BHP Group reported a 9% increase in annual net profit and an even bigger gain in underlying earnings as prices of copper, now its main profit engine, surged to all-time highs. Australia-based BHP, the world's biggest miner by market value, on Tuesday reported a net profit of $9.83 billion for the 12 months through June, up from $9.02 billion the year prior. A previously announced $2.3 billion write-down of a potash project in Canada weighed on its bottom line. BHP said it made an underlying profit of $13.20 billion, up 30% on a year earlier. Analysts expected an underlying profit around $12.66 billion, according to a consensus estimate collated by Visible Alpha. Prices of copper have jumped to a record high amid tightening global supplies. BHP fetched 35% more for the copper it sells versus the year prior. BHP's earnings were also bolstered by higher prices of the iron ore and steelmaking coal it mines. Directors declared a final dividend of 99 cents a share, taking the miner's annual payout to $1.72 a share. The market expected a full-year dividend of roughly $1.54 a share, according to Visible Alpha.

The Swiss market ended weak on Monday, in line with markets across Europe, as worries about escalating Middle East tensions offset easing concerns about Fed interest rates. Also, a lack of positive triggers from the home front forced investors to tread cautiously. The benchmark SMI ended down by 88.28 points or 0.61% at 14,302.39 Richemont shed 3.1%. Alcon, Nestle and Givaudan lost about 3%, 2.8% and 2.7%, respectively. Galderma Group closed down by 2.2%. Straumann Holding, Geberit, Amrize, Logitech International, Partners Group, Sika and SGS lost 1%-2%. Swisscom ended nearly 1% down. Schindler Ps, Sonova, Lindt & Spruengli and Holcim also closed weak. Sandoz Group climbed 2.6% and Kuehne + Nagel gained about 1.2%. Novartis, Swiss Re and Lonza Group advanced 0.7%-0.8%.

Europa
European markets closed weak on Monday as investors largely refrained from making big moves amid worries about escalating Middle East tensions and higher crude oil prices, as well weak Chinese data. The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 0.22%. The UK's FTSE 100 dropped 0.28%, Germany's DAX closed lower by 0.38% and France's CAC 40 settled 0.66% down, while Switzerland's SMI lost 0.61%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye closed weak. Belgium, Finland, Greece and Norway ended higher, while Czech Republic and Iceland closed flat. In the UK market, mining stocks moved higher as the U.S. dollar slipped towards two-month lows following softer U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment data released on Friday. Endeavour Mining, Anglo American Plc and Fresnillo gained 1.7%-2%. Rio Tinto, Glencore and Antofagasta climbed 0.8%-1%. GSK, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Convatec Group and Scottish Mortgaged gained 1%-2%. AstraZeneca edged higher. The drug major announced positive results from SAFFRON Phase III trial. Howden Joinery Group, Diageo, Sainsbury (J), Experian and Croda International drifted down 3%-3.6%. Tesco ended nearly 3% down. Burberry Group, JD Sports Fashion, AutoTrader Group, Informa, Associated British Foods, ICG, Relx, Games Workshop, Whitbread, British American Tobacco, Reckitt Benckiser, Persimmon, Unilever, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Severn Trent, IAG, Imperial Brands and Vodafone Group declined sharply. In the German market, Zalando, Adidas, Scout24, Beiersdorf, Henkel, Symrise, Vonovia, BMW, BASF, Deutsche Post, Brenntag, Mercedes-Benz, Hochtief and Porsche Automobil Holding ended down by 1%-3.5%.

Stati Uniti
U.S. stocks were modestly lower Monday as an apparent impasse in Middle East peace talks offset a surge in AI-related shares. Investors are looking ahead to a busy week of retail earnings and minutes from the latest Fed meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 272.63 points, or 0.51%, to 53459.78. The S&P 500 lost 40.70 points, or 0.52%, to 7745.06, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 84.25 points, or 0.32%, to 26644.91. According to preliminary data, there were 864 advancing issues and 1,888 declining issues on the NYSE. Chip and memory stocks were among the biggest gainers, with Sandisk jumping 8.9%, Marvell up 5.5% and Micron rising 4.1%, helped by a late-Friday Bloomberg report that Anthropic's second-quarter revenue rose 14-fold, a sign of surging AI demand that analysts said could ease recent jitters about the trade's durability. SpaceX shares rose 4.4% after a flurry of securities filings revealed the depth of institutional and tech-industry investment in Elon Musk's company, with Nvidia disclosing it owned close to 123 million shares and Alphabet's Google holding a 7.2% stake. Harvard University's endowment fund separately disclosed a $2.2 billion SpaceX stake. The PHLX Semiconductor Index rose 1.6%. S&P 500 companies' revenues grew 6.4% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier, the fastest pace in five years, Goldman Sachs said, excluding the energy sector. Overall earnings grew nearly 50%, though much of that reflected large technology companies marking up the value of stakes in private AI companies.

Asia
Losses are the dominant trend on Asian stock markets on Tuesday. A sharp rise in oil prices is fuelling inflation fears and pushing up yields on the bond markets, as this is accompanied by speculation about rising key interest rates. In Tokyo, the Topix is down 0.8 per cent, whilst the technology-heavy Kospi in Seoul has lost 0.5 per cent. It had returned from the bank holiday break on Monday with a 3 per cent jump, before turning downwards. In Shanghai and Hong Kong, both of which had started the new week strongly on Monday, the markets are down by 0.4 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively. In Sydney, by contrast, the market barometer is holding up well. Here, it is supported by a consumer confidence index, which has shown its second consecutive monthly rise.

Obbligazioni
Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds rose as investors sell off long-term U.S. government debt amid growing concerns about the federal debt load and ongoing Middle East conflict. The 10-year yield rose 0.029 percentage point to 4.725%. The ICE dollar index fell by 0.09 percentage point. The euro was last seen at $1.16. Gold gained $37.40 to $4417.80 per troy ounce.

Analisi
UBS lowers DSV to 1,945 (2,015) DKK – Buy
UBS raises Hapag-Lloyd to 105 (102) EUR – Sell
Jefferies raises Sandoz to 93 (82) CHF – Buy


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