Morning News

U.S., China Agree to Get Geneva Pact Back on Track

By Benjamin BILARD
Published on Wed, 06/11/2025 - 00:00

Topic of the day

U.S. and Chinese negotiators wrapped up two days of intense talks in London with what they said was a framework to get their trade truce back on track and ratchet down tensions between the two biggest economies. Representatives from the countries said the framework would essentially restore a pact they agreed to in Switzerland last month, a deal that saw both sides lower tariffs and was premised in part on Beijing's promise to speed up critical mineral-export licenses while the negotiators kept talking. Meanwhile, the federal appeals court on Tuesday granted the Trump administration's request to keep the president's far-reaching tariffs in effect for now but agreed to fast track its consideration of the case this summer. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit extended its earlier temporary pause of a trade court decision that found Trump exceeded his powers in imposing the tariffs.

Swiss stocks

Weighed down by significant falls in the UBS share, the Swiss stock market closed just about unchanged on Tuesday. In addition to the weakness of UBS, the 0.7 per cent drop in the defensive heavyweight Nestlé also weighed on the market. The heavily weighted pharmaceutical stocks Roche (+0.6%) and Novartis (+0.5%) prevented higher losses in the leading index. The SMI lost 0.1 per cent to 12,352 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 14 gainers and six losers. A total of 25.02 (previously: 20.16) million shares were traded. The action centred on UBS, which saw its share price plummet by 4.8 per cent. The bank had opposed the proposals to improve its capitalisation. UBS estimates the additional capital requirement at 24 billion US dollars. Following an upgrade by Barclays, Holcim climbed 1.9 per cent. ABB rose by 0.9 per cent after receiving a major order. SGS (-0.2 per cent) is buying the Dutch company Ecoloss for an undisclosed amount. Among the smaller stocks, SoftwareOne rose by 8 per cent. The IT provider expects to finalise the takeover of Norwegian IT service provider Crayon at the beginning of July. Tecan climbed 5.5 per cent following a positive analyst commentary by Berenberg. Molecular Partners (+2.7 per cent) reduced its workforce.

International markets

Europe
The European stock markets closed mixed on Tuesday, as investors analysed the latest economic indicators and scrutinised the trade talks between the United States and China. The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended flat at 553.1 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 gained 0.2% each. The DAX 40 gave up 0.6% in Frankfurt, while the FTSE 100 climbed 0.4% in London. The British index was buoyed by renewed expectations of a rate cut by the Bank of England following reports of rising unemployment and slower wage growth in recent months. Germany's DAX was hit by profit-taking in the defence sector. KERING (+2.4%): on Tuesday, the luxury group announced the acquisition of sunglass lens manufacturer Lenti, which employs around 100 people, from Italian company Safilo, specialising in the production and distribution of eyewear. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. SOCIETE GENERALE (-2.9%): Société Générale-Forge, Société Générale's subsidiary dedicated to crypto-assets, confirmed on Tuesday the forthcoming launch of a new stablecoin in dollars, the USD CoinVertible. NOVO NORDISK (+6.1%): activist hedge fund Parvus Asset Management has taken a stake in the Danish laboratory as the maker of Ozempic seeks a new chief executive following a decline in its share price.

United States
Hopes of a resolution to the trade dispute between the USA and China supported Wall Street on Tuesday. The Dow Jones index added 0.2 per cent to 42,867 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.5 and 0.6 per cent respectively. According to preliminary figures, there were 1,708 (Monday: 1,820) price gainers and 1,080 (954) price losers on the Nyse. 44 (58) stocks closed unchanged. Among the individual stocks, Disney's share price increased by 2.7 per cent. The media group had settled a protracted dispute with Comcast's NBCUniversal division over the fair value of Hulu. International Business Machines (IBM) is planning the first large quantum computer. It is to be built in the IBM data centre before the end of the decade. It is to have 20,000 times the computing power of a current quantum computer. The share price advanced by 1.6 per cent. McDonald's lost 1.4 per cent after another negative analyst commentary - Redburn Atlantic had downgraded the shares of the fast food restaurant operator to ‘sell’. Uber Technologies (-0.8%) plans to trial the use of fully autonomous vehicles on public roads in London together with Wayve Technologies. J.M. Smucker slumped 15.6 per cent after the food company spooked investors with a weak outlook. Casey's General Stores shot up 11.6 per cent following positive fourth-quarter figures. Insmed surged 28.7 per cent after promising trial results. Calavo Growers plummeted by 16.3 per cent after disappointing second-quarter figures.

Asia
Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, after Chinese and U.S. negotiators hammered out a framework to get their trade truce back on track. China’s Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.5%, led by gains in consumer products and battery stocks. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 1%. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.5%, while South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.9%. The region's markets were led by technology stocks. According to reports, the framework agreement provides for the lifting of some export restrictions on US technology to China. In Seoul, shares in the chip company SK Hynix surged by 3.9 per cent. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics added 0.9 per cent. In Tokyo, Advantest increased by 0.6 per cent, Tokyo Electron 3.9 per cent and Renesas 1.7 per cent. On the Hong Kong stock exchange, Alibaba was up by 1.5 per cent.

Bonds
U.S. government debt yields slipped on Wednesday. The 10-year Treasury note yield lost 2 basis points to 4.47 per cent. An auction of three-year US government bonds with a volume of 58 billion dollars provided relief, but hardly moved the secondary market. The issue met with solid demand, although investors were expecting a slightly higher yield than before. Most recently, a weak auction of 20-year debt instruments had caused unrest on the bond market.

Analysis
Price target Accelleron: UBS upgrades to CHF 55.80 (52.90) - Buy
Rating Holcim: Barclays raises to Overweight (Underweight) - Target CHF 109 (84)
Rating Tecan: Berenberg resumes with Buy and target CHF 220

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