Apple posted the biggest spring-quarter profit in its 45-year history, leading a streak of record-setting earnings for technology companies even as the pandemic continues to weigh on the global economy. Not to be overlooked, Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. also said Tuesday that their quarterly earnings excelled, underscoring how the pandemic has shifted life and work online and strengthened some of the world’s biggest and wealthiest companies. Apple earned $21.7 billion in profit for the three-month period that ended in June, while revenue rose 36% from a year earlier to $81.4 billion, beating expectations. The Cupertino, Calif., iPhone maker is on pace for its best fiscal year ever with a projected profit of $86 billion for the 12-month period ending in September, according to an average forecast of analysts surveyed by FactSet. That would be about 51% better than last year’s record; analysts a year ago were predicting what now seems like a paltry 11% gain.

The Swiss stock market ended trading on Tuesday with slight markdowns. Investors had already taken accumulated gains at the beginning of the week. Once again, the mood was somewhat dampened by weak signals from China. The SMI lost 0.2 per cent to 12,021 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 15 price losers and four price winners, with Roche closing unchanged. 25.62 million shares were traded (previously: 28.32 million). Despite good earnings figures from competitor LVMH, investors parted with shares of luxury group Richemont (-2.2%). Market participants pointed to profit-taking after the share had reached a new record high the previous day. The shares of competitor Swatch (-2.4%) fell even more sharply. After Monday's markdowns, Lonza moved down another 0.5 per cent. Givaudan (+1.1), meanwhile, recovered from the previous day's losses. The SMI was supported by index heavyweight Nestle (+0.2%). Among the second-line stocks, the Logitech share (-9.9%) suffered a significant loss despite good quarterly figures.

European stock indices lost ground on Tuesday, with the market taking a wait-and-see attitude ahead of quarterly results from US technology giants Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet, which will be released after the close of Wall Street, and after a series of corporate results in Europe. The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed down 0.5% at 458.7 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 each gave up 0.7%. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 was down 0.6%, while in London, the FTSE 100 limited its decline to 0.4%. Randstad NV reported Tuesday a swing to a net and a pretax profit for the second quarter of 2021, boosted by stronger-than-anticipated revenue for the period, and said it’s confident for its full-year performance. The Dutch staffing company reported a net profit of 174 million euros ($205.4 million) compared with a net loss of EUR59 million for the same period a year earlier. The company also swung to a pretax profit of EUR235 million from a loss of EUR79 million for the year-earlier period. Underlying earnings before interest, taxes and amortization for the quarter increased to EUR260 million from EUR67 million a year earlier CBRE Group Inc. has cut a deal to make one of its largest acquisitions ever, paying roughly $1.3 billion, or £960 million, for a 60% stake in Turner & Townsend Holdings Ltd., one of the world’s largest managers of infrastructure, natural-resources and real-estate construction projects. CBRE, the world’s largest commercial-real-estate-services firm, is buying a controlling stake in the London-based company partly in anticipation of a wave of investment in alternative energy and infrastructure in the coming years. The owners and corporate tenants of many of the buildings CBRE manages and leases have put a priority on steps to reduce their carbon footprints, according to Bob Sulentic, the firm’s chief executive.

U.S. stocks slipped from records Tuesday, breaking a five-session winning streak for all three major indexes. Losses in big tech stocks like Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet weighed on the market, while shares of airlines and cruise companies also lagged behind. The S&P 500 dropped 20.84 points, or 0.5%, to 4401.46. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 85.79 points, or 0.2%, to 35058.52. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 180.14 points, or 1.2%, to 14660.58, its largest one-day decline since May. The three indexes closed at all-time highs Monday. A powerful rally has sent the S&P 500 up 17% in 2021, while the Nasdaq Composite has gained 14%. General Electric Co. reported higher orders for its industrial machinery and raised its goal for cash flows this year, as the manufacturer continues to recover from pandemic-induced shocks to the global economy. GE said its second-quarter revenue rose 9% to $18.3 billion from the year-ago period, when airlines grounded planes and canceled jet purchases as Covid-19-related lockdowns took hold. The company reported another quarterly net loss on Tuesday, but said it had an adjusted profit that topped Wall Street’s expectations excluding one-time charges. “We’re encouraged by the early signs of the recovery,” Chief Executive Larry Culp said on a conference call Tuesday. “While we recognize that many are still facing continued challenges with new Covid spikes and variants, we’re seeing our businesses return to growth this quarter.”

In the wake of the price losses on Wall Street on Tuesday, the stock markets in East Asia are falling across the board on Wednesday. However, the losses are mostly moderate. The mood remains clouded by the recent heavy losses on the Chinese stock markets, which were triggered by the tightening of regulatory measures, primarily against technology giants that are becoming too powerful, but also against companies in the education sector.

Yields on long-term U.S. Treasury debt continue to decline. The yield on 10-year paper fell by 6.1 basis points to 1.23 per cent.

CS rises Schindler target to 305 (290) CHF – Outperform
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UBS rises LVMH target to 795 (748) EUR – Buy

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