The Swiss stock market ended trading on Monday with losses. The SMI shed 0.8 per cent to 11,702 points. Of the 20 SMI stocks, there were 18 losers and 2 winners. A total of 17.41 (previously: 17.17) million shares were traded. The defensive index heavyweights performed comparatively well. The shares of food giant Nestlé, for example, rose by 0.3 per cent. Among the pharmaceutical heavyweights, Novartis fell slightly by 0.3 per cent. Roche, meanwhile, lagged behind with losses of 0.9 per cent. Cyclical stocks in particular were sold off. Holcim was the day's loser, declining by 3.8 per cent. Shares in Partners Group (-2.7 per cent) and Lonza (-1.7 per cent) also dropped sharply. In the broader market, Idorsia lost 7.3 per cent. The biotech company intends to make changes to the terms of a maturing convertible bond in order to avoid short-term liquidity problems.

European stocks were down as sentiment sagged after U.S. jobs data dented prospects of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, with markets now only pricing in one reduction in 2025. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell by 0.6% on Monday to 508.7 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 each lost 0.3%. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt shed 0.4%, while the FTSE 100 fell 0.3% in London. BioMérieux climbed 3.6%. The in vitro diagnostics specialist announced the acquisition of the 80% stake in SpinChip Diagnostics that it did not already own, for a cash consideration of around €111 million. SpinChip is a Norwegian start-up specialising in immunoassay tests. Qiagen closed 1.5 per cent firmer. The company intends to distribute up to USD 300 million to shareholders again via a synthetic share buyback. The plan is to combine an immediate capital repayment with a reverse stock split. Meanwhile, the shares of vaccine manufacturers were impacted by Moderna's very weak outlook for the current year. On Xetra, Biontech fell by 4.4 per cent and Curevac lost 9.2 per cent. Bayer gained 0.3 per cent. The Bayer subsidiary Bluerock Therapeutics can move its cell therapy candidate Bemdaneprocel for the treatment of moderate Parkinson's disease directly into the clinical phase 3 relevant for approval. A phase 1 trial had previously shown that twelve participants tolerated Bemdaneprocel well 24 months after surgery.

Europe
The S&P 500 edged up 0.2%, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.4%, leaving it down more than 1% in 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% as UnitedHealth Group, Caterpillar and Amgen rallied. A pullback in tech stocks continued Monday, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping for a fourth consecutive day. Declines in the technology sector weighed against gains elsewhere in the S&P 500, capping the broad U.S. stock index’s advance. Some of the largest tech names were particularly hard-hit. Nvidia fell 2%, while Apple lost 1% and Meta Platforms retreated 1.2%. A run-up in bond yields has weighed on the richly priced sector, as has news of U.S. restrictions on certain artificial-intelligence exports. Stocks fell Friday after a blowout jobs report reduced the chances that the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates in the next couple of months. A growing share of investors are now worried the central bank might not lower rates at all this year. The next big test for stocks and bonds could arrive Wednesday, when U.S. consumer-price inflation data are due. Bank earnings season will also get underway then, with results expected from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. Johnson & Johnson climbed by 1.7 per cent on Monday. The US pharmaceutical and medical technology group intends to acquire the biotechnology company Intra-Cellular Therapies for a total of around USD 14.6 billion and strengthen its position in the field of drugs for neurological diseases. As a result, Intra-Cellular shares jumped 34.1 per cent. T-Mobile shares advanced by 1.0 per cent. The mobile phone provider is buying Vistar Media, a New York-based company specialising in outdoor advertising, for around 600 million dollars in cash. Eli Lilly (-0.3%) strengthened its portfolio of cancer therapies with a billion-dollar acquisition. The pharmaceutical group is acquiring the breast cancer treatment portfolio of Scorpion Therapeutics for up to USD 2.5bn in cash. Moderna slumped by 16.8 per cent. The vaccine manufacturer spooked investors with an extremely weak sales outlook for 2025.

United States
Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index lost 2.0 per cent to 38,392 points. Chinese stock exchanges in particular saw prices rise significantly, with the Composite Index in Shanghai improving by 1.7 per cent and the HSI in Hong Kong climbing by 1.4 per cent. This is probably also due to the strong Chinese foreign trade data for December, which was published on Monday. Seoul (+0.4%) is also likely to have benefited from the good export figures. Samsung Biologics rose 1.2 per cent in Seoul after the biosimilars company secured a USD 1.41 billion order from Europe.

Asia
On Monday, the 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield rose by 2 basis points (0.02 percentage points) to 4.79%. The 2-year Treasury note yield was little changed from Friday, at 4.40%. Inflation remains a key concern, especially as oil prices also continue to rise following new US sanctions against Russia.

Bonds
Jefferies downgrades DocMorris to CHF 39 (65)/Buy - Trader
Price target VAT: Berenberg lowers to CHF 390 (520) - Hold
Jefferies raises Inficon to Buy (Hold) - Target CHF 1,350 (1,200)

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