Nvidia chief Jensen Huang held forth at a consumer-electronics showcase in Nevada on Monday, touting his inroads in AI agents, self-driving cars and robotics on a day when his company’s valuation reached its highest level. Taking the stage at the annual CES conference in Las Vegas, Huang showed “physical AI” tools that he said would help robots learn using simulated environments that closely mimic the real world. That could bring more automation to warehouses and factories and boost a humanoid-robot market that the company said could be worth $38 billion in the next couple of decades. “The ChatGPT moment for general robotics is just around the corner,” he said, flanked by a lineup of more than a dozen humanoid robots. He was referencing the explosion of interest in AI following the release of OpenAI’s chatbot more than two years ago. In the address, which followed a trading session that sent Nvidia’s value to $3.66 trillion, Huang also highlighted how the company was fast making inroads in the auto industry. He said Nvidia reached a deal to provide driver-assistance chips and software for future Toyota vehicles, adding to a list of automotive partners that include Mercedes and Volvo. He forecast the company’s automotive revenue at $5 billion in its next fiscal year, which begins late this month, up from about $4 billion this year.

Despite a couple of weak spells during the day's trading session, the Switzerland market closed moderately higher on Monday, in line with markets across Europe after data showed an improvement in services sector activity in the region. Optimism about a recovery of the Chinese economy following recent stimulus measures helped as well. The benchmark SMI closed higher by 67.11 points or 0.58% at 11,691.13, the day's high. VAT Group rallied nearly 5%. Logitech International gained 3.85% and Richemont closed stronger by 3.6%. UBS Group and Sika gained 2.64% and 2.25%, respectively. Straumann Holding gained 1.82% and Swatch Group closed up 1.75%. Lonza Group, Schindler Ps, Partners Group, Julius Baer, Holcim, ABB, SGS and Geberit also ended with strong gains. Givaudan closed 1.44% down. Sonova drifted down 0.7%. Nestle lost nearly 1%. Data from the Federal Statistical Office showed that Swiss retail sales growth softened more than expected in November amid a slower rise in demand for non-food products. Retail sales rose 0.8% on a yearly basis after a 1.5% stable increase in October. Further, this was the fifth successive growth in a row. Economists had expected a 1.3% rise. Month-on-month, retail sales dropped 0.1% in November, in contrast to a 0.1% rebound in the previous month. In nominal terms, retail turnover registered an annual decline of 0.3%.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Monday with investors reacting positively to slightly encouraging services sector data from the region, and stronger-than-expected services sector growth in China. The upside was also due to expectations of more stimulus from the Chinese government, and easing concerns about tariff hikes amid reports U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's tariff plan will not be any significantly sharp. Shares from automobile and luxury sectors were among the prominent gainers in the session. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.95%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.31%, Germany's DAX closed up 1.56% and France's CAC 40 ended stronger by 2.24%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.58%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Denmark, Portugal and Russia ended weak, while Norway closed flat. In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion, ICG, Antofagasta, Lloyds Banking Group, Entain, Barclays, Aviva, Melrose Industries, Diageo and Scottish Mortgage climbed 2 to 4%. Anglo American Plc, Persimmon, Prudential, Pershing Square Holdings, Ashtead Group, Natwest Group, Schrodders, BP and Barratt Redrow also closed notably higher. Shares of instrumentation and controls provider Spectris Plc gained 2.7% after HSBC upgraded the stock's rating to 'buy' from 'hold'.

United States
Stocks showed a strong move to the upside early in the session on Monday but gave back ground over the course of the trading day. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, although the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 managed to remain in positive territory. The Nasdaq jumped 243.30 points or 1.2 percent to 19,864.90 and the S&P 500 climbed 32.91 points or 0.6 percent to 5,975.38. The narrower Dow, on the other hand, edged down 25.57 points or 0.1 percent to 42,706.56. The early rally on Wall Street partly reflected continued strength among tech stocks after contract electronics giant Foxconn reported record fourth quarter revenue amid strong AI server demand. Foxconn is an assembly partner with AI darling and market leader Nvidia, which shot up by 3.4 percent on the day. Chipmaker Micron also posted a standout gain, skyrocketing by 10.5 percent. Early buying interest was also generated in reaction to a Washington Post report suggesting President-elect Donald Trump may scale back his tariff plans. While Trump previously called for 'universal' tariffs of as high as 10 or 20 percent on everything imported into the U.S., the Washington Post said his aides are now exploring plans that would apply tariffs to every country but only cover 'critical imports.' American Airlines posted a strong gain after TD Cowen upgraded its rating on the airline's stock to Buy from Hold.

Asia
Stock markets in East Asia and Australia remained mixed on Tuesday. While the Japanese stock market benefited from the weakening yen and rose sharply after the previous day's decline, Hong Kong fell sharply after the USA blacklisted several Chinese companies, including Tencent, due to suspected links to the Chinese military. The Hang Seng Index falls by 2.1 per cent. Tencent lost 6.8 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries climbed well off their worst levels but closed modestly lower. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.2 basis points to 4.618 percent after hitting an eight-month intraday high of 4.644 percent.

Analysis
Deutsche Bank lowers Schindler target to CHF 273 (274) – Buy
Citi lowers Rolls-Royce Holdings to Neutral (Buy) – Target 641 (555) p
Vontobel raises Swiss Life target to CHF 770 (764) – Hold

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