Google’s parent said quarterly profit jumped by more than half and announced its first cash dividend, sending its stock soaring following months of scrutiny over an expensive push in artificial intelligence. Parent company Alphabet on Thursday also reported revenue in the three months through March rose 15% from a year earlier to $80.5 billion. That marked an uptick from the 13.5% rise in the previous quarter. The company highlighted cost controls that helped improve profit margins in the latest quarter. Big tech companies such as Google and Microsoft - which also reported Thursday better-than-expected quarterly sales growth - are pouring money into building new data centers and chips for artificial intelligence. Alphabet recorded $12 billion in capital expenditures during the first quarter, a 91% increase from the same period last year. Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said investors can expect quarterly capital spending to be “roughly at or above this level.” The Google parent also posted robust profits, with net income in the quarter soaring 57% to $23.7 billion. Shares rose sharply after the results and the 20-cent dividend announcement, gaining more than 12% in after-hours trading Thursday.

The Switzerland market ended notably lower on Thursday, in line with markets across Europe, with investors largely tracking earnings updates, and making cautious moves amid uncertainty about the outlook for Fed interest rates. The benchmark SMI ended down by 110.13 points or 0.97% at 11,260.61, about 25 points off the day's low of 11,345.29. Straumann Holding ended down 2.59%. Givaudan ended lower by 2.02%. Nestle shed 2.02% after the Swiss food and drinks giant missed first-quarter organic sales growth estimates. The company reported that its total sales for the first-quarter were 22.1 billion Swiss francs, a decrease of 5.9% from last year. Foreign exchange decreased sales by 6.7%. Net divestitures had a negative impact of 0.6%. Quarterly group organic sales growth was 1.4%, driven by Europe and emerging markets, with a negative impact from North America. Pricing was 3.4%, following a high base of comparison in 2023. Holcim, Swiss Life Holding, Lonza and Alcon lost 1.7 to 1.77%. Roche Holding, Sonova, Geberit, SIG Group, Swiss Re, Partners Group, Sika and Richemont ended lower by 1.1 to 1.6%. Tecan Group lost nearly 4%. Georg Fischer, Temenos Group, Baloise Holding, Belimok Holding and Avolta also ended notably lower. Novartis, Barry Callebaut, Lindt Spruengli and Swatch Group gained 0.7 to 1%. Meyer Burger Tech and ams OSRAM AG advanced about 2% and 1.5%, respectively.

Europe
European stocks closed lower on Thursday with investors digesting a slew of earnings updates and economic data from Europe and the U.S. Although several companies reported fairly strong quarterly earnings, weak updates and revenue guidance from a few top notch European and U.S. companies fell short of expectations, rendering the mood cautious for much of the day's trading session. Data showing a spike in U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index raised concerns the Fed might hold interest rates higher for a longer period. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down by 0.64%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.48%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 lost 0.95% and 0.93%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI shed 0.97%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden ended with sharp to moderate losses. Norway, Portugal and Russia closed weak, while Turkiye ended flat. In the UK market, Anglo American Plc shares soared over 16% after mining giant BHP Group proposed a takeover of the rival in a deal that seeks to create world's biggest copper miner with around 10 percent of global output. Barclays Group climbed about 6.75% after the lender reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter profit. Unilever shares gained 5.7% as the consumer goods giant beat first-quarter sales forecasts and kept its full-year guidance for underlying sales growth within its multi-year range of 3-5%. AstraZeneca rallied nearly 6%.

United States
After moving sharply lower early in the session, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading day on Thursday but remained mostly lower. The major averages all finished the day in negative territory after ending Wednesday's trading narrowly mixed. The Dow slumped 375.12 points or 1.0 percent to 38,085.80 after plunging by more than 700 points in early trading. The Nasdaq slid 100.99 points or 0.6 percent to 15,611.76 and the S&P 500 fell 23.21 points or 0.5 percent at 5,048.42. A negative reaction to earnings news from Meta Platforms (META) contributed to the early sell-off on Wall Street, with the Facebook parent plunging by 10.6 percent. Meta Platforms reported first quarter results that beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines but provided disappointing second quarter revenue guidance. Tech giant IBM Corp. (IBM) also dove by 8.3 after reporting weaker than expected first quarter revenues. IBM also announced a deal to acquire HashiCorp (HCP) for $35 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of $6.4 billion. On the other hand, fellow Dow component Merck (MRK) jumped by 2.9 perent after reporting first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates.

Asia
Stock markets in East Asia are predominantly up, while Australia is making up for the previous day's regional losses after the public holiday break. The dominant topic is the Bank of Japan, which is driving the Japanese stock market with its decisions, but is also leaving some market participants perplexed. The Japanese central bank has left its interest rate target unchanged, one month after its first rate hike in 17 years. The interest rate remains within a range of 0 to 0.1 per cent. In its quarterly outlook, the BoJ also expressed the view that inflation is likely to remain at around the bank's target of 2 per cent over the next three years.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the downward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 5.4 basis points to a nearly six-month closing high of 4.706 percent.

Analysis