Swiss equities faced another downturn, with the Swiss Market Index closing down 1.01% on Tuesday. The KOF Swiss Economic Institute's global economic barometers exhibited minimal fluctuations in December. The coincident barometer lightly fell by 0.2 points to 96.5, while the leading barometer rose by 0.5 points to 105.1.
KOF director Jan-Egbert Sturm commented, "Last month's upturn in global barometers has continued, suggesting that global economic conditions are only slightly below average and that expectations for the next two quarters remain positive." In Germany, Switzerland's key trading partner, the annual inflation rate rose to 2.2% in November from 2% in October, aligning with consensus estimates.
Furthermore, Macquarie mentioned that "the ECB will cut its Deposit Rate by -25bps on Thursday, rather than -50bps. But there's a budding view at the ECB that the policy rate must go below neutral in 2025. That sentiment will continue at least until there's clarity around the political and budgetary outlooks in France and Germany." On the corporate side, Baader Helvea lowered its price target on Emmi ($EMMN) to 900 francs from 950 francs, while reiterating its add rating.
The adjustment reflects Baader's perspective that the profitability of the Swiss dairy product manufacturer remains on a positive trajectory, despite fluctuations in share price, with growth opportunities in Mademoiselle Desserts and U.S. operations. The stock experienced a decline of 2.12% by closing.
In other news, Novartis ($NOVN) revealed updated results from the phase 3 Natalee trial of Kisqali in combination with endocrine therapy. This combination demonstrated a 28.5% reduction in distant disease-free survival among patients with stage 2 and 3 hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer compared to endocrine therapy alone, showing consistent outcomes across various patient demographics, including those with node-negative disease.
The shares of the Swiss drugmaker ended 0.69% lower..