Tesla’s global vehicle deliveries fell in 2024 for the first time in more than a decade, after a surge of promotional deals in the fourth quarter failed to stimulate sales enough to top the prior-year results. The electric-car maker delivered 495,570 vehicles in the fourth quarter, leaning heavily on promotions, such as interest-free financing deals and free Supercharging, to entice buyers. The result - a quarterly record - was up about 2% from a year earlier, but it fell short of the roughly 515,000 vehicles it needed to sell in the fourth quarter for Tesla to top its 2023 performance on a full-year basis. For all of 2024, Tesla delivered 1.79 million vehicles worldwide, down about 1% from a year earlier. The company plans to report fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 29. Tesla’s stock was down about 4% in morning trading Thursday, following the release of its latest delivery figures. The automaker’s shares ended 2024 up more than 61% after a postelection rally.

The Swiss market ended marginally up on Monday after a choppy session during which stocks moved in a very narrow range. Worries about Swiss growth outlook weighed on sentiment. Also, investors chose to remain on the sidelines ahead of New Year holidays. The SMI, which climbed to 12,483.57 in September, retreated subsequently, but still gained about 4.15% in 2024. A measure of the turning points in Switzerland's economy declined in December after rising a month ago suggesting that the outlook has dampened, survey data from the KOF Swiss Economic Institute showed. The KOF Economic Barometer declined more-than-expected to 99.5 in December from revised 102.9 in the previous month. The reading was seen at 101.1. After rising in November, the index fell slightly below its medium-term average. Swatch Group, Roche Holding, Adecco, Nestle, SIG Group and Richemont closed higher by 0.4 to 0.8%. Swiss Life Holding, Swisscom and UBS Group also closed higher. ABB closed nearly 1% down. VAT Group and Lindt & Spruengli both closed lower by about 0.7%. Straumann Holding, Geberit, Lonza Group, Givaudan, Sika, Swiss Re and Alcon also ended weak.

Europe
European stocks shrugged off early weakness and closed on a positive note on Thursday, the first trading session in 2025, despite data showing a sharp contraction in manufacturing activity in most of the major economies in the region in the month of December, persisting concerns on the geopolitical front. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.6%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.07%, Germany's DAX advanced 0.58% and France's CAC 40 closed up 0.18%. The Switzerland market remained closed for New Year holidays. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains. Ireland ended flat. In the UK market, Endeavour Mining climbed nearly 5% and Fresnillo gained 4.5%. Marks & Spencer, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Airtel Africa, Centrica, Glencore, BP, Pershing Square Holdings, British American Tobacco, Hiscox, BT Group, Next, Shell and Whitbread gained 2 to 4%. AstraZeneca, Coca-Cola HBC and 3i Group also ended sharply higher. Howden Joinery, St. James's Place, Persimmon and Intertek Group lost 1 to 2%. In the German market, RWE, E.ON and Hannover Rueck climbed 2 to 3%. Brenntag, Qiagen, HeidelbergCement, Vonovia, Deutsche Bank, SAP, Deutsche Telekom and Munich RE also closed with solid gains. Rheinmetall closed down nearly by nearly 2.5%. Volkswagen, Henkel, Fresenius Medical Care, Mercedes-Benz, Continental, BMW, Commerzbank, Daimler Truck Holding and Sartorius lost 0.6 to 2%. In the French market, Airbus Group shares gained more than 3%. Safran, Michelin, Engie, Orange, Sanofi, TotalEnergies, ArcelorMittal and Unibail Rodamco climbed 0.7 to 1.7%.

United States
Stocks moved notably higher early in the session on Thursday but failed to sustain the upward move and fluctuated over the course of the trading day. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged line in morning trading before sliding more firmly into negative territory in the early afternoon only to regain ground in the latter part of the session. The major averages eventually ended the day modestly lower. The Dow fell 151.95 points or 0.4 percent to 42,392.27, the Nasdaq dipped 30.00 points or 0.2 percent to 19,280.79 and the S&P 500 slipped 13.08 points or 0.2 percent at 5,868.55. The early strength on Wall Street came as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the notable downward move seen to close out 2024. Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as a Labor Department report showing an unexpected decline by weekly jobless claims seemingly provides support for the Federal Reserve's measured approach to lowering interest rates. The report said initial jobless claims slipped to 211,000 in the week ended December 28th, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level of 220,000. Tech giant Apple (AAPL) also tumbled by 2.6 percent following news the company is offering discounts on its latest iPhone models in China amid heightened competition. Despite the modestly lower close by the broader markets, gold stocks moved sharply higher on the day, resulting in a 4.4 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks came amid a jump by the price of the precious metal.

Asia
There are no clearly recognisable trends on the stock exchanges in East Asia and Australia on Friday. There will be no trading in Tokyo again due to a public holiday. In China, the stock exchanges are also showing no consistent trend. While the Shanghai Composite fell by 0.8 per cent, the HSI in Hong Kong rose by 0.5 per cent, recovering very slightly from the previous day's losses.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries pulled back near the unchanged line after seeing early strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 4.575 percent after hitting a low of 4.517 percent.

Analysis
Jefferies lowers the Linde target to 522 (550) USD/Buy – Trader
Bernstein lowers the Deutsche Post target to 41 (42.50) EUR/Outperform – Trader
Berenberg lowers the Evonik target to EUR 18 (20) – Hold

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