Officials from the U.S. and China wrapped up their weekend, high-stakes trade talks, with Beijing saying the two sides agreed to start a formal negotiation process and Washington touting progress toward a deal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who led the U.S. delegation, told reporters that substantial progress was made during the marathon discussions with their Chinese counterparts, led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. Trump has opened the door for lower tariffs. He said in recent days that they couldn’t get much higher than the current 145%, so that it was likely they would eventually come down. And Friday, he suggested lowering tariffs to 80%. On Friday night, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News that the president is expected to keep significant so-called reciprocal tariffs on trade with China but may settle near 34%, which is the rate Trump announced on April 2.

On Friday, the SMI gained 0.2 per cent to 12,087 points. Of the 20 SMI stocks, there were 16 price gainers and 4 price losers. A total of 17.82 (previously: 19.79) million shares were traded. The shares of the three defensive index heavyweights showed a mixed picture. While Nestlé shares rose by 0.5 per cent, Novartis (-0.5%) and Roche (-1.2%) posted declines. Lonza shares climbed by 2.2 per cent. Vontobel analysts gave the company's first-quarter report a positive assessment, noting that business was developing well. The ‘Capsules’ and ‘Bioscience’ divisions also showed initial signs of recovery. The outlook was confirmed. In the long term, the analysts see Lonza as a clear beneficiary of outsourcing trends in pharmaceutical production. Sonova shares jumped 3.0 per cent following the results for the 2024/25 financial year.

Europe
The European stock markets closed higher on Friday, buoyed by hopes that trade tensions would ease following the agreement signed by the United States and the United Kingdom. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.4% to 538.0 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 rose by 0.6%, as did the DAX 40 in Frankfurt. The German index took the opportunity to set a new session record, at 23,543 points, having previously peaked in March. In London, the FTSE 100 advanced by 0.3%. COMMERZBANK (+4.4% in Frankfurt): on Friday, the German bank reported higher-than-expected profits and sales in the first quarter of 2025, with higher commissions offsetting lower interest income. STMICROELECTRONICS (+3.3%), INFINEON (+1.5%), ASM INTERNATIONAL (+0.3%): European semiconductor stocks soared on Friday in the wake of TSMC (+3.3% in Taiwan). The world's leading chipmaker announced a 48% jump in sales in April over one year and a 22% increase on the previous month. RENAULT (+2.2%): the carmaker revealed on Friday that it had signed a share purchase agreement with an investment services provider as part of the implementation of its share buyback programme.

United States
U.S. stocks finished the week virtually unchanged Friday, a rare respite from the turbulence that has roiled markets since President Trump unveiled global tariffs in early April. The Trump administration announced a trade deal with the U.K. and signalled a softer tone with China—floating the idea of 80% tariffs rather than 145%— but Chinese export data showed a steep decline in April. The S&P 500 index dipped early in the week before rebounding on the announcement of the U.K. deal and finished the week down 0.5% at 5659.91. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week 0.3% lower and the Nasdaq Composite ended down 0.3%. For the day, Nasdaq was flat, while the S&P fell 0.1% and the Dow dropped 0.3%. Technology and renewable energy companies outperformed, with Tesla and First Solar shares both rising about 5%. Investors were on watch Friday for comments from several Federal Reserve policymakers, after the Fed warned Wednesday that tariffs risked pushing up both unemployment and inflation, and kept interest rates on hold. Here is a round-up of the stocks most closely monitored on Wall Street on Friday. Changes shown are closing prices. BOEING (+1.6%): The British airline IAG (British Airways, Iberia) announced an order for 32 B787 wide-body jets on the occasion of the publication of its quarterly results. LYFT (+28%): The VTC service reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit and indicated that it expected gross bookings to rise by more than 10% year-on-year in the second quarter. AFFIRM HOLDINGS (-14%): The financial services company reported better-than-expected results for the third quarter of its last financial year, although its guidance for the fourth quarter was disappointing. EXPEDIA (-7.3%): The travel booking specialist published revenues in line with expectations in the first quarter although weakening demand in the United States, its main market, was mentioned. This situation persists in the second quarter, according to the group. CLOUDFLARE (+6.5%): The cybersecurity specialist posted higher first-quarter revenues and its guidance for the second quarter was in line with expectations. COINBASE (-3.5%): The cryptocurrency exchange recorded lower-than-expected adjusted net profit for the first quarter and expects subscription revenues to be lower than anticipated for the current quarter. The group also unveiled on Thursday the acquisition of Deribit, a specialist in bitcoin and ether options, for nearly $2.9 billion.

Asia
In Asia, major indexes broadly closed with gains on Monday. Reports that progress has been made in the US-Chinese bilateral negotiations over the weekend in Switzerland are fuelling confidence. According to the US side, details are to be announced later in the day. In Hong Kong, the HSI is up 0.9 per cent and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.4 per cent. In Seoul, South Korea, the Kospi rose by 0.5 per cent, while the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo fell 0.1 per cent to 27,452 points after its strong gain on Friday. Chip stocks such as Renesas Electronics (+3.0%) and Advantest (+6.7%) were among the winners in Tokyo against the backdrop of US-Chinese progress. Pharmaceutical stocks, on the other hand, are weaker following President Trump's statement that he will sign an executive order to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Chugai Pharmaceutical dropped by 9.9 per cent and Daiichi Sankyo by 7.5 per cent.

Bonds
An unsurprising Fed meeting followed by Trump’s first trade deal lift Wall Street’s risk appetite and drive Treasury yields to their second consecutive rising week. The 10-year Treasury note yield edged up to 4.39%, after rising sharply the previous day. The 2-year Treasury note yield picked up 1 basis point (0.01 percentage point) to 3.9%. The steadily rising yield reflects waning expectations that the Fed will cut rates before autumn.

Analysis
Bank of America downgrades Richemont target to CHF 175 (180) - Buy
Berenberg lowers Logitech target to CHF 88 (102) - Hold
Vontobel upgrades target Zurich Insurance to CHF 616 (611) - Hold