Ford Motor (+2.8%) reported sales across its electric vehicles surged to start the year, a bright spot as the broader EV sector faces lingering challenges. The automaker said it sold a little more than 20,000 EVs in the first quarter, which it added made Ford America’s second best-selling EV brand behind Tesla for the quarter. Other notable results in the period include Ford’s best-ever quarterly hybrid sales record, which it attributed to an increasing preference for hybrid trucks and SUVs across its gas and hybrid vehicles. Ford’s results signal the fluidity of the EV sector. EV maker Tesla on Tuesday reported its first year-over-year decline in quarterly deliveries since 2020. Other major automakers disclosed first-quarter sales on Tuesday as well, including Hyundai Motor’s EV sales which doubled in the first quarter while General Motors saw EV sales decline about 20% during the period. Challenges in the EV sector include slower growth and soft enthusiasm from consumers about going electric.

Following the previous day's significant losses, the Swiss stock market ended trading on Wednesday with slight gains. The SMI added 0.2 per cent to 11,617 points. Of the 20 SMI stocks, there were 15 price gainers and 5 price losers. A total of 22.82 (previously: 20.6) million shares were traded. The shares of index heavyweight Nestle ended trading 0.6 per cent lower. Among the pharmaceutical giants, Roche fell 0.3 per cent, while Novartis climbed 0.1 per cent. The day's winners were Kühne & Nagel. The share price rose sharply by 3.4 per cent. Lonza also performed well with a plus of 2.0 per cent. The shares thus recovered from the previous day's slide. The Sika share closed 0.7 per cent firmer. The construction chemicals group acquired Kwik Bond Polymers in the USA, a manufacturer of polymer systems for the renovation of concrete infrastructures. Swiss Re (-3.6%) is to appoint a new CEO. The reinsurer announced that the Board of Directors has named Andreas Berger CEO as of 1 July. Christian Mumenthaler will relinquish the CEO position after eight years. Berger is currently in charge of the Corporate Solutions division. Meyer Burger shares fell 25.1 per cent in the broader market. The company has completed its capital increase and realised gross proceeds of around 207 million Swiss francs.

Europe
After the previous day's losses, the European stock market recovered in the middle of the week. The DAX gained 0.5 per cent to 18,368 points, while the Euro-Stoxx-50 rose by 0.5 per cent to 5,069 points. Core inflation in the eurozone fell below 3 per cent in March for the first time in over two years. Corporate news was sparse in the week following the Easter holidays. One equity trader saw VW's US sales figures for the first quarter as slightly positive for the sentiment. These rose by 21 per cent to 82,101 units in the first three months. However, this was slightly dampened by the development at Audi, where sales fell by 16 per cent to 44,226. The Wolfsburg share price climbed by 2.2 per cent. BMW even managed to gain 4.9 per cent. There was profit-taking at Daimler Truck - the share dropped by 2.2 per cent. Banks were in demand due to the prevailing interest rate environment: Commerzbank advanced 4.6 per cent, Deutsche Bank 2.1 per cent. On the other hand, property shares continued to be neglected - Vonovia plunged by 1.3 per cent. Forvia advanced by 5.4 per cent. The company has started a new share buyback programme.

United States
The S&P 500 edged higher Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offered reassurance on likely interest-rate cuts, snapping a two-day losing streak. The broad stock-market index rose 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 43 points, or 0.1%. Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors finished the day in the green. Powell said Wednesday that a strong economy hasn’t changed the central bank’s expectation that interest rate cuts will be warranted later this year. Interest-rate derivatives traders have assigned about a 62% probability that the central bank will move to cut interest rates at its June policy meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. In individual stocks, Disney shares fell 3.1% after the entertainment giant prevailed in its proxy battle with activist investor Nelson Peltz. The S&P’ 500’s top performer was Paramount Global, which gained 15% after the Journal reported the company has agreed to enter exclusive merger talks with Skydance. Ulta Beauty shares fell 15%, the largest decliner in the broad index, after the retailer issued a disappointing business outlook at an investor conference. Estée Lauder stock dropped 4.1%. Intel shares fell 8.2% after the company said its chip-manufacturing arm had an operating loss of nearly $7 billion last year.

Asia
In Asia, major indexes broadly closed with gains. The stock exchanges in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan are closed on Thursday due to a public holiday. There will also be no trading in Shanghai on Friday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rises by 1.6 per cent to 40,101 points, supported by the continuing weakness of the yen against the dollar. On the Seoul stock exchange, the Kospi gained 0.9 per cent. Investors there are once again flocking to semiconductor stocks, while automotive stocks are also in demand. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics improved by 1.2 per cent. Investors are banking on the company presenting good preliminary quarterly figures on Friday. SK Hynix rose by 4.4 per cent after the chip manufacturer announced plans to invest USD 3.87 billion in the construction of a plant for the production of AI chips in the USA.

Bonds
Long-dated U.S. government debt yields slipped on Wednesday. The 10-year Treasury note yield fell by 2 basis points to 4.349%. The 2-year Treasury note yield shed 3 basis points to 4.672%.

Analysis
Target price Givaudan: UBS raises to CHF 3200 (2950) - Sell
Target price Sensirion: Berenberg lowers to CHF 79 (81) - Buy
Target price Interroll: UBS upgrades to CHF 2462 (2270) - Sell

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