Nvidia said it has received assurances from the Trump administration that it can sell its H20 artificial-intelligence chip in China, days after Chief Executive Jensen Huang met President Trump. The administration’s move marks a turnabout after the Commerce Department restricted sales of the chip in April, costing Nvidia billions of dollars. The news came during a visit by Huang to Beijing, where he was meeting senior officials. “I’m very happy,” he told reporters. The U.S. chip company has been on a winning streak and last week became the first company valued at more than $4 trillion. Now one of its few weak spots - difficulty selling in China owing to U.S. export restrictions - is likely to be shored up, although Nvidia still can’t sell its most-advanced chips to Chinese customers. The administration said Nvidia would be allowed to sell the H20 chip after licenses are granted by the Commerce Department, according to the company. Nvidia said it would resume deliveries soon of the chip, which was designed for Chinese customers and has been a top seller in the country since 2024.

The Switzerland market, which remained in the red save for a brief while at the fag end of the day's session, settled with a small gain on Monday. The mood in the market was very cautious as trade war fears escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he would impose a 30% tariff on EU imports from August 1. Meanwhile, the European Union has reportedly prepared a €21 billion ($24.52 billion) tariff package targeting American goods if trade talks between the two sides collapsed. The benchmark SMI closed up 2.47 points or 0.02% at 11,939.89, the day's high. The index touched a ow of 11,873.66 around mid morning. Sandoz Group gained about 1.1%. Swisscom and Swiss Life Holding both gained about 0.8%. Nestle, Partners Group, Roche Holding and Novartis posted modest gains. VAT Group ended down 1.77%. Sika, Kuehne + Nagel, Sonova, Swatch Group, Richemont, Geberit, Logitech International and SGS lost 0.7 to 1.1%. Data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's producer and import prices continued to decline in June. Producer and import prices dropped 0.7% year-on-year in June, the same as in the previous month. The price index has been falling since May 2023. The producer price index showed an increase of 0.3%, while import prices dropped by 2.8%. On a monthly basis, producer and import prices edged down 0.1% in June after falling 0.5% in the prior month. Meanwhile, prices were expected to increase by 0.2%.

Europe
Despite staging a recovery in late afternoon trades, European markets mostly ended on a weak note on Monday as worries about global trade escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he would levy a 50% tariff on EU imports from August 1. According to media reports, the European Union has prepared a €21 billion ($24.52 billion) tariff package targeting American goods if trade talks between the two sides collapsed. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.32%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed down by 0.94% and 0.44%, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.41% and hit a fresh record high. Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.02%. Among other markets in Europe, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Russia and Spain ended higher, while Austria closed flat. In the UK market, AstraZeneca gained more than 2% after its experimental drug baxdrostat proved to be successful in lowering high blood pressure in a late-stage study. Tesco, National Grid, IAG, Associated British Foods, Babcock International, Standard Chartered, Imperial Brands, Fresnillo, United Utilities, British American Tobacco, Prudential, Kingfisher and Severn Trent gained 1.5 to 2.2%. Aviva, Vodafone Group, Unilever, HSBC Holdings, Barclays, Sainsbury (J), Lloyds Banking Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings and Endeavour Mining also ended notably higher. Spirax Group ended down 2.6%. JD Sports Fashion, WPP, Melrose Industries, Shell, Antofagasta, BP, DCC, Bunzl and Anglo American Plc lost 1 to 1.7%. In the German market, Zalando closed more than 5% down. Sartorius ended down 4.7%. Puma, Brenntag, Merck, BMW, Daimler Truck Holding, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Continental, Volkswagen, Infineon, BASF, Siemens and Deutsche Post lost 1 to 3%. Commerzbank gained more than 2%. Rheinmetall climbed about 1.8%, while E.ON and Qiagen both gained about 1%. In the French market, defense-related stocks found some support after President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called for a massive boost to France's defense spending, citing a greater threat from Russia.

United States
U.S. financial stocks inched higher Monday, raising expectations that banks’ quarterly earnings and a key measure on consumer prices will signal that economic conditions remain strong. Wells Fargo shares climbed 1.1%, JPMorgan Chase rose 0.6% and BlackRock increased 0.9%. All three financial firms are among those due to report second-quarter results on Tuesday, when investors will also receive a June reading on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’s monthly consumer-price index. Investors didn’t flinch at a fresh round of tariff threats from President Trump, who said Monday that the U.S. will impose tariffs of up to 100% on Russia if it doesn’t agree to halt hostilities in Ukraine within 50 days. The president also turned up the pressure on two of America’s largest trading partners over the weekend, threatening to slap 30% tariffs on European Union and Mexican goods. Afterward, the EU said that it would hold off on retaliatory tariffs, and trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said Monday he would speak with his American counterparts. “Deep down, investors do believe that tariffs can have an inflationary impact,” said Seth Merrill, chief investment officer at Crewe Advisors. “But until they see it show up in an official government report, they don’t feel like they have to act on it.” The S&P 500 climbed 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite increased 0.3%, closing at a new all-time high. Stocks’ Monday climb was just the latest market shrug in a season of constant Trump tariff threats. The S&P had hit a new high Thursday before indexes edged lower to end last week after the president announced a 35% levy on Canada.

Asia
The picture on the stock markets in East Asia and Australia was not uniform on Tuesday. The USA's tariff policy continues to cause restraint. Despite good growth data for the second quarter, the Shanghai Composite (-0.9 per cent) recorded the biggest drop. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 5.2 per cent compared to the previous year and thus met economists' expectations exactly - although it was above the Chinese government's official growth target of 5 per cent. In the first quarter, however, growth was still at 5.4 per cent.

Bonds
There was little movement on the US bond market. The ten-year yield rose by 1 basis point to 4.43 per cent.

Analysis
JPMorgan lowers Brenntag target to EUR 51.50 (56) – Trader
Deutsche Bank raises Atoss target to EUR 150 (140) – Buy
Deutsche Bank raises Commerzbank target to EUR 33 (29) – Buy