Barry Callebaut expects to reap benefits from a cost-saving plan later than initially anticipated amid market volatility, after a surge in cocoa prices hurt customer demand. The Swiss maker of chocolate and cocoa products said Thursday that a highly disruptive and volatile environment will result in a 12-month delay for planned savings to be fully reflected in its bottom line. The company previously said it expected to achieve the savings at the end of fiscal 2026. It still expects to deliver 250 million Swiss francs ($291.5 million) in savings. The company said it is adjusting pricing to account for higher cost-of-capital requirements and lowered its sales volume expectations for its fiscal year ending in August. It now expects a mid-single-digit decrease in full-year sales volume, having previously forecast a decline in the low single percentage digits. "The intense cocoa bean price volatility had a significant impact on the industry, customer behavior and our financial performance," Barry Callebaut Chief Executive Peter Feld said. For the six months to Feb. 28, Barry Callebaut reported a 57% jump in sales to 7.29 billion francs due to higher prices that offset a 4.7% decline in volumes as customers delayed orders. Operating profit climbed 66% to 295.8 million francs.

Swiss stocks tumbled on Wednesday, in line with markets across Europe and elsewhere, as U.S. tariffs, including a massive 104% levy on Chinese imports, and a 20% levy on European Union imports took effect today. The benchmark SMI ended down 471.39 points or 4.15% at 10,887.73, nearly 200 points off the day's low of 10,699.66. Sandoz Group closed down 7.83%. Novartis settled 6.41% down, and Roche Holding lost 5.84%. Adecco, Logitech International and Julius Baer lost 5.67%, 5.44% and 5.25%, respectively. UBS Group, Swiss Re, Kuehne + Nagel, ABB, Holcim, Richemont, Partners Group, Swiss Life Holding, Zurich Insurance, Alcon, Sika, Lonza Group and Swatch Group closed down 3 to 5%. VAT Group, Straumann Holding, Sonova, Nestle, Schindler Ps, SIG Group and Geberit also declined sharply.

Europe
European stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday, turning weak once again after having snapped a four-session losing streak on Tuesday. The mood turned bearish U.S. President Donald Trump pushed ahead with higher duties on roughly 60 trading partners that he dubbed the 'worst offenders.' The European Commission is reportedly contemplating imposing tariffs of up to 25% on over 22 billion euros worth of American agricultural and industrial exports. The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 4.31%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed down 3.54%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 lost 4.06% and 4.04%, respectively, while Switzerland's SMI settled lower by 4.15%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye all ended with sharp losses. In the UK market, AstraZeneca Pharma, BP, GlaxoSmithKline, Melrose Industries, Vistry Group, Smith & Nephew, Persimmon, British Land Company, Anglo American Plc, Barclays, Schroders, M&G, Shell, Segro and Intertek lost 4 to 7%. Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Natwest Group, Haleon, Frasers Group, Prudential and Reckitt Benckiser were among the several other major losers.

United States
Following the nosedive seen over the past several sessions, stocks showed an astonishingly strong move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday. The major averages all moved sharply higher, posting their biggest one-day gains in years. The major averages saw continued strength late in the day, reaching new highs for the session. The Nasdaq soared 1,857.06 or 12.2 percent to 17,124.97, the S&P 500 spiked by 474.13 points or 9.5 percent to 5,456.90 and the Dow surged 2,962.86 points or 7.9 percent to 40,608.45. Stocks showed a lack of direction early in the day but skyrocketed after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on new 'reciprocal tariffs' on most countries to allow for negotiations. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that tariffs would be brought down to a 'universal 10 percent' level during the 90-day pause. With the rally, the major averages offset a huge chunk of the nosedive seen in the days after Trump initially announced the new tariffs last Wednesday. 'The stock market rebound is a combination of speculative investors needing to cover short positions; less fear of recession and stagflation; and optimism that tariff rates will ultimately end up lower than they are threatened today,' said Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank. However, the pause will not apply to China, as Trump announced he is raising the tariff on the country to 125 percent due to the 'lack of respect' they have shown to the world's markets. Semiconductor stocks skyrocketed in reaction to the latest tariff news, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index soaring by 18.7 percent after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in over a year. Computer hardware, software and networking stocks also showed strong moves to the upside, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia reacted with fireworks on Thursday to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to suspend the previously announced reciprocal tariffs for all trading partners except China for 90 days. Prices on the US stock markets had already shot up massively in response, with index gains of over 12 per cent on the technology-heavy Nasdaq indices. The recovery was strongest in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 index shot up by 8.4 per cent to 34,377 points. In Kospi, the Kospi soared by 5.4 per cent, while the S&P/ASX in Sydney gained 4.6 per cent after the previous price debacle there too.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the sharp pullback seen over the two previous sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, surged 13.8 basis points to 4.400 percent.

Analysis
Citi lowers Glencore target to GBP 3.70 (4.50) – Buy
UBS raises RTL target to EUR 29 (21.40) / Neutral – Traders
UBS lowers 1&1 target to EUR 19.50 (20) – Buy