Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.’s stock climbed more than 6% in extended trading Thursday after the computing giant reported quarterly results that beat analyst revenue and earnings estimates. HPE HPE reported fiscal first-quarter net earnings of $501 million, or 38 cents a share versus a net loss of $304 million, or 23 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings were 63 cents a share. Net revenue was $7.8 billion, up 12% from $6.96 billion a year ago. HPE also said its annualized revenue run-rate topped $1 billion for the first time. “We finally have the supply to ship our customers’ orders,” HPE Chief Financial Officer Tarek Robbiati told MarketWatch. “It was a blowout quarter.” Sales of high-performance computing and AI were $1.1 billion, up 34% from the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected on average net earnings of 54 cents a share on revenue of $7.45 billion. HPE offered second-quarter revenue guidance of $7.1 billion to $7.5 billion, easily breezing past FactSet projections of $7 billion. Shares of HPE have slipped about 3% so far this year, while the broader S&P 500 index SPX has increased 3.7%.

The Switzerland market ended on a strong note on Thursday, shrugging off a weak start and a subsequent sluggish spell, as investors picked up stocks from across various sectors. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 10,994.16 in early trades, ended the session with a gain of 109.50 points or 0.99% at 11,165.58, near the day's high of 11,168.83. Nestle rallied more than 2%. Holcim gained 1.75%, while Novartis, Givaudan, Swisscom, Sonova, Geberit and Roche Holding gained 1 to 1.8%. Sika and Richemont both ended nearly 1% up. Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Re and Alcon also ended on a firm note. Credit Suisse tumbled nearly 7%. UBS Group ended lower by about 0.6%. In the Mid Price Index, Barry Callebaut, Swatch Group, Belimo Holding and Straumann Holding gained 1.65 to 2.15%. Ems Chemie Holding, Galenica Sante and Lindt & Spruengli also ended with strong gains. Zur Rose and VAT Group lost 2.1% and 1.9% respectively. Clariant ended 1.4% down after it forecast annual sales to slightly decline in 2023.

The European stock markets closed higher on Thursday, despite the publication of higher than expected inflation in the euro zone in February, suggesting that the European Central Bank (ECB) will continue its restrictive monetary policy. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.5% to 460 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 indices added 0.7% each. The DAX 40 index in Frankfurt increased by 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.4%. Shares in semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics lost 3.2% after carmaker Tesla (down 6.7% in Wall Street trading) on Wednesday night unveiled technological advances that could reduce its reliance on silicon carbide (SiC) components. The engineering group Technip Energies (+7%) presented annual results and forecasts for 2023 higher-than-expected by analysts. Vallourec (+6.2%) announced on Thursday it expects its gross operating profit (GOI) to rise again this year, while this indicator has risen faster than analysts expected in 2022. Deutsche Lufthansa (-0.5% in Frankfurt) ordered 22 long-haul aircraft from aircraft manufacturers Airbus (+0.5%) and Boeing for about $7.5bn at list price. Reinsurer Scor (+5.4%) revealed on Thursday that its new chief executive would present in May the broad outlines of its strategic plan to turn around the group, which has posted a net loss in 2022.

U.S. stocks climbed Thursday, with gains across sectors offsetting declines in financial and consumer discretionary shares. The S&P 500 rose 29.96 points, or 0.8%, to 3981.35. The Nasdaq Composite gained 83.50 points, or 0.7%, to 11462.98, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 341.73 points, or 1%, to 33003.57. Thursday’s gains were broad, lifting all but two of the S&P 500’s sectors. Utilities and consumer-staples shares, which investors tend to think of as defensive plays because of their relatively big dividend payouts, helped lead the market’s advance. Grocery chain Kroger jumped $2.35, or 5.4%, to $45.73. Meanwhile, growth stocks, which tend to be sensitive to rising interest rates, were among the bigger decliners in the market. Shares in Tesla dropped $11.87, or 5.9%, to $190.90 after Chief Executive Elon Musk and his colleagues laid out their vision for the electric car maker. Salesforce bucked the trend, surging $19.24, or 11%, to $186.59 after the software provider said it expects widening profit margins and more revenue than analysts had forecast.

In Asia, major indexes broadly closed with gains. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 climbed 1.6 per cent to 27,950 points. Hong Kong gains 0.7 per cent, while the other stock exchanges show smaller increases. Among the individual stocks in Hong Kong, Bilibili adds almost 10 per cent. The operator of a website for distributing videos was able to stem its losses in the fourth quarter. In Seoul, traders continue to look for shares in companies that could potentially benefit from the reopening of travel from China. Retailer Shinsegae is up 3.4 per cent and auto parts maker HL Mando, which is heavily involved in China, increases by 3.1 per cent.

On Thursday, the Swiss bond market is once again completely under the influence of the latest inflation developments. A trader explained that business was still very volatile as far as interest rates were concerned, similar to the previous day. All five Swiss Confederation bonds that have been traded so far are on the decline. The yield of two-year Confederation bonds was last quoted at 1.3188 and the yield of ten-year bonds at 1.4613%.

Berenberg lowers Tecan to CHF 431 (467) - Buy
UBS raises Georg Fischer to CHF 75 (71) - Buy
CS lifts SIG Combibloc to 23.80 (22.50) CHF - Neutral

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