Broadcom declined late Wednesday as guidance failed to impress, overshadowing the semiconductor company’s better-than-expected results. For the fiscal second quarter, Broadcom notched record quarterly earnings and revenue, amid supercharged growth in its artificial intelligence chip business. Still, Broadcom shares were down 6.1% in after-hours trading after ending Wednesday’s regular session down 0.5% to $479.23. Broadcom reported adjusted earnings of $2.44 a share for the quarter ended May 3, compared with $1.58 a share a year ago and above Wall Street’s expectation of $2.40 a share. Revenue grew 48% to $22.19 billion, edging by the analyst consensus call for $22.13 billion, according to FactSet. Revenue for the semiconductor solutions segment was $15 billion, compared with Wall Street estimates of $14.72 billion. Broadcom’s second-quarter AI revenue totaled $10.8 billion, growing 143% since last year. Looking ahead, Broadcom forecasts fiscal third-quarter revenue of about $29.4 billion, which would represent around 84% growth. Analysts expect $28.25 billion in sales in the third quarter. “The momentum continues and in Q3 we expect semiconductor revenue from AI to grow over 200 percent year-over-year to $16 billion,” CEO Hock Tan said in the earnings release.

The Swiss market stayed weak on Wednesday amid uncertainty about a full-fledged U.S.- Iran ceasefire in the Middle East following the latest wave of strikes and counterstrikes by the warring nations. The benchmark SMI ended down by 87.40 points or 0.66% at 13,218.32. The index, which edged up to 13,338.07 in early trades, dropped to a low of 13,152.78 about an hour past noon. Partners Group tanked 16.3% following the group capping withdrawals at one of its evergreen private equity funds amid heightened redemption pressure. According to a Bloomberg report, the firm said its $8.6 billion Global Value SICAV fund was limiting redemptions to 5% of net asset value per quarter after withdrawal requests surged to an estimated 9.8% in the second quarter, Logitech International ended down by about 5.2%. Lonza Group, Richemont, Zurich Insurance, UBS Group, Helvetia Baloise Holding and Galderma Group lost 1.25%-1.51%. VAT Group, Givaudan, Holcim, Swisscom, Swiss Life Holding, ABB and Nestle also ended weak.

Europe
European stocks closed lower on Wednesday as concerns about Middle East tensions and worries about fresh tariff threat by the United State rendered the mood bearish. Investors also reacted to the regional PMI data. The pan European Stoxx 600 shed 0.66%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down by 0.4%, Germany's DAX closed 1.31% down, and France's CAC 40 settled lower by 0.71%. Switzerland's SMI finished with a loss of 0.66%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye closed weak. Finland, Norway, Poland and Portugal ended higher. In the UK market, ICG tumbled 4.6%. Burberry Group closed lower by 4.27% and Fresnillo shed 3.71%. Rio Tinto, Anglo American Plc, Antofagasta, Experian, Croda International, LSEG, Standard Chartered, Barclays, St. James's Place and Lion Finance drifted down 2%-3%. Bunzl jumped 4.75%. SSE, Howden Joinery Group, Tesco, Sainsbury (J), Whitbread and United Utilities Group gained 2%-3.5%. Convatec Group, GSK, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Shell, BP, Halma, Smith & Nephew, Next, Centrica and Imperial Brands also ended with strong gains. In the German market, Scout24 drifted lower by about 5.2%. SAP, Deutsche Bank, Heidelberg Materials, Mercedes-Benz, Adidas, Continental, Vonovia, Deutsche Telekom, BMW, Porsche Automobil Holding, Allianz, Symrise, MTU Aero Engines and Commerzbank shed 2%-4.3%. RWE climbed 3.7%, Merck, Bayer and E.ON gained 1.7%-2%, while Siemens, Fresenius Medical Care, Qiagen, Rheinmetall and Daimler Truck Holding posted moderate gains. In the French market, Kering, Stellantis, Teleperformance, Capgemini, LVMH, Renault, Hermes International, L'Oreal, Edenred and Dassault Systemes lost 2%-4%. Veolia Environment jumped 2.3%. Air Liquide gained nearly 2%, while Carrefour, STMicroelectronics and TotalEnergies moved up 1.2%-1.4%.

United States
Stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Wednesday, giving back ground after trending higher over the past several sessions. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the Dow showing a notable slump. The Dow showed a downward move going into the end of the day, closing down 620.72 points or 0.7 percent at 50,687.07. The Nasdaq also slid 239.93 points or 0.9 percent to 26,853,98, while the S&P 500 fell 56.10 points or 0.7 percent to 7,553.68. In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing its reading on U.S. service sector activity increased by more than expected in the month of May. The ISM said its services PMI rose to 54.5 in May from 53.6 in April, with a reading above 50 indicating growth. Economists had expected the index to tick up to 53.7. Software stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index diving by 4 percent. A decrease by the price of gold also weighed on gold stocks, as reflected by the 3.6 percent plunge by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Telecom, airline and networking stocks also saw significant weaknesses, while strength among biotechnology, oil and semiconductor stocks helped limit the downside for the markets.

Asia
Asian stock markets are falling on Thursday, following the negative lead set by US markets. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 is down 1.5 per cent at 67,386 points, whilst the broader Topix index has lost 1.0 per cent following the previous day’s rally. The Bank of Japan is continuing to consider interest rate rises.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved lower amid the sharp increase by the price of crude oil. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 3.6 basis points to 4.491 percent.

Analysis
RBC downgrades Rio Tinto to Underperform (Sector Perform) – Target: 6,400 GBp
Bank of America raises its ArcelorMittal target to EUR 69 (62) – Buy
Bank of America lowers its Douglas target to EUR 13.90 (14.80) – Buy

Produced by MBI Martin Brückner Infosource GmbH & Co. KG on behalf of Swissquote. All news is acquired with journalistic accuracy. No liability is assumed for delays or errors.