The computer accessories manufacturer Logitech performed surprisingly well in terms of both sales and profits in the important Christmas quarter. The company once again raised its outlook. Turnover in the third quarter of the 2024/25 financial year rose by 7 per cent to 1.34 billion US dollars, as Logitech announced late on Tuesday evening. At constant currencies, revenue would have risen by 6 per cent. The adjusted gross margin (non-GAAP) improved by 90 basis points to 43.2 per cent. Operating profit (EBIT, non-GAAP) adjusted for acquisition and restructuring costs also increased by 7 per cent to USD 265.9 million. Following the strong recovery in the previous year, the corresponding net profit (non-GAAP) was on a par with the previous year at 241.5 million. At 200.1 million, however, reported profit was 18 per cent down on the previous year. The Group also unveiled a new credit facility of USD 750 million with a term of 5 years. According to CFO Matteo Anversa, this is intended to strengthen the financial position and ensure flexibility.

The Swiss stock market continued to rise on Tuesday, albeit at a slightly slower pace. The SMI gained 0.3 per cent to 12,455 points. Of the 20 SMI stocks, there were 12 price gainers and 6 price losers, with 2 stocks closing unchanged. A total of 22.36 (previously: 25.58) million shares were traded. Technology stocks, which had been battered the previous day, failed to display any clear trend: while ABB shares declined by a further 1.7 per cent, Logitech climbed by 0.4 per cent. The reporting season also returned to centre stage. ABB, Roche and Novartis, among others, will present their results later in the week. Among the individual stocks, Tecan rose by 4.6 per cent. Market participants pointed to the incoming orders at Sartorius and Getinge, which boosted the European healthcare sector. Roche shares (+0.4%) capitalised on positive results from a clinical trial for a drug to treat breast cancer. The analysts at Vontobel are leaving their estimate for peak sales of CHF 1.5 billion in 2025 for this drug unchanged.

Europe
The European stock markets rebounded overall on Tuesday, even though questions still surround stocks exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) in the wake of announcements by Chinese start-up DeepSeek. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.4% to 531.6 points. The DAX 40 added 0.7% in Frankfurt and the FTSE 100 climbed 0.4% in London. By contrast, the CAC 40 lost 0.1%, weighed down by Schneider Electric (-7.5%) and STMicroelectronics (-3.2%), while the SBF 120 finished close to balance. SARTORIUS STEDIM BIOTECH (+8%): the supplier to the pharmaceutical industry presented annual results on Tuesday that were slightly ahead of analysts' expectations and unveiled an outlook that it described as “prudent and positive overall” for 2025. ALTEN (+7.7%): the engineering and technology consultancy group had a ‘less bad than expected’ end to 2024, according to Invest Securities. In the fourth quarter of the last financial year, Alten's sales fell by 2.7% on a like-for-like basis, whereas management had expected a decline of 3% to 5%. PLANISWARE (+7.2%): the project management software company confirmed on Monday evening that it had won a contract with US aerospace and defence technology specialist Northrop Grumman.

United States
Technology stocks rebounded on Tuesday, recovering their footing one day after China’s DeepSeek triggered a bruising sell-off of stocks tied to artificial intelligence. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 2%, leading other major indexes. The S&P 500 gained 0.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%. Some stocks pummelled on Monday posted solid gains on Tuesday though not enough to make up for the earlier session’s losses. Chip maker Nvidia surged 8.8%, one day after it tumbled 17%, wiping out more than half a billion dollars in market cap. Database giant Oracle, another casualty of Monday’s rout, gained 3.6%. The rebound suggested that some investors saw Monday’s selloff as a buying opportunity. While the emergence of DeepSeek, a low-cost Chinese artificial-intelligence player, punctured the lofty valuations of many AI-linked stocks, some executives have argued that cheap AI will ultimately hasten adoption of the technology and benefit the broader industry. Corporate earnings are likely to take back the spotlight this week as investors move past the DeepSeek drama. General Motors slumped 8.9% on Tuesday after the automaker reported a $2.9 billion quarterly loss. Meta Platforms and Microsoft are among the companies set to report earnings Wednesday. Both could give insights into how U.S. tech giants view the threat from DeepSeek. JETBLUE (-25%): the airline reported a larger-than-expected loss last quarter and expects first-quarter revenues to be below analysts' forecasts. CONSTELLATION ENERGY (+1.4%), NANO NUCLEAR ENERGY (+4.6%), NUSCALE POWER (+3.4%) GE GERNOVA (+4%): suppliers of nuclear power and energy equipment bounce back after being swept along on Monday by the DeepSeek tornado, the Chinese start-up promising lower resource consumption for data centres dedicated to AI.

Asia
In the wake of the strong recovery on Wall Street from the DeepSeek shock at the beginning of the week, stock markets in Tokyo and Sydney also rose on Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 index advances by 0.8 per cent to 39,339 points, while trading in Sydney has already ended with a gain of 0.7 per cent. In Tokyo, Advantest climbed by 2.7 per cent, Renesas by 5.5 per cent and Softbank by 2.0 per cent. There is no trading on some neighbouring stock exchanges due to the Chinese and Korean New Year celebrations. In Hong Kong, trading will resume on Monday, in Shanghai it will be paused until Wednesday and in Seoul trading will start again on Friday.

Bonds
U.S. government debt yields were little changed on Tuesday as calmer conditions across global markets reduced demand for U.S. government debt and as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s first monetary policy decision of the year. The 10-year Treasury note yield remained stable at 4.54%. The 2-year Treasury note yield rose by one basis point (0.01 percentage point) to 4.21%. Near-unanimous expectations are that the Fed will keep rates steady at 4.25% to 4.5%, meaning that investors are likely to be most focused on the tone of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks to the press after the meeting.

Analysis
Price target Givaudan: UBS lowers to CHF 4310 (4380) - Neutral
Price target Partners Group: Julius Baer upgrades to CHF 1600 (1400) - Buy
Jefferies downgrades Adecco to Underperform (Hold)/target CHF 19.50 (29) - Trader

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