Gucci owner Kering has reported accelerated sales growth for the final quarter of 2025. The group is pushing ahead with its restructuring plan to lure customers back into its boutiques. The Paris-based group posted sales of €3.905 billion ($4.65 billion) in the fourth quarter, an important shopping period with Black Friday and Christmas. Although the result represented a 9 percent decline on a year-on-year basis, it was an improvement on the previous quarter. At that time, the company had recorded a 10 percent decline in sales to €3.415 billion. The main brand, Gucci, recorded sales of €1.62 billion in the fourth quarter, a 16 percent decline compared to the previous year. Analyst estimates according to Factset data were €1.61 billion. In the previous three months, the brand's sales had fallen by 18 percent. For the current year, the company, whose brand portfolio also includes Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Bottega Veneta, expects a return to growth and an improvement in margins.

The Swiss stock market traded slightly higher at the start of the week. The SMI rose 0.1 percent to 13,518 points. Liquidity continued to flow into cyclical sectors such as industry, commodities, and banking, according to market observers. In terms of individual stocks, construction sector shares were once again in demand. Here, Holcim (+2.5%) and Amrize (+2.7%) further extended their recent gains. ABB shares also climbed another 2.2 percent. UBS shares added 0.4 percent. Unicredit's strong earnings figures provided support here, which also boosted the European banking sector. In contrast, the defensive index heavyweights Nestlé (-0.6%), Novartis (+0.2%) and Roche (-0.7%) tended to show declines.

Europe
European stock markets started the week on a positive note, with a new wave of corporate earnings reports set to dominate the week ahead. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.7% on Monday to close at 621.4 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 rose 0.6%. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 climbed 1.2% and the FTSE 100 edged up 0.2% in London. STMICROELECTRONICS (+9.8%): The semiconductor manufacturer announced on Monday that it would continue its expanded strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) as part of a multi-year, “multi-billion dollar” agreement. ERAMET (-6%): The mining group confirmed on Monday the suspension of its chief financial officer, Abel Martins-Alexandre, as reported by the Financial Times on Friday. Eramet stressed that “this situation [was] unrelated to the departure of Paulo Castellari from his position as chief executive officer.” The group parted ways with Paulo Castellari earlier this month due to differences over “operating methods.” THALES (+4.2%): The technology and defense group revealed on Monday its intention to recruit more than 9,000 people worldwide this year, including 3,300 in France.

United States
The stock-market rebound kept rolling on Monday, extending the ride that took the Dow industrials to a record 50000 Friday after a steep selloff early last week. Technology stocks led the way higher as investors bought into both software companies and artificial-intelligence giants that were beaten up in last week’s downturn. The Nasdaq composite closed up 0.9%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished less than 0.1% higher at a new closing record, 50135.87. Shares of Ciena, a provider of high-speed networks and related software, jumped 6.8%, while game maker Take-Two Interactive Software gained 4.8% and business-software developer ServiceNow climbed 3.1%. Investors also bought into stocks of companies tied to the AI build-out that were battered in recent weeks by concerns about excessive capital expenditures. Oracle shares, which plummeted last week and shaved billions of dollars off the net worth of founder Larry Ellison, jumped 9.6%, its biggest one-day gain since September. Hims & Hers Health sank 16%. The online pharmacy said Saturday that it would no longer offer a compounded pill version of Novo Nordisk’s popular weight-loss medicine Wegovy following scrutiny from federal regulators. Novo’s American depositary receipts gained 3.6% on Monday. Valaris soared 34%. Fellow offshore drilling company Transocean has agreed to acquire Valaris in an all-stock deal worth $5.8 billion. The combined company would have an enterprise value of roughly $17 billion. STMicroelectronics jumped 8.9% after the European semiconductor manufacturer said it had struck a multiyear, multibillion-dollar with Amazon’s cloud-computing arm, Amazon Web Services. AWS will also have the option to buy a stake of up to 2.7% in STMicroelectronics.

Asia
After some massive gains at the start of the week, most stock markets in East Asia continued to rise slightly on Tuesday. The clear favorite is the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where the Nikkei 225 soared yet again following the ruling LDP party's clear election victory at the weekend. Having risen by almost 4 percent the previous day, it climbed a further 2.3 percent to 57,681 points, reaching a new all-time high. In Seoul, the Kospi climbed a further half a percent following the previous day's jump, as did the HSI in Hong Kong. In mainland China, however, the Shanghai Composite remained flat.

Bonds
U.S. government debt yields and the U.S. dollar edged lower on Monday ahead of a stream of data reports. The 10-year Treasury note yield remained virtually unchanged at 4.20 percent.

Analysis
Berenberg raises R&S to CHF 36 (35) – Buy
Novartis target price: Goldman Sachs lowers to CHF 101 (104) – Sell
Vontobel target price: Citigroup reduces to CHF 65.50 (66.50) – Neutral

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