Morning News
U.S. Department of Justice Subpoenas Nvidia

By Thomas BIANCATO
Published on Wed, 09/04/2024 - 00:00

Topic of the day

According to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has subpoenaed Nvidia and other companies to find evidence that the chipmaker violated antitrust laws. The DOJ had previously sent questionnaires to the companies, so the subpoenas were an escalation of the government investigation, according to the report. Antitrust officials feared that Nvidia was making it harder for customers to switch to other providers and penalizing buyers who did not exclusively use its AI chips, the unnamed sources said.

Swiss stocks

The Switzerland stock market ended notably lower on Tuesday, in line with markets across Europe, as worries about growth and uncertainty about the likely pace of Fed interest rate cuts weighed on sentiment. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to a low of 12,293.90, ended down by 103.29 points or 0.83% at 12,348.19. Partners Group shares dropped 9.2% after its first-half results missed expectations. VAT Group ended down 3.6% and Julius Baer drifted down 3.01%. Sandoz Group, Roche Holdings and Roche GS closed lower by 2 to 2.4%. UBS Group, ABB, SIG Group, Kuehne + Nagel, Novartis, Straumann Holding, Lonza Group, Holcim and Swatch Group lost 1 to 1.5%. Givaudan climbed 1.52%. Sonova gained 1.32%, while Swiss Life Holding, Swiss Re, Nestle and Schindler Ps advanced 0.8 to 1.1%. Lindt & Spruengli and Swisscom posted modest gains. Switzerland's economic growth accelerated in the second quarter as initially estimated on strengthening manufacturing and services output, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed. Gross domestic product grew 0.5% sequentially after posting 0.3% growth in the previous two quarters. The rate came in line with the flash estimate. Switzerland's consumer price inflation eased more-than-expected in August to the lowest level in five months, the Federal Statistical Office reported. The consumer price index rose 1.1% on a yearly basis in August, slower than the 1.3% rise in July. The expected increase was 1.2%. Further, this was the lowest inflation since March, when prices had risen 1%.

International markets

Europe
European stocks closed notably lower on Tuesday amid renewed concerns about the outlook for global economic growth and uncertainty about the pace of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve following recent mixed economic data. The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 0.97%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down 0.78%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.97% and 0.93%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI dropped 0.83%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye ended with sharp to moderate losses. Denmark and Iceland closed modestly lower, while Greece settled flat. In the UK market, Rightmove dropped 6.8%. Fresnillo ended 5.6% down. Anglo American Plc, Antofagasta, Melrose Industries, Glencore, BP, Endeavour Mining, Shell, Natwest Group, Pershing Square Holdings, Standard Chartered, Rio Tinto and Mondi lost 2 to 5%. Easyjet climbed about 2.75%. B&M European Value Retail, Tesco, Reckitt Benckiser, IAG, Severn Trent and Intertek Group gained 1 to 2.2%. In the German market, Infineon ended 4.6% down. Porsche, Daimler Truck Holding, Siemens Energy, Commerzbank and BASF lost 2.3 to 3.2%. HeidelbergCement, BMW, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes-Benz, Qiagen, Rheinmetall, Siemens, Volkswagen and Vonovia ended down 1 to 2%. In the French market, ArcelorMittal, STMicroElectronics and TotalEnergies ended down 5.1%, 4.6% and 3.1%, respectively. Stellantis, Renault, Sain Gobain, Legrand, Airbus Group, Pernod Ricard, Dassault Systemes, Schneider Electric, Safran, Publicis Groupe, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale lost 1.3 to 3%.

United States
Stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, with the major averages more than offsetting the strong gains posted last Friday. With the steep drop, the Dow pulled back well off the record closing high set in the previous session. The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but continued to post significant losses. The Nasdaq plunged 577.33 points or 3.3 percent to 17,136.30, the S&P 500 dove 119.47 points or 2.1 percent to 5,528.93 and the Dow tumbled 626.15 points or 1.5 percent to 40,936.93. The sell-off on Wall Street came after the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing a continued contraction by U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of August. The ISM said its manufacturing PMI inched up to 47.2 in August from 46.8 in July, but a reading below 50 still indicates contraction. Economists had expected the index to rise to 47.5. Semiconductor stocks pulled back sharply after turning in a strong performance last Friday, resulting in a 7.8 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) plummeted by 9.5 percent. Substantial weakness was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 5.1 percent plunge by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. U.S. Steel (X) helped lead the sector lower, tumbling by 6.1 percent after Vice President Kamala Harris expressed opposition to the sale of the steel producer to Japan's Nippon Steel. Oil service stocks also saw significant weakness amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 4.9 percent.

Asia
Following the extremely weak start on Wall Street to September, which is considered to be a difficult month on the stock markets, the East Asian stock markets and Sydney fell sharply on Wednesday. Losses ranged from 0.5 per cent in Shanghai to 3.5 per cent in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 index slipped to 37,733 points.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries regained ground after trending lower over the past several sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 6.7 basis points to 3.844 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises OMV to Buy (Neutral) – Target EUR 45 (41)
Deutsche Bank lowers DocMorris to Hold (Buy)/target CHF 45 (99) – Traders
Deutsche Bank lowers Schneider Electric target to EUR 215 (220) – 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.


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