Zurich (awp) – The Swiss stock exchange should start Thursday’s second session of the year on a positive note, despite the warnings issued the day before by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) regarding its monetary policy and the economic situation.
According to the minutes of the last meeting of the US central bank, its monetary policy must remain “restrictive for some time” to ensure that inflation returns to the 2% target. Analysts widely expect interest rates to remain at their current level between 5.25% and 5.50%.
Participants in the meeting also believed that there is still a “high degree of uncertainty regarding economic outlook”, even though economic activity has proven to be stronger than anticipated.
“European indices are expected to open without a clear trend this morning, as investors are unsure how to proceed at the start of the year, between profit-taking, slowing global growth and concerns about future monetary decisions by central banks,” said John Plassard, strategist at Mirabaud Bank, in a comment.
In a session with few company news, participants will be able to analyze the PMI index in the euro zone in December, as well as the first data on inflation in France and Germany for the same month. In the afternoon, the US will release private sector employment figures (ADP) for December.
In China, activity in the services sector grew in the last month of 2023 at its fastest pace in five months, according to the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) calculated by S&P Global and the Chinese economic media Caixin.
On the Swiss stock exchange at 8:11 am, the SMI stock index was preparing to open up 0.16% at 11,187.82 points, after closing the day before with a growth of 0.29%, according to pre-market orders compiled by Julius Bär bank.
Most of the leading stocks are expected to start the session higher, with the exception of Zurich Insurance (-1.5%), Geberit (-0.8%) and Logitech (-0.2%).
Morgan Stanley analysts have lowered the price target and recommendation, from “buy” to “underweight”, for the Zurich insurer. The specialist in sanitary installations has seen its price target raised but the recommendation lowered to “neutral” from “buy” by Goldman Sachs.
After their surge the day before, pharmaceutical heavyweights Novartis (+0.2%) and Roche (+0.2%) appeared to calm down.
The little company news was focused on the broader market, where Dätwyler (-1.9%) was hit by a reduction in its price target and recommendation to “neutral” from “buy” by UBS experts.
Kuros and Newron laboratories have revealed progress on their treatments under development and Jungfraubahn has provided initial positive statistics on the patronage of its ski lifts. But these stocks were not listed in pre-market trading.
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