Broadcom posted higher sales in the latest quarter as the type and number of AI customers kept expanding. AI revenue in the quarter more than doubled to $8.4 billion, driven by demand for custom AI accelerators and networking, Chief Executive Hock Tan said. Demand is now coming from both hyperscalers and regular companies looking to build out their own AI agents, he told investors on a call Wednesday. “Some of them are hyperscalers, some of them are not hyperscalers, but they all have one thing in common, which is to create LLMs, productize it and generate platforms,” Tan said. The semiconductor and software maker’s customer base is expanding beyond its core focus of hyperscalers like Google and Anthropic, Tan said. Customers now want help building out AI agents, code-assistance platforms and consumer subscription platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Broadcom expects OpenAI to deploy its first generation of XPUs in 2027 with more than one gigawatt of compute capacity, Tan said. That will make OpenAI the sixth major hyperscaler customer for Broadcom, Tan said.

The Swiss market ended on a positive note on Wednesday after holding firm right through the day's trading as investors chose to pick up stocks after recent declines. The Swiss benchmark SMI settled with a gain of 105.81 points or 0.79% at 13,510.74, after climbing to a high of 13,626.33 intraday. Richemont climbed 2.3%, while VAT Group, Alcon, Helvetia Baloise Holding and Julius Baer moved up 1.8%-2.1%. Partners Group, Zurich Insurance, Swiss Life Holding, Sandoz Group, Lonza Group, Amrize, Sonova, Holcim, ABB, SGS, Swiss Re, Novartis and UBS Group gained 1%-1.6%. Geberit ended down by 1.1%, while Nestle and Straumann Holding closed lower by about 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. In economic news, Switzerland's consumer price inflation held steady for the second straight month in February, defying expectations for a decrease, the Federal Statistical Office reported Friday. The consumer price index rose 0.1% on a yearly basis in February, the same as in the previous two months. Meanwhile, economists had expected a 0.1% decline. Inflation based on housing and energy moderated from 0.8% to 0.7%. Meanwhile, the annual price decline in food and non-alcoholic beverages eased to 0.3% from 0.4%. Similarly, transport charges declined at a slower pace of 1.8% versus 2% in January. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.6%, marking the quickest increase in a year, driven by higher costs for housing rentals and air transport. Economists were looking for a 0.5% rise.

Europa
European stocks closed on a firm note on Wednesday, recovering fairly well after two successive days of sharp losses. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.37%. The U.K.'s FTSE gained 0.8% and France's CAC 40 ended with a gain of 0.79%, while Germany's DAX moved up 1.74%. Switzerland's SMI closed 0.79% up. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden closed with strong gains. Portugal ended modestly higher, and Türkiye edged up marginally, while Russia closed weak. In the UK market, Metlen Energy & Metals climbed nearly 7.5%. St. James's Place, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Informa, Entain, Intertek Group, ICG and Antofagasta gained 3.3%-5%. Next, Melrose Industries, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Standard Life, Convatec Group, Aviva, Imperial Brands, HSBC Holdings, Scottish Mortgage, M&G, BAE Systems and 3i Group also moved up sharply. Weir Group tumbled 10.7% after full-year earnings dropped from last year. Barratt Redrow, Diageo, BP, Smith & Nephew, Relx, Howden Joinery Group, The Sage Group, Shell, Persimmon, Bunzl, Reckitt Benckiser, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, BT Group and Fresnillo lost 1%-3%. British homebuilder Vistry Group dropped nearly 20% after an announcement that its executive chairman Greg Fitzgerald would step down over the next year. In the German market, Infineon climbed more than 5.5%. Daimler Truck Holding, Siemens Energy, Rheinmetall, Siemens Healthineers, Deutsche Post, Siemens, Zalando, Scout24, Deutsche Bank, MTU Aero Engines, Munich Re gained 2%-5%. Adidas ended weak after announcing changes in its supervisory board. Symrise drifted down after forecasting a low single-digit decline in first-quarter organic sales.

Stati Uniti
Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday, partly offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge. The major averages ended the day off their highs of the session but still firmly positive. The Nasdaq jumped 290.79 points or 1.3 percent to 22,807.48, the S&P 500 advanced 52.87 points or 0.8 percent to 6,869.50 and the Dow climbed 238.14 points or 0.5 percent to 48,739.41. The strength on Wall Street comes as traders continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels after the early sell-off on Tuesday dragged the major averages down to their lowest levels in three months. Positive sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to some upbeat U.S. economic data, including a report from payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of February. ADP said private sector employment climbed by 63,000 jobs in February after rising by a downwardly revised 11,000 jobs in January. Economists had expected private sector employment to grow by 48,000 jobs compared to the addition of 22,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. A separate report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed service sector activity in the U.S. unexpectedly grew at a faster pace in the month of February. Telecom stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session, driving the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index up by 2.2 percent. Significant strength was also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index. Semiconductor, biotechnology and computer hardware stocks also saw considerable strength, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Asia
After three days of heavy losses due to the attacks on Iran, East Asian stock markets saw a significant recovery on Thursday. The gains were particularly strong in Seoul, where the Kospi rose by 11.1 per cent. The index had lost almost 20 per cent over the previous two trading days. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose by 2.5 per cent. The Shanghai Composite rose by 1.0 per cent, while the Hang Seng Index also climbed by 1.0 per cent.

Obbligazioni
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the downward move seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.4 basis points to 4.080 percent.

Analisi
Bank of America raises the target for Kuehne + Nagel to CHF 196 (186) – Neutral
Bank of America lowers the target for Norsk Hydro to NOK 99 (105) – Buy
UBS raises the target for Tesco to 530 (500) GBp – Buy

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