Lululemon cut its outlook for the year, citing fresh challenges, including a spike in negative commentary around the brand and a lackluster response to new products. The headwinds derailed what the athleisure company said were some budding signs of positive traction in the fiscal first quarter as it worked to improve results in North America, its largest market. Lululemon said it has been dealing with a bout of new hurdles more recently, with sales trends worsening. It forecast a sales decline for the second quarter and now expects sales for the year to be down as much as 1%, compared with its prior forecast for growth of 2% to 4%. It also cut its profit outlook. Chief Financial Officer and interim co-Chief Executive Meghan Frank said the company’s brand took a beating in the media and on social channels recently, which she said dragged on traffic and overall sales. Some product launches, including a new line of yoga apparel, have also missed the company’s expectations, she said. “I want to emphasize that we are not sitting still and we are moving with urgency to make the necessary adjustments to re-accelerate momentum, particularly in North America,” Frank said during a call with analysts.

After a cautious start, stocks slowly gained in strength and stayed firm right through the session on Thursday thanks to sustained buying at several counters and eventually ended the day on a bright note. The benchmark SMI, which climbed to 13,395.00, settled at 13,341.27, gaining 122.95 points or 0.93%. Roche moved up 4.2%. The drugmaker has developed a molecular PCR test, via its subsidiary TIB MOLBIOL, to detect the rare Ebola Bundibugyo virus. Partners Group climbed 3.73%, while Novartis, Alcon, Sonova and SGS gained 1.6%-2%. Swiss Re, Julius Baer, Schindler Ps, Swiss Life Holding, Sandoz Group, Givaudan and Helvetia Baloise Holding moved up 1%-1.5%. Geberit, Straumann Holding, Kuehne + Nagel, Lonza Group and Zurich Insurance Group also closed on firm note. Logitech International shed about 2.3%. Galderma Group closed nearly 2% down, while ABB, Holci, Sika, Lindt & Spruengli and Nestle lost 0.7%-1.1%. In economic news, Switzerland's unemployment rate remained stable in May after rising to a 5-month high in the previous month, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said. The unadjusted unemployment rate stood at 3% in May, the same as in April. In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.7%. The youth unemployment rate, which applies to the 15-24 age group, also stayed unchanged at 2.7% in May.

Europe
Despite lingering concerns about U.S.-Iran tensions, European markets closed higher on Thursday as oil prices fell on news about Lebanon and Israel agreeing to implement a ceasefire aided sentiment, prompting investors to pick up stocks. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.52%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.27%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 moved up 0.6% and 1.15%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI closed 0.93% up. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland and Spain ended higher. Finland, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Russia and Türkiye closed weak, while Sweden ended flat. In the UK market, Relx surged more than 6%. LSEG gained 5.3% and JD Sports Fashion moved up 4.7%. Experian, The Sage Group, AutoTrader Group and Entain climbed 3.2%-4%. Pearson, 3i Group, Convatec Group, GSK, Haleon, AstraZeneca, ICG, Berkeley Group Holdings, SSE, Weir Group, Smith & Nephew, Informa and St.James's Place also closed with strong gains. Prudential ended weak by 7.6%. Sainsbury (J), Standard Chartered, Rio Tinto, Polar Capital Technology Trust, British American Tobacco, Vodafone Group, Antofagasta, HSBC Holdings, Scottish Mortgage, Games Workshop, Shell, Unilever, LondonMetricProperty and Anglo American Plc lost 1%-3%. In the German market, SAP climbed 5.5%. Qiagen moved up 5.4%, while Fresenius Medical Care, Merck, Scout24, Siemens Healthineers, Deutsche Bank, Bayer and MTU Aero Engines gained 2.3%-5%. Fresenius, Deutsche Boerse, Zalando, Vonovia and Heidelberg Materials also ended notably higher. Infineon drifted down 3.3%. Continental, RWE, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche Automobil Holding, Daimler Truck Holding and Siemens lost 1%-2.5%. In the French market, Capgemini rallied more than 6.5%. Dassault Systemes, Eurofins Scientific, Publicis Groupe, Airbus, Sanofi and EssilorLuxottica gained 3.7%-6%. LVMH, Bureau Veritas, Teleperformance, Thales, Safran, Kering, Societe Generale, ArcelorMittal, Hermes International, AXA, Air Liquide and Stellantis also posted strong gains.

United States
Following the pullback seen during Wednesday's session, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The Dow showed a significant move back to the upside, reaching a new record closing high. The Dow gave back some ground going into the end of the day but still jumped 874.86 points or 1.7 percent to 51,561.93. The S&P 500 also climbed 30.63 points or 0.4 percent to 7,584.31 but the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 23.02 points or 0.1 percent at 26,830.98. The rebound by the Dow partly reflected a sharp increase by shares of UnitedHealth (UNH), with the health insurance giant surging by 5.2 percent. UnitedHealth rallied in reaction to an upgrade by Bank of America, which raised its rating on the company's stock to Buy from Neutral. Dow components American Express (AXP), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Merck (MRK) also posted strong gains on the day. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq climbed well off its worst levels but still ended the day modestly lower amid weakness among technology stocks. A steep drop by shares of Broadcom (AVGO) weighed on the tech sector, as the chipmaker plunged by 12.6 percent despite reporting fiscal second quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates. Traders were seemingly disappointed that Broadcom CEO Hock Tan failed to raise the company's full-year forecast of $100 billion in AI chip sales. 'Broadcom may have emerged as a key player in the booming AI infrastructure market, with a particular expertise in the custom chips increasingly being used by the likes of Alphabet and Meta,' said AJ Bell head of markets Dan Coatsworth.

Asia
Asian stock markets fell on Thursday. Technology shares were among those sold off.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved modestly higher, largely offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by 1.4 basis points to 4.477 percent.

Analysis
Citi raises Glencore target to GBp 7.70 (6.70) – Buy
Bank of America raises Inditex target to EUR 62 (61) – Buy
Bank of America raises ASML target to EUR 1,921 (1,710) – 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.