Meta Platforms has agreed to buy 6 gigawatts’ worth of artificial intelligence computing power from Advanced Micro Devices in a deal valued at more than $100 billion that could result in Meta owning as much as 10% of AMD’s stock. The deal, announced by the companies Tuesday, represents a coup for AMD in its effort to challenge Nvidia in the market for selling graphics processing units, or GPUs—the microchips powering the AI boom. Under the agreement, Meta will buy enough of AMD’s latest chips, known as the MI450 series, to power data centers using up to 6 gigawatts of computing power over the next five years. Each gigawatt of computing power means several tens of billions of dollars in revenue for AMD, the company said. Meta is expected to deploy the first gigawatt starting later this year. As part of the arrangement, AMD has agreed to give Meta warrants to buy up to 160 million AMD shares - or roughly 10% of the company - for $0.01 apiece, as long as certain milestones are met. The full stock award is conditional on a rise in AMD’s share price. Advanced Micro Devices climbed 8.8%.

The Swiss stock market ended Tuesday's session with a sharp rise, with the SMI sending the counters into a frenzy and continuing its pursuit of records before running out of steam. At the close of trading, the Swiss Market Index (SMI) ended with a jump of 0.91% to 13,997.13 points. The Swiss Leader Index (SLI) ended the day up 0.6% at 2,202.56 points, and the broader Swiss Performance Index (SPI) gained 0.78% to 19,199.48 points. Of the 30 stocks in the SLI, 10 lost ground and 19 gained, while defensive stock Swisscom ended the day unchanged. At the top of the table, chocolate maker Lindt's participation certificate (+2.2%) finished on the top step of the podium, ahead of computer accessories and peripherals specialist Logitech (+2.1%) and US cement manufacturer Amrize (+2.0%). With the exception of Switzerland's leading bank UBS (-1.3%), the heavyweights on the index provided strong support, with food giant Nestlé taking off by 1.9% and pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Roche gaining 1.3% and 1% respectively. In corporate news, insurer Zurich (+0.2%) set its sights on Australian pension specialist ClearView, valued at AUD 415 million (CHF 227 million).

Europe
The major European stock markets spent much of Tuesday's trade hugging the line before finally splitting off and ending on oppositive sides and little changed. The DAX in Germany slipped 5.72 points 0.02 percent to finish at 24,986.25, while the FTSE in London eased 4.15 points or 0.04 percent to close at 10,680.59 and the CAC 40 in France rose 22.04 points or 0.26 percent to end at 8,519.21. In Germany, Fresenius Medical Care plummeted 7.51 percent, while MTU Aero Engineers stumbled 6.64 percent, RWE rallied 1.93 percent, Deutsche Bank dropped 1.74 percent, Infineon Technologies jumped 1.72 percent, Volkswagen vaulted 1.70 percent, Bayer slumped 1.07 percent, Vonovia advanced 0.91 percent, Deutsche Post sank 0.79 percent and Deutsche Telekom added 0.21 percent. In London, Antofagasta spiked 3.23 percent, while Rentokil Initial declined 2.96 percent, Rightmove dropped 2.07 percent, Rolls-Royce sank 1.73 percent, Experian rallied 1.47 percent, Compass Group climbed 1.35 percent, Prudential shed 0.98 percent, Centrica slipped 0.88 percent, British American Tobacco fell 0.87 percent, Tesco added 0.44 percent and BAE Systems perked 0.19 percent. In France, Atos plunged 2.34 percent, while Vivendi tumbled 2.25 percent, Orange jumped 1.75 percent, Carrefour strengthened 1.67 percent, Veolia Environment expanded 1.50 percent, BNP Paribas slumped 1.43 percent, Credit Agricole dropped 1.12 percent, Schneider Electric gained 1.08 percent, Societe Generale lost 0.70 percent and Sanofi dipped 0.19 percent. In economic news, French manufacturing sentiment weakened to a three-month low in February on falling production outlook and orders, survey results from the statistical office INSEE showed Tuesday. The manufacturing confidence index dropped more-than-expected to 102 from 105 in the previous month. The score was forecast to drop marginally to 104. This was the lowest reading since November and remained below its long-term average of 100. UK retailers reported a sharp decline in sales in February due to poor weather conditions, the Distributive Trades Survey results from the Confederation of British Industry showed on Tuesday. The retail sales balance fell to -43 percent in February from -17 percent in January. However, the pace of decline is expected to ease next month as the balance rose to -17 percent.

United States
The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Tuesday, as easing concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) provided relief to the technology sector, particularly software. After a sharp decline the previous day, the Dow Jones gained 0.76%, the technology-heavy Nasdaq index rose 1.04% and the broader S&P 500 index gained 0.77%. Keysight Technologies rallied 23% to become the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 after the electronics test equipment manufacturer beat earnings and revenue estimates for its fiscal first quarter. Keysight is still benefiting from the AI boom, which has driven up data-center demand for its products. U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk slid 2.6% after the company said it planned to slash GLP-1 list prices by up to 50% in the U.S. to cut costs for insured patients. Shares sank 16% on Monday after Novo said its CagriSema weight-loss drug had failed to outperform Eli Lilly’s Zepbound in a clinical trial. Eli Lilly fell 1.6% on Tuesday. IBM gained 2.7%. Shares plummeted 13% on Monday after a blog post from AI start-up Anthropic detailed how its Claude Code tool can modernize the computer programming language used on IBM mainframes. It was the stock’s largest one-session percentage decline in more than 25 years, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Asia
The Asian stock markets are in rally mode on Wednesday. Fuelled by the strength of technology stocks, the indices in Japan and South Korea marched to record highs. In Australia, even high inflation, which is triggering speculation of interest rate hikes, is not slowing down the buying mood, with the index reaching record highs here too. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 shoots up by 2.6 per cent to 58,800 points. One of the biggest winners on the leading Japanese index was Nomura Research Institute, the share of an AI user that had recently suffered due to disruptive AI concerns. The share price rose by 6.2 per cent. The semiconductor stocks Advantest and Renesas jumped by 7.3 and 4.0 per cent respectively.

Bonds
On the U.S. bond market, prices fell slightly, which market participants explained by investors' declining need for security. On the other hand, yields rose by just under 1 basis point to 4.03 per cent in the ten-year segment.

Analysis
UBS lowers Galenica to Sell (Neutral) – Target CHF 86 (85)
Berenberg lowers Pernod Ricard target to EUR 97.50 (99.10) – Buy
Citi raises BHP target to GBP 28 (26) – Neutral

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