Alcon Inc. released earnings for its first quarter that increased from the same period last year but missed the Street estimates. The company's earnings came in at $350 million, or $0.70 per share. This compares with $248 million, or $0.50 per share, last year. Excluding items, Alcon Inc. reported adjusted earnings of $365 million or $0.73 per share for the period. Analysts on average had expected the company to earn $0.76 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. The company's revenue for the period rose 0.3% to $2.451 billion from $2.444 billion last year. Alcon earnings at a glance (GAAP): Earnings: $350 Mln. vs. $248 Mln. last year. EPS: $0.70 vs. $0.50 last year. Revenue: $2.451 Bln vs. $2.444 Bln last year. Guidance: Full year EPS guidance: $3.05 to $3.15 Full year revenue guidance: $10.4 to $10.5 Bln.

The Swiss stock market ended trading slightly lower on Tuesday. The SMI lost 0.4 per cent to 12,165 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were eleven price gainers and nine price losers. A total of 20.2 (previously: 31.6) million shares were traded. The SMI was weighed down in particular by the drop in the share prices of heavyweights Nestlé (-1.3%), Novartis (-1.7%) and Roche (-1.1%). The two pharmaceutical stocks are likely to have been weighed down by the US government's plans to lower the prices of certain drugs. Richemont, which had already risen sharply on Monday, gained a further one per cent. China is an important sales market for the luxury goods group. Logistics company Kühne + Nagel (+1.4%) should also benefit from the end of the customs dispute, as should technology companies Logitech (+0.8%) and Ams-Osram (+1.8%). Shares in reinsurer Swiss Re slipped 1.4 per cent in the wake of German competitor Munich Re. A buy recommendation from RBC analysts helped the Sika share to gain 2.2 per cent. Among small caps, Docmorris plummeted by almost 45 per cent on the back of the online pharmacy operator's capital increase.

Europe
On Tuesday, the European stock markets ended higher overall, boosted by good economic indicators and hopes of an easing in trade tensions. The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed 0.1% higher at 545.17 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.3% to 7,873.93 points, as did the SBF 120 to 5,978.89 points. In Frankfurt, the Dax index edged up 0.2%, while the FTSE finished virtually unchanged in London. RENAULT (+2.5%): the car manufacturer said on Tuesday that the results of its Japanese partner Nissan had had an estimated negative impact of €2.2 billion on its net profit for the first quarter of the 2025 financial year. ORANGE (-0.6%): the telecoms operator announced on Monday evening that it had raised €1.5 billion through a two-tranche bond issue. BAYER (+2.8%): the German chemicals group published a lower-than-expected net profit for the first quarter, offset by better-than-expected sales and adjusted earnings. In addition, the company confirmed its full-year targets. GL EVENTS (+5.5%): the events company announced on Monday evening that the French government had awarded it the concession to operate the Stade de France in Paris for a period of 30 years. Until now, the contract had been held by a consortium made up of Vinci (-0.4%) and Bouygues (-0.5%).

United States
U.S. markets closed mostly higher Tuesday after the government reported good news on inflation. The S&P 500 added 0.7%, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.6%. The Dow industrials slipped 0.6%, in part due to a big selloff in UnitedHealth. The consumer-price index showed inflation easing slightly to 2.3% in the 12 months through April. That marked the slowest annual rate since early 2021 and undershot expectations that it would remain at 2.4%. Investors and analysts said the report was positive but cautioned that it was too soon to say how President Trump’s trade policies would affect prices. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose, extending Monday’s rally on the heels of the U.S.-China tariff thaw. The S&P is now slightly positive on the year, after spending the past two months in the red. For markets, recent pacts with the U.K. and China offer welcome signs the White House is retreating from its harshest tariff threats, though there is still substantial uncertainty over where tariffs will settle. A few hours after Beijing and Washington agreed to temporarily slash levies on each other’s goods, the Trump administration also cut charges for low-value Chinese packages that it had imposed after closing a loophole known as the “de minimis” exemption. BOEING shares rose after China scrapped a ban on airlines taking delivery of the aviation company’s planes. Meanwhile, Trump visited Saudi Arabia, where he and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a broad economic partnership strategy and a series of commercial agreements. NVIDIA (+5.6%): the processor manufacturer broke through the $3,000 billion market capitalisation barrier again for the first time since the end of February, benefiting not only from the easing of trade tensions between the United States and China but also from the announcement of a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia on a gigantic data centre project over the next five years. Its rivals in the ‘magnificent seven’, AMAZON (+1.3%), APPLE (+1%), META (+2.6%), ALPHABET (+0.8%) and TESLA (5%) also continued to advance. HERTZ GLOBAL (-16.9%): the car rental group reported a higher-than-expected adjusted loss for the first quarter, while sales fell by 13% and came in below expectations. COINBASE GLOBAL (+24%): the cryptocurrency exchange will join the S&P 500 index on 19 May. It will replace DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES (-0.2%), which CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL (+0.4%) is in the process of acquiring. SUPER MICRO COMPUTER (+16%): the server manufacturer jumped after a recommendation from Raymond James, calling the company a ‘market leader in infrastructure’ for artificial intelligence. The broker advised buying the stock with a target price of 41 dollars.

Asia
Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday. In Hong Kong, the HSI is now up 1.4 per cent after a sharp fall the previous day, while the Kospi in Seoul is also up significantly by 1.3 per cent. The Shanghai Composite added 0.2 per cent. Bringing up the rear among the region's major stock exchanges is Tokyo, the biggest winner of the previous day. The Nikkei-225 lost 0.6 per cent to 37,972 points, having initially started the day in positive territory. Among the individual stocks, Sony increased by 3.6 per cent after the presentation of business figures. Softbank Group jumped 3.6 per cent following the technology investment company's net profit, exceeding analysts' estimates. In contrast, Nissan dropped 2.2 per cent after reporting a net loss for the quarter.

Bonds
Long-dated U.S. government debt yields stabilised on Wednesday. The 10-year Treasury note yield edged up 2 basis points (0.02 percentage points) to 4.479%. The 2-year Treasury note yield stagnated at 4.01%. Markets digest April’s benign inflation reading. CPI was slightly milder than expected, supporting views that the Fed could remain on hold and not resume interest-rate cutting until September, at least. Signs of a potential inflationary impact from tariffs were largely missing.

Analysis
RBC starts Sika with Outperform - Target 276 CHF
Berenberg upgrades Geberit to CHF 660 (649) - Buy
Target price Swisscom: Julius Baer lifts to CHF 540 (530) - Hold