Netflix shares fell 26% in after-hours trading as the streaming giant said it lost subscribers globally in the first quarter and expects to lose more this spring. Netflix Inc. said it is exploring offering a lower priced ad-supported version of the platform to boost its subscriber base, after the streaming giant posted its first quarterly subscriber loss in more than a decade. Through Tuesday’s close, the stock has declined by more than 40% so far this year. The company blamed password sharing among its members and increased streaming competition for pressuring revenue growth. Netflix estimated that besides its almost 222 million paying households, the service is being shared with an additional 100 million homes including 30 million in the U.S. and Canada. The streaming company said revenue growth has slowed considerably after years of 20%-plus gains. Revenue in the first quarter rose roughly 10% to $7.87 billion, below analysts’ projections of $7.93 billion. Netflix’s subscription decline brought its paid global subscriber base to 221.6 million, down from 221.8 million in the prior quarter. Net profit was $1.6 billion, down from $1.71 billion a year earlier. The growing number of streaming options has made consumers more price- sensitive.

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The Swiss stock market ended trading on Tuesday with significant losses. The SMI lost 1.6 per cent to 12,281 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 13 price losers and 7 price winners. 37.57 (previously: 36.48) million shares were traded. Banking stocks held up well. Credit Suisse advanced by 1.4 per cent. The share of competitor UBS gained 0.8 per cent. Insurance stocks, meanwhile, fell sharply. Swiss Life lost 1.6 per cent and Zurich Insurance 2.4 per cent. The Swiss Re share (-7.3 per cent) was traded ex-dividend the significant minus being mainly of an optical nature. A dividend of 5.90 francs was paid to shareholders. Roche (-3.5%) was pushed sharply lower by the UBS downgrade to "Sell" from "Neutral". The analysts warn against too high hopes for the Alzheimer's drug Gantenerumab. Shares of rival Novartis held up much better, with slight discounts of 0.3 per cent. Index heavyweight Nestle slipped 2.0 per cent. The group will present sales figures for the first quarter on Thursday.

European markets fell amid ongoing economic uncertainty on Tuesday, weighed down by geopolitical and economic uncertainties as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its growth forecast for the current year. The Stoxx Europe 600 index decreased by 0.8% to 456.3 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 also lost 0.8%. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.1% and the FTSE in London slipped 0.2%. Virbac increased by 9.9%, the biggest gainer within the SBF 120, after raising its growth forecast for this year. At the other end of the scale, Scor (-5.2%) warned that it would incur an exceptional charge in the first quarter due to the war in Ukraine and would make a loss for this period. Stellantis (+2.4%) has suspended production in Russia at its Kaluga site, south of Moscow, following the "daily reinforcement of cross-sanctions and logistical difficulties encountered". Vallourec (+1.2%) appointed Sascha Bibert as its new CFO. L'Oréal fell 2.9%, as it publishes its first quarter sales on Tuesday evening. Hermès lost 3.6% and Pernod Ricard 2.7%.

U.S. stocks and government bond yields rose Tuesday as investors parsed the latest round of earnings reports for signs that corporate profits are holding up despite inflation. Analysts expect profits from big U.S. companies to keep growing this year even as costs rise. That has bolstered the bull case for equities at a time when investors are anxious over the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates to fight inflation. The S&P 500 advanced 70.52 points, or 1.6%, to 4462.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 499.51 points, or 1.5%, to 34911.20. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 287.30 points, or 2.2%, to 13619.66. It was the best day in a month for all three indexes. The gains were broad-based, with 10 of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors advancing. Only the energy group, the top-performing sector this year, declined. Travel stocks were among the day’s strong performers after a federal judge threw out the requirement that travelers in the U.S. wear masks on airplanes and other forms of mass transit. American Airlines Group shares rose $1.05, or 5.7%, to $19.59. Las Vegas Sands shares gained $1.59, or 4.3%, to $38.24. Carnival shares added 87 cents, or 4.6%, to $19.91. The market is in the thick of earnings season with dozens of big U.S. companies expected to report this week. Given high inflation, investors are watching for signs of which firms are able to preserve their profits by passing higher costs along to customers through price increases. Shares of Johnson & Johnson gained $5.42, or 3.1%, to $183.08 after the pharmaceutical firm beat earnings expectations. Travelers fell $9.06, or 4.9%, to $176.16 despite reporting higher earnings and lifting its dividend. Other stock movers included shares of American Campus Communities, which jumped $7.22, or 13%, to $64.80 after The Wall Street Journal reported that Blackstone is buying the student-housing owner in a deal valued at $12.8 billion. Plug Power shares rose $2.50, or 9.8%, to $28.05 after the alternative-energy company said it had struck a deal with Walmart to supply the retailer with hydrogen.

In Asia, major indexes broadly closed with slight gains. The heavily regulated Chinese renminbi falls to its lowest level since October. The Shanghai Composite is holding its ground while the HSI in Hong Kong is trending friendly but is making a feeble recovery from the previous day's crash. In Shanghai, energy stocks were among the biggest losers. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 was friendly, led by gains in the automotive sector. Toyota Motor rose by 2.3 per cent and Nissan Motor by as much as 3 per cent. The South Korean Kospi hovered around the previous day's closing levels. Energy and shipbuilding stocks tended to be weak. In the energy sector, S-Oil lost 2.9 per cent and among shipbuilders Hyundai Mipo Dockyard 2.7 per cent.

Long-dated U.S. government debt yields rose to their highest levels of the past three years or more on Tuesday, with the 10-year cracking above 2.9% for the first time since December 2018, as traders priced in the prospects of aggressively higher U.S. interest rates to control inflation. Respectively, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose by 4 basis points to 2.911%. The 2-year rate also increased by 13 basis points to 2.594%.

Deutsche Bank reduces Holcim target to CHF 58 (70) - Buy

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