General Motors Co. said it couldn’t deliver nearly 100,000 vehicles in the second quarter because it lacked computer chips and other parts, underscoring the supply-chain troubles that continue to plague the car business. GM said it built the vehicles mostly during June without semiconductors and other components, and set the cars aside rather than shipping them to dealerships. The hit to its wholesale deliveries will hurt second-quarter profit, although GM said it would be able to finish and ship the cars this year and stood by its full-year profit guidance. The chip shortage and broader supply constraints have hampered vehicle production for the past 18 months, snarling factory schedules and leaving auto makers straining to replenish inventory. Many major car companies on Friday reported U.S. sales declines of 15% or more for the first half of the year, citing a lack of selection on dealership lots. “Microchips are the elephant in the room, but you have other ancillary issues, and it’s just a very fragile supply chain which is going to last for a while,” said Jack Hollis, executive vice president of sales for Toyota Motor North America. Consulting firm AlixPartners LLP said last week that semiconductor shortages will continue to affect the auto industry through 2024.

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Not much happened on the Swiss stock market on Friday. Trading did not attach much importance to the stabilisation approach, the bad mood persisted. "Recession worries have a full grip on the market," said one market participant. Concerns were rife that the reporting season, which is about to begin, would come up with negative surprises, an analyst warned. The SMI gained 0.3 per cent to 10,770 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were ten losers and ten winners. 28.03 million shares were traded (previously: 49.29 million). Technology stocks were among the weakest across Europe. In the US, Micron's outlook spooked investors, especially in the semiconductor sector. The company had spoken of weakening demand. In Switzerland, VAT and AMS-Osram fell by 4.1 and 2.9 per cent respectively. At Lonza (+2.0%), a personnel development went down well: The company appointed Maria Soler Nunez as Head of Group Operations. Holcim (-0.4%) reported a smaller acquisition in Canada. In the financial sector, UBS and Julius Baer fell 0.6 and 0.9 per cent respectively. The sector posted declines across Europe.

European equity indices closed mixed on Friday as investors feared that the major central banks' offensive against inflation would cause a sharp slowdown in the global economy or even a recession. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.02% to 407.1 points in the first session of July. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 advanced by 0.14% and 0.19% respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 gained 0.23%, while the FTSE 100 in London slipped 0.01%. China placed a large order on behalf of three of its biggest airlines for close to 300 jets from Airbus SE, the first major commitment from the country to new planes since before the pandemic. China’s re-emergence in the market for new commercial aircraft has been one of the most widely anticipated in the industry. The country, which typically purchases planes on behalf of its airlines, was one of the biggest and most important buyers of jets before the pandemic. Boeing Co. has repeatedly cited China as critical to its own production growth plans. sharply. French catering and facility management concern Sodexo reiterated its growth projections for the year after reporting a strong third quarter, spurring gains for its shares.

Bond yields sank and stocks recovered a fraction of their weekly losses on Friday, kicking off the back half of a year that more investors fear could be marred by a slowing economy. A day after closing out the index's worst first half of any year since 1970, the S&P 500 on Friday clawed its way into the green after early losses but still finished the week down 2.2%. It has now fallen for 11 of the past 13 weeks. On Friday, at least, stocks reversed some of their recent declines. The S&P 500 gained 39.95, or 1.1%, to 3825.33. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index rose 99.11, or 0.9%, to 11127.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 321.83, or 1%, to 31097.26. Still, investors have carried a risk-averse mood into the summer. On a shortened day for bond trading ahead of the holiday weekend, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.901% from 2.973%. On June 14, it had peaked near 3.5%. U.S. markets will be closed Monday for the Fourth of July. With the S&P 500 in a bear market, defined as a 20% fall from a recent high, stock investors have been weighing how individual companies will fare amid the cloudy outlook for the second half of 2022. Midway through this month, a parade of big businesses will begin unveiling their second-quarter financial results, giving investors a look at recent performance. Micron Technology shares fell $1.63, or 3%, to $53.65 on Friday after the memory-chip maker issued a subdued revenue outlook, spooking investors even as it reported a strong rise in earnings for its latest quarter. Shares of Kohl's fell $7.01, or 20%, to $28.68 after the retailer said that takeover talks with Franchise Group ended without a deal.

At the beginning of the week, no consistent trend can be observed on the stock markets in East Asia and Australia. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index is up 0.6 per cent. Lower market interest rates help tech and auto stocks to gain, but slow down the prices of insurers. Among the individual stocks, Softbank Group gained about 3 per cent and Subaru 2.9 per cent. KDDI fell 1.6 per cent after the telecommunications company reported a nationwide outage of its mobile service.

U.S. government-bond yields slumped, continuing a retreat from mid-June highs, as traders considered whether the Federal Reserve might ease away from its aggressive path of interest-rate increases in the months ahead. The fall in Treasury yields is a pivot point for investors' outlooks, said Roger Aliaga-Diaz, chief economist for the Americas at Vanguard. Traders favor Treasury bonds for their ultrasafe returns in the face of economic distress, but sell them when rising prices augur higher benchmark interest rates set by the Fed. A bond's yield falls as its price rises.

CS lowers Julius Baer target to CHF 62 (65) – Outperform

UBS lowers Novartis target to CHF 86 (88) – Neutral

Citi lowers Schaeffler target to EUR 4.50 (4.60) – Sell

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