Fri, Apr 5th 2024
Swiss stocks take a hit as US Federal Reserve’s stance on interest rates shakes global markets.
The Swiss stock market fell significantly on Friday. This was triggered by the statements of US Federal Reserve Chairman Neel Kashkari, who had signaled the previous day that there was no guarantee of interest rate cuts this year in view of the robust US economy and only a slow decline in inflation. This is unsettling for investors, as the Fed’s first rate cut in June had been a foregone conclusion. Building on this, financial markets around the world have risen sharply since October.
This makes the US labor market report due to be published early Friday afternoon all the more important for investors. The tension and at the same time the uncertainty can be clearly felt on the stock market in the run-up to the latest figures from the US jobs market.
In addition, there are increasing geopolitical tensions, which are reflected in a rising oil price, among other things.
At 11.05 a.m., the leading SMI index was trading 1.33% lower at 11,535.24 points, slightly above the day’s low of 11,516 points.
The most important European indices such as the German DAX (-1.6%), the FTSE (-1.0%) in London and the CAC (-1.4%) in Paris also fell sharply.
All SLI stocks fell on Friday, with interest rate-sensitive, growth and technology stocks such as Logitech (-2.7%), VAT (-1.8%) and AMS Osram (-4.4%) posting the biggest losses.
Banks UBS (-2.4%) and Julius Baer (-2.0%) as well as industrial stocks such as ABB (-2.4%), Holcim (-1.5%) and Sika (-1.4%) were also weak.
Novartis (-1.6%), which had risen by 2.8% the previous day following positive product news, also suffered from profit-taking.
The two other heavyweights Roche (GS -0.9%) and Nestlé (-0.8%) fell less sharply, but also clearly.
©Keystone/SDA
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