Holcim achieved a record result last year and announces a major share buyback program for 2024. The Swiss building materials group, which is about to spin off its US business, increased its recurring EBIT by 14.7 percent to 4.76 billion Swiss francs, as it has now announced. The corresponding margin rose by 130 basis points to 17.6 percent. Nominally, sales fell by just under 1.2 billion francs to 27 billion francs. "We have changed our business model from volume to value and have successfully focused on the most attractive markets with strong growth drivers and margins," said CEO Jan Jenisch. Holcim improved its return on invested capital (ROIC) to 10.6 (previous year: 9.5) percent. The return target for 2025 was thus achieved two years earlier than planned. Last week, German competitor Heidelberg Materials reported a return on investment of 10.3 percent. The dividend is to increase by 12 percent to 2.80 Swiss francs. Holcim also intends to buy back its own shares on the Swiss stock exchange for 1.1 billion Swiss francs by the end of the year.

After a long spell in negative territory, the Swiss market edged higher in the final hour the day's trading session on Tuesday but retreated in the closing minutes to eventually settle with a marginal loss. The benchmark SMI ended down 12.43 points or 0.11% at 11,440.45, easing from a high of 11,466.95. Sonova ended down 2.08%. Givaudan closed lower by 1.83%, while Kuehne & Nagel, Swiss Re, Novartis, Nestle, Swiss Life Holding and Swisscom lost 0.5 to 0.9%. Roche Holding gained about 1.25%. Holcim advanced nearly 1%, while Alcon, UBS Group, Logitech International and Lonza Group gained 0.5 to 0.75%. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burger Tech dropped more than 7%. Barry Callebaut ended nearly 4% down, while Lindt & Spruengli and Straumann Holding settled lower by about 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively.

Europe
European stocks closed slightly up on Tuesday with investors largely making cautious moves ahead of a slew of crucial U.S. and European data, including reports on inflation and manufacturing activity, due later in the week. Investors continued to react to quarterly earnings updates, in addition to digesting the latest batch of economic data, and following the developments on the geopolitical front. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.18%. Germany's DAX gained 0.76%, France's CAC 40 advanced 0.23%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.02%, while Switzerland's SMI ended down 0.11%. Among other markets in Europea, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Portugal and Sweden ended higher. Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Spain and Turkiye closed weak. Netherlands and Russia ended flat. In the UK market, Vodafone climbed nearly 4%. Anglo American Plc, Flutter Entertainment, Antofagasta, SSE, Diageo, Burberry Group, Entain, Scottish Mortgage, HSBC Holdings, Standard Chartered, Rio Tinto, Marks & Spencer, Severn Trent and Ocado gained 1 to 2.5%. Asset manager Abrdn ended 3.3% down. The stock soared almost 5% earlier in the day after narrowing its full-year losses and announcing plans to cut around 500 jobs as part of a cost reduction program Imperial Brands ended more than 4% down. In the German market, Infineon rallied 4%. BASF, RWE, Continental, Bayer, Mercedes-Benz, Daimler Truck Holding, Zalando, Porsche and Vonovia gained 1 to 2.5%.

United States
Following the modest pullback seen in the previous session, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the day mixed. While the Nasdaq climbed 59.05 points or 0.4 percent to 16,035.30 and the S&P 500 edged up 8.65 points or 0.2 percent to 5,078.18, the Dow dipped 96.82 points or 0.3 percent to 38,972.41. Uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets contributed to the choppy trading on Wall Street following last week's advance by the Dow and S&P 500 to new record highs. Traders also stuck to the sidelines ahead of the release of some key economic data later this week, including a closely watched inflation reading. The Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending, which is scheduled to be released on Thursday, includes a reading on consumer price inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve. The inflation data could have a notable impact on the outlook for interest rates, as Fed officials have said they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before cutting rates. Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day. Airline stocks showed a significant move to the upside, however, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index climbing by 1.3 percent. Notable strength was also visible among utilities stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Utility Average. Banking, steel and biotechnology stocks also saw some strength on the day, while gold stocks moved to the downside despite a modest increase by the price of the precious metal.

Asia
Measured by the indices, little is happening on the East Asian stock markets in the course of trading on Wednesday. The trend is just about unchanged. One outlier was the stock exchange in Seoul, where the Kospi rose by 1 per cent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was virtually unchanged at 39,240 points, just below the recent record high. In Hong Kong, the index fell by 0.2 per cent, in Shanghai it was slightly higher at 0.8 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries closed modestly lower after showing a lack of direction for much of the session. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by 1.6 basis points to 4.315 percent.

Analysis
Barclays raises Flutter to Overweight (Equalweight) – Target GBP 200 (153)
HSBC raises the Repsol target to EUR 16.10 (14.70) – Hold
HSBC raises the Axa target to EUR 34.50 (33.70) – Hold

Produced by MBI Martin Brückner Infosource GmbH & Co. KG on behalf of Swissquote. All news is acquired with journalistic accuracy. No liability is assumed for delays or errors.