When Nicola Tettamanti looked at his phone Friday morning, his first reaction was disbelief: Overnight, President Trump had slapped Switzerland with close to the highest tariffs of any country in the world. Tettamanti is the chief executive of a 55-year-old precision toolmaking business nestled in this mountain-hugged town. He had planned in the near future to expand further into the U.S. by opening an office in Indiana. His company, Tecnopinz, counts on the American market for as much as a fifth of the demand for its components for industrial machines that make cars, planes and watches. The move upended months of negotiations in which Swiss officials believed they were on the verge of securing a favourable deal. The levy on Switzerland, which could still change until an Aug. 7 deadline, threatens to cripple key sectors of the Alpine nation’s export-reliant economy. The U.S. is Switzerland’s top export market for goods including watches, chocolates, drugs and machine tools. It puts the nation at a steep disadvantage to EU neighbours Germany, Italy and France. If the tariff were to remain in place, it would knock around 0.6% off the Swiss gross domestic product—and significantly more if the exemption on pharmaceutical goods is removed. For the Swiss stock market, a particularly weak performance could emerge for the trading day on Monday. While the European and US stock exchanges were able to digest the new tariff strike of US President Donald Trump on Friday, the markets in Switzerland remained closed due to the national holiday.

On Thursday, the SMI lost 0.8 percent to 11,836 points. Among the 21 SMI stocks, 15 declined and 6 gained. A total of 25.82 million shares were traded (Wednesday: 25.43 million). On the corporate side, the building materials group Holcim opened its books. The company significantly increased its operating profit in the second quarter, posting slight growth. CEO Miljan Gutovic spoke of an "outstanding half-year result." Enthusiasm on the stock market was limited. Holcim shares rose 0.4 percent. Logitech was the SMI winner, jumping 2.2 percent. The previous day, the share price had lost 1 percent following solid quarterly figures. Richemont was the SMI's bottom line, shedding 2.6 percent. Only Amrize performed even weaker, plunging 3.0 percent.

Europe
European stock markets edged lower on Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 1.9%, to 535.8 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 dropped 2.9% and 2.8%, respectively. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt fell by 2.7% while the FTSE 100 shed 0.7% in London. AXA (-7.9%): the insurer published on Friday a net profit down in the first half of the year, due in particular to negative exchange rate effects. SAINT-GOBAIN (-9.3%): the building materials producer confirmed its margin target for 2025, after achieving performance in line with expectations in the first half of the year despite an environment described as "waiting and see in some markets". TELEPERFORMANCE (-20.7%): the call centre manager was less optimistic about its growth prospects for 2025, having recorded a drop in its results in the first half of the year. VIVENDI (-3.4%): the diversified group posted an increase in revenue in the first half of the year, driven by the recovery of video game publisher Gameloft. However, the stock suffered on Friday from the decline of Universal Music Group shares on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (-5.2%). The record company, of which Vivendi owns about 10% of the capital, posted results slightly below analysts' expectations in the second quarter. VIRIDIEN (-16.4%): the para-oil services group published results in sharp decline for the second quarter, despite an increase in its business turnover.

United States
Weak jobs data and President Trump’s revamped tariff plan sent stocks and bond yields sharply lower on Friday, giving investors reason to increase bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to jump-start economic growth. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.2%, snapping a streak of 19 trading days without a 1% move in either direction, the longest such stretch since July 2021. The S&P 500 was down 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 540 points, or 1.2%, and capped its worst week since the “Liberation Day” tariffs in early April. U.S. monthly job growth slowed to a lower-than-expected 73,000 in July. Massive downward revisions to previous months’ job totals suggested that the labor market hasn’t been nearly as resilient as investors had hoped in the face of Trump’s tariff onslaught—undercutting a narrative that had propelled stocks to new heights in recent weeks. Even before the release of the jobs data, stock futures had slumped after Trump signed an executive order late Thursday that would raise tariffs on imports from scores of nations beginning on Aug. 7. Adding to the uncertainty facing investors, Trump also directed his team Friday afternoon to fire the top Bureau of Labor Statistics official, asserting without evidence that the government’s jobs numbers have been manipulated for political purposes. Gold futures, which investors flock to as a haven asset, rose 1.7% on Friday. Amazon and Apple reported second-quarter earnings after the close on Thursday. Amazon’s shares fell 8.3% after it said cloud-unit growth fell short of Wall Street expectations. Apple shares dropped 2.5% despite blowing past iPhone sales estimates.

Asia
Asian stocks were mixed on Monday. The Nikkei-225 lost 1.3 percent to 40,286 points. In Seoul, the Kospi recovered by 1.1 percent after the slide on Friday. In Shanghai, the composite index added 0.2 percent, in Hong Kong the HSI increased by 0.5 percent. Nintendo in Tokyo soared 6.6 percent. The game manufacturer has improved its net profit by leaps and bounds in the first quarter of 2025/26, exceeding market expectations, mainly because the new game console Switch 2 is in high demand.

Bonds
Long-dated U.S. government debt yields slipped on Friday. The 10-year Treasury note yield declined by 12 basis points to 4.24%. Traders on Friday saw an over 85% chance that the Fed will cut rates at its next meeting, up from 38% on Thursday, according to futures pricing data from CME Group. The Fed met earlier this week and decided to hold interest rates steady.

Analysis
UBS lifts ABB target to CHF 54 (49) - Neutral
LBBW upgrades UBS to CHF 34.50 (32) - Buy
DZ raises Holcim to CHF 75 (66) - Buy