by 2.4% and 2.25%, respectively. Sika climbed 1.77%. Givaudan, Swisscom and Geberit gained 1.28%, 1.16% and 1%, respectively. Sonova, Swiss Life Holding and ABB posted moderate gains. Logitech International and Novartis closed modestly lower, while Holcim edged down marginally. In the Mid Price Index, SGS zoomed more than 9%. Tecan Group surged 5.4%, Meyer Burger Tech gained 4.26% and Julius Baer climbed 3.58%. Barry Callebaut and Swatch Group gained 3.2% each, Ems Chemie Holding, Straumann Holding, Belimo Holding and Adecco gained 2 to 3.25%, while Clariant and SIG Combibloc advaned 1.53% and 1.46%, respectively. ams OSRAM AG, BKW and VAT Group lost 1.14 to 1.33%.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Friday, with several markets, including France, posting multi-year, or all-time highs, on fairly encouraging economic data. Data showing a jump in French consumer confidence in January, and signs of cooling inflation in the euro area contributed to the firm undertone in European markets. U.S. consumer price inflation data helped as well. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.11%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.4%. Germany's DAX gained 0.32%, and France's CAC 40 surged 2.28% to a record closing high, while Switzerland's SMI ended 1.62% up. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Portugal ended weak, while Iceland settled flat. In the UK market, Diageo surged more than 5%, cheered by impressive sales report from French luxury goods company LVMH. Croda International, Burberry Group, Vodafone, St. James's Place, Rentokil Initial, Spirax-Sarco Engineering and Beazley gained 3 to 5%. United Utilities, Barclays Group, Natwest Group, Prudential, Flutter Entertainment, Unilever, RS Group, Standard Chartered, HSBC Holdings, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Reckitt Benckiser, ICH, Mondia, Severn Trent, Phoneix Holdings and Rightmove gained 2 to 3%. Centrica dropped more than 3%.

United States
After trending higher over the past several sessions, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Friday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed. While the S&P 500 edged down 3.19 points or 0.1 percent to 4,890.97 and the Nasdaq fell 55.13 points or 0.4 percent to 15,455.36, the narrower Dow rose 60.30 points or 0.2 percent to a new record closing high of 38,109.43. Despite the mixed performance on the day, the major averages all moved higher for the week. While the S&P 500 jumped by 1.1 percent, the Nasdaq advanced by 0.9 percent and the Dow climbed by 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth in the month of December. The report said the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, slowed to 2.9 percent in December from 3.2 percent in November. Economists had expected core price growth to decelerate to 3.0 percent. Most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets. Semiconductor stocks moved sharply lower amid the steep drop by Intel, however, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunging by 2.9 percent. Shares of KLA Corp. (KLAC) also slumped after the semiconductor equipment maker reported better than expected fiscal second quarter results but provided disappointing fiscal third quarter guidance. Airline stocks also moved to the downside on the day, while some strength was visible among oil producer and steel stocks.

Asia
At the start of the new trading week, the East Asian stock markets and Sydney are on the rise. According to market participants, the latest robust US economic data is fueling confidence, as is the continuing trend of declining inflation in the US. In Tokyo, players are also relying on positive news from companies' quarterly reports, while new aid measures for the struggling property sector are brightening the mood on Chinese stock exchanges. The fact that a Hong Kong court has ordered the liquidation of the highly indebted Chinese construction group Evergrande is only weighing on Evergrande's already low share price, which has slumped by around 20 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved modestly lower after seeing early volatility. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.8 basis points to 4.160 percent.

Analysis
Citi lowers STMicro to EUR 75 (80) – Buy
BoA raises JCDecaux target to EUR 23 (22) – Buy
Citi lowers Delivery Hero to EUR 38 (39) – Buy

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