By Swissquote Analysts
United Places Its Biggest Jet Order – 270 Boeing and Airbus Planes
Topic of the day
United Airlines Holdings Inc. is making its largest ever plane order, adding Boeing and Airbus jets to fuel its post-pandemic growth plans. The Chicago-based airline said that it will purchase 200 of Boeing Co.'s 737 MAX jets and 70 larger Airbus SE A321neos, a deal valued at more than $30 billion at list prices before customary discounts. United is looking to replace most of its 50-seat jets and other smaller, older aircraft with these larger planes that can carry more passengers and allow it to sell more premium seats. The order – the largest by a U.S. airline since American Airlines Group Inc. ordered 460 new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus in 2011 – is the latest sign of U.S. airlines' growing confidence that travel is on course to snap back after being decimated by the coronavirus pandemic last year. United lost more than $7 billion last year and accepted billions of dollars in government aid to continue paying workers. Now the airline expects to make money in July on an adjusted pretax basis, which would be its first profitable month since January 2020.
Swiss stocks
The Swiss stock market also posted small gains on Tuesday. Support came from Wall Street, where the recent series of record highs continued. The SMI gained 0.2 per cent to 12,028 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 15 gainers and five losers. 29.88 (previously: 27.17) million shares were traded. Market participants explained the again thin turnover with the scanty news situation and the summer holiday season. A clear pattern was not discernible. Investors grabbed cyclicals such as ABB (+0.9%) and Geberit (+1.2%) as well as defensive stocks such as Nestle (+0.2%). Among the individual stocks in the SMI, Lonza fell by 0.4 per cent. The pharmaceutical manufacturer has restated key figures for 2020 to reflect the reorganisation of its corporate structure. Shares in the travel industry again suffered from the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus and the discussion about new travel restrictions. Dufry lost 2.5 per cent and Flughafen Zürich 1.3 per cent.
International markets
Europe
Europe's main equity indices closed in the green on Tuesday, driven by new record highs on Wall Street after the release of a better-than-expected US consumer confidence index. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.3% to 456.4 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 gained 0.1% each. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 gained 0.9%, while in London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.2%. London-listed airlines and travel-related stocks drop on fears about a resurgence of coronavirus-related restrictions in Europe. British Airways and Iberia owner International Airlines Group falls 4.6%, tour operator TUI backtracks 3.7%, cruise operator Carnival subsides 2.4% and Intercontinental Hotels Group retreats 2.2%. Elsewhere easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air also drop. TotalEnergies SE said Tuesday that it was partnering with Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER) on electric mobility. The French company said that the partnership would initially focus on France, where Uber is aiming to grow its fleet of electric vehicles to 50%, by giving drivers TotalEnergies cards that enable them to access charge points. They'll have access to 20,000 charge points buy the end of this year and more than 75,000 by 2025. Deutsche Boerse AG said late Monday that Atoss Software AG will replace German lighting-technology Osram Licht AG on the SDAX, Germany's small-cap index. The developer of workforce-management software will join the SDAX on Thursday as Osram will be delisted due to its takeover by AMS. The next review of the index is scheduled for Sept. 3.
United States
U.S. stocks edged up in a choppy trading session that saw modest gains in economically sensitive and growth stocks alike. The S&P 500 ticked up less than 0.1%, as shares of home builders, energy stocks and technology companies rose. The gains were enough for the index to close at its 33rd record of the year - a figure that ties the number seen in all of 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose, gaining less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.2% to close at a record high, after wobbling between gains and losses earlier in the day. Chip maker Intel Corp. is delaying production of one of its newest chips to improve performance, the first significant product setback under new Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger as he seeks to rebuild the company's competitiveness. Intel now is planning to start producing the next generation of central processing units for servers - the brains of those machines - in early 2022 after previously saying it would be ready late this year, Lisa Spelman, the company's corporate vice president, who manages the server-chip business, said in a Tuesday blog post. Cummins Inc. and Rush Enterprises Inc. announced that they have signed a Letter of Intent for Cummins to acquire a 50% equity interest in Momentum Fuel Technologies from Rush Enterprises. The proposed transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to completion of customary pre-closing activities and entering into mutually agreeable transaction documentation.
Asia
The majority of the East Asian stock exchanges and those in Australia are showing slight gains on Wednesday. The Nikkei-225 is hardly changed and gives back significant gains at the beginning of the session after disappointing economic data. Industrial production in May fell much more sharply than expected.
Bonds
Yields for U.S. government debt were mostly unchanged Wednesday, with investors hunting for a clear catalyst ahead of the monthly U.S. labor-market report. Market participants have blamed choppy trade so far this week on month-end and quarter-end positioning, with moves limited for the 10-year Treasury yield, for example, and within a range of between 1.4% and 1.5% in recent sessions.
Analysis
JP Morgan lowers the Siemens Gamesa target to 33 (34) EUR – Overweight
UBS rises the Glencore target to 350 (340) p – Buy
UBS rises the Axa target to 20,50 (19,10) EUR – Neutral
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