Goldman Sachs said its profit jumped 19% in the first quarter, powered by a resurgence in deal activity and volatile markets. But the bank’s stock fell around 3% as investors worried the war in Iran would slow Wall Street’s performance for the rest of the year. Chief Executive David Solomon said he expected companies would still push ahead on plans for dealmaking despite the war-related volatility. Solomon said that the executives he has spoken with “believe they have an opportunity to drive scale and consolidation” that wasn’t possible under the Biden administration. Still, the uncertainty caused by the war could disrupt plans to buy and sell companies or take them public, and it already had quelled what was expected to be a boom in initial public offerings, Solomon said. “With the conflict in the Middle East, IPO activity slowed a little bit, particularly in March,” he said in a call with analysts. “The level of uncertainty is higher.”

The failure of negotiations to resolve the Iran conflict also weighed somewhat on the Swiss stock market on Monday, particularly as oil prices rose sharply again, climbing above the $100-per-barrel mark. The SMI fell by 0.3 per cent to 13,141 points. Among the 20 SMI constituents, 11 shares fell and eight rose, whilst one share closed unchanged. Trading volume stood at 19.04 million shares (previously: 22.11 million). UBS shares gained 1 per cent, appearing unfazed by figures from US bank Goldman Sachs. Although the bank had taken in and earned more than expected in the first quarter, its business in fixed-income securities, commodities and currencies was in decline, putting the share under pressure. The earnings season is also gradually getting underway in Switzerland. On the day before the publication of its first-quarter revenue figures, Givaudan fell by 0.5 per cent. Sika is also set to report on its first-quarter revenue on Tuesday. Its shares fell by 0.9 per cent.

Europe
European stocks fell on Monday as growth worries resurfaced again after oil prices rose sharply following the U.S. beginning to block ships from entering or exiting the Strait of Hormuz, aiming to pressure Iran to reopen the key oil route. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.16%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed 0.17% down, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.26% and 0.29%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI finished with a loss of 0.28%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Repblic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye closed weak. Finland, Netherlands and Russia ended higher, while Poland closed little changed from previous close. Metlen Energy & Metals, The Sage Group, 3i Group, LSEG, BAE Systems, Admiral Group, Pearson, Entain, Relx, Lion Finance, ICG, Shell, Experian, St. James's Place and Games Workshop gained 1%-3.2%. In the German market, Deutsche Telekom tumbled more than 6%. Continental shed about 2.3%, while Deutsche Post, Brenntag, Volkswagen, Adidas, Symrise, Heidelberg Materials, Henkel and E.ON lost 1%-2%. Rheinmetall gained nearly 3%. SAP moved up 2.3% and Bayer climbed 1.7%, while Merck, Deutsche Boerse, Qiagen, Muich RE and Mercedes-Benz posted moderate gains. In the French market, Danone, Stellantis, Veolia Environment, Kering, Orange, Societe Generale, EssilorLuxottica, Legrand and Safran lost 1%-3%. Dassault Systemes climbed about 4.3%. Thales, Teleperformance, Capgemini, Publicis Groupe, TotalEnergies and Eurofins Scientific gained 1%-2.5%. In the UK market, United Utilities, Severn Trent, National Grid, Marks & Spencer, Fresnillo, Associated British Foods, Endeavour Mining, AstraZeneca, Convatec Group, Reckitt Benckiser, IAG, Coca-Cola HBC, Vodafone Group and Barclays lost 1%-2.3%.

United States
Stocks moved to the downside early in the session on Monday but showed a significant turnaround over the course of the trading day. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and firmly into positive territory. The major average saw further upside late in the day, reaching new highs for the session. The Nasdaq surged 280.84 points or 1.2 percent to 23,183.74, the S&P 500 jumped 69.35 points or 1.0 percent to 6,886.24 and the Dow climbed 301.68 points or 0.7 percent to 48,218.25. The strength that emerged on Wall Street came as traders kept an eye on developments in the Middle East after weekend talks between the U.S. and Iran failed to produce an agreement. 'They have chosen not to accept our terms,' U.S. Vice President JD Vance said in a brief news conference but left open the possibility that terms could still be reached. Iran said that 'unreasonable U.S. demands' prevented the progress of the negotiations. Traders were also looking ahead to the start of earnings season, with companies largely expected to report strong financial results despite the Middle East conflict. Software stocks moved sharply higher following recent weakness, resulting in a 4.6 percent spike by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. Substantial strength also emerged among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 4.4 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Brokerage stocks also showed a significant move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index up by 2.9 percent. Transportation, semiconductor and networking stocks also saw considerable strength, while utilities and natural gas stocks moved to the downside.

Asia
Stock markets in East Asia are following Wall Street’s stronger lead on Tuesday. The clear standout of the day is the Seoul stock exchange. The heavily technology-weighted Kospi has surged by 3.5 per cent to hit a record high. The drivers behind this are the tech heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, with gains of 3.9 and 7.9 per cent respectively.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries showed a lack of direction over the course of the session before closing moderately higher. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 1.8 basis points to 4.299 percent.

Analysis
BoA cuts the MTU target to EUR 395 (415) – Buy
Barclays cuts the Dormakaba target to CHF 82 (83) – Overweight
Barclays cuts the Ryanair target to EUR 31 (32.50) – Overweight

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