Nestle’s organic sales growth slowed sharply in the first months of the year as consumer demand remained weak, particularly in North America, while supply-chain disruptions continued to hold back volumes. The Swiss maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Nescafe coffee said Thursday that organic sales rose 1.4% in the first quarter, missing a company-compiled consensus of 2.9% and compared to 9.3% in the same quarter last year. Looking ahead for full-year 2024, the company still expects organic sales growth of around 4% and a moderate increase in the underlying trading operating profit margin. Underlying earnings per share in constant currency is expected to increase between 6% and 10%.

The Switzerland market ended on a weak note on Wednesday as investors largely stayed cautious and chose to lighten some commitments ahead of a slew of crucial economic data from the U.S. The benchmark SMI, which stayed weak right through the day's session, settled with a loss of 98.41 points or 0.86% at 11,370.74, the day's low. Shares of drugmaker Roche Holding ended down by 4.4% after the company reported a 6% drop in first-quarter sales. UBS Group drifted down nearly 3%. Partners Group, Lindt Spruengli, Zurich Insurance Group, Julius Baer and Alcon lost 1.3 to 2%. Swiss RE, Swisscom, Swatch Group and SIG Group ended lower by 0.9 to 1.1%. Lonza Group, Swiss Life Holding, Kuehne & Nagel and VAT Group lost 0.5 to 0.7%. Logitech International, Sika, Givaudan, SGS, Holcim and Schindler Ps gained 0.4 to 0.9%. Novartis, Straumann Holding and ABB ended marginally up. On the economic front, a report from UBS & CFA Society said the Swiss investors' sentiment index rose by 6.1 points from the previous month to 17.6 in April 2024, marking the highest reading since September 2021.

Europe
European stocks failed to hold early gains and ended weak on Wednesday with the mood turning cautious past mid afternoon as investors awaited some crucial U.S. economic data for more clarity about the outlook for interest rates. Stocks gained in strength early on in the session, reacting to a slew of strong earnings updates. Survey data from the ifo Institute showing business sentiment in Germany improved in April also aided sentiment earlier in the day. Germany's business confidence index climbed to 89.4 in April while economists had forecast the score to rise moderately to 88.9 from March's initially estimated value of 87.8. Confidence among British manufacturers improved in April and their output expectations hit the strongest in six months, the latest quarterly Industrial Trends Survey results from the Confederation of British Industry showed. The business sentiment indicator rose to +9 percent in the quarter to April from -3 percent in January. Comments by Joachim Nagel, president of Germany's Bundesbank, at the DZ Bank Capital Markets Conference 2024 that a June interest rate cut from the European Central Bank might not necessarily be followed by a series of rate cuts, hurt a bit. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.43%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100, which climbed to a fresh record high, ended down 0.06%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.27% and 0.17%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI dropped 0.86%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended weak. Iceland, Norway and Turkiye closed higher, while Austria, Greece and Netherlands ended flat. In the UK market, Anglo American Plc rallied nearly 4.5%. Reckitt Benckiser gained about 3% as it reported Q1 like-for-like net revenue growth of 1.5 percent. Rio Tinto gained 2.5%. BAE Systems, IHG, Glencore, Bunzl and Mondi advanced 1 to 2%.

United States
Stocks turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Wednesday following the strong upward move seen to start the week. After moving to the upside early in the session, the major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow edged down 42.77 points or 0.1 percent to 38,460.92, the S&P 500 crept up 1.08 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,071.63 and the Nasdaq inched up 16.11 points or 0.1 percent to 15,712.75. A positive reaction to the latest corporate earnings news initially contributed to an extended rebound on Wall Street following the considerable weakness seen last week. Shares of Tesla spiked by 12.1 percent even though the electric vehicle maker reported weaker than expected first quarter results. The surge by Tesla came after CEO Elon Musk said the company plans to start production of a new affordable model by early 2025. Semiconductor company Texas Instruments also saw significant strength after reporting first quarter results that beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines.

Asia
There is no uniform trend on the Asian stock exchanges on Thursday. Moderate rises in China were offset by falls, particularly in Japan and South Korea, while there was no trading in Australia due to the public holiday. In Japan, the fall in the yen is no longer supporting the stock market. On the contrary, calls to support the currency are getting louder from the economy of all places. This is because imports of commodities such as oil are becoming increasingly expensive due to the currency's weakness. The Nikkei-225 falls by 1.9 per cent to 37,733 points. Fanuc lost 4.2 per cent following a slump in profits. Canon lost 4.8 per cent, its earnings report for the past quarter was disappointing.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries came under pressure following the advance seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 5.4 basis points to 4.652 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises Novartis target to CHF 108 (104) – Buy
UBS lowers Temenos target to CHF 53 (56) – Sell
Deutsche Bank lowers Voestalpine target to EUR 38 (39) – Buy

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