Mercedes-Benz Group raised its dividend despite posting a decline for fourth-quarter sales and net profit, and forecast lower earnings this year on geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty. The German luxury-car maker said that net profit slipped 21.5% on year to 3.16 billion euros ($3.42 billion), as inflation and supply-chain costs pressured the company’s bottom line. Analysts expected net profit to finish the quarter at EUR2.80 billion, according to Visible Alpha. Quarterly group revenue ticked down 1.8% to EUR40.26 billion after fewer cars and vans were sold. Analysts had forecast sales of EUR39.15 billion, according to Visible Alpha. For the full year, group revenue rose 2.1% compared with EUR153.22 billion. Mercedes hiked its dividend to EUR5.30 a share from EUR5.20 for 2022. Late Wednesday, the carmaker committed to share buybacks of up to EUR3 billion, expanding on a EUR4 billion program launched last year.

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The Swiss market ended on a weak note on Thursday, extending recent losses, even as markets across Europe turned in a fine performance on strong earnings updates and fairly encouraging economic data. The benchmark SMI, which edged higher at the start, retreated soon and stayed weak right till the end of the session to settle at 11,386.17, with a loss of 42.57 points or 0.37%. Nestle dropped nearly 5% after the company's full-year organic sales growth fell slightly below expectations. Sika ended 1.01% down, while Roche Holding and Swisscom ended lower by 0.87% and 0.5%, respectively. Zurich Insurance Group climbed 2.64%. Alcon, Logitech International and Swiss Re gained 2.32%, 2.22% and 2.01%, respectively. Richemont, Lonza Group, ABB and Sonova ended higher by 0.9 to 1.27%, while Partners Group, Novartis, Givaudan and UBS Group posted modest gains. In the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burge Tech tanked 11%. Lindt & Spruengli and Baloise Holding ended lower by about 1.5% and 1.25%, respectively. ams OSRAM AG rallied more than 4%. VAT Group gained nearly 4% and Temenos Group climbed 3.84%. Straumann Holding and Adecco gained 2.2% and 1.94%, respectively. Tecan Group, SGS, Ems Chemie Holding and Helvetia also ended notably higher.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Thursday with investors cheering some strong earnings updates, including U.S. tech major NVIDIA, which reported strong quarterly results and upbeat revenue guidance, in addition to digesting European and U.S. economic data. European Central Bank policymakers agreed in their meeting late January that it was premature to discuss interest rate cuts now which could derail the return of inflation to the 2% target, minutes of the policy session held on January 24-25 showed. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.82%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.29%, Germany's DAX surged 1.47% and France's CAC 40 ended 1.27% up. Switzerland's SMI ended down 0.37%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Finland, Iceland and Portugal ended weak, while Greece settled flat. In the UK market, Beazley soared 9%. Rolls-Royce Holdings climbed nearly 8.5%. The engineering firm forecast improved performance in 2024 after annual profit more than doubled last year. Anglo American Plc gained 3%. The mining giant said it would buy and integrate Vale SA's Serpentina project with its adjacent Minas-Rio mine in Brazil. Scottish Mortgage, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Intertek, RightMove, The Sage Group, Ashtead and ICP gained 2 to 4.5%. Mondi, Flutter Entertainment, Halma, Entain, DS Smith and Antofagasta also posted strong gains. WPP dropped more than 6% despite delivering full-year results largely in line with expectations. Lloyds Banking rallied sharply after reporting a significant increase in annual profit, but failed to retain gains and ended 1.7% down. Endeavour ended 4.7% down, and Tesco ended nearly 3% down. In the German market, Covestro surged 4.7%. Mercedes-Benz gained 4.7% after lifting dividend and forecasting stable revenues in FY24.

United States
Stocks showed a substantial move to the upside during trading on Thursday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq had also been poised to set a record closing high but ended the day just shy of its November 2021 levels. The major averages held on to strong gains going into the close, ending the sharply higher. The Nasdaq skyrocketed 460.75 points or 3.0 percent to 16,041.62, the S&P 500 surged 105.23 points or 2.1 percent to 5,087.03 and the Dow jumped 456.87 points or 1.2 percent to 39,069.11. The rally on Wall Street largely reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the chipmaker spiking by 16.4 percent to a record closing high. Nvidia soared after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results amid strong demand for its chips to power artificial intelligence. The company also provided upbeat revenue guidance. Shares of Nvidia have skyrocketed this year amid optimism about demand for its AI chips, and traders had been questioning whether its results would support further upside. In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended February 17th. Semiconductor stocks skyrocketed on the heels of the upbeat Nvidia earnings, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index soaring by 5.0 percent to a record closing high. Substantial strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 4.8 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Software and networking stocks also saw considerable strength, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia and Australia are little changed on Friday. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed on Friday due to the celebrations for the birthday of the Japanese Emperor.

Bonds
In the U. S. bond market, treasuries showed a lack of direction over the course of the session before closing roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, crept up by less than a basis point to 4.327 percent.

Analysis
Deutsche Bank lowers Swisscom target to CHF 465 (500) – Sell
UBS lowers FMC target to EUR 39.50 (40.50) – Neutral
UBS raises Kion target to EUR 47 (43) – Buy

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