Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. on Wednesday reported its first increase in sales in nearly a year due to continued improvements in its advertising business, as the company continues to pare back spending during what Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has called a “year of efficiency.” Mr. Zuckerberg attributed some of these gains to Reels, the company’s short-form video product. Shares surged by more than 12% in after-hours trading, as the company also forecast that second-quarter revenue could reach as high as $32 billion. The tough economic climate, an increasing number of regulations limiting personalized ads and the fallout from Apple Inc.’s ad-tracking changes in 2021 have weighed on the digital-ad market. Meta has faced growing competition from TikTok, which in February reached 150 million monthly users in the U.S. The 3% increase is an improvement from the 4.5% drop in revenue that the company posted in the final quarter of 2022, indicating that Meta’s heavy investment in artificial-intelligence tools to improve its ad-targeting systems is working. Meta’s family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, incurred a restructuring charge of $934 million for the first quarter. Reality Labs, the division tasked with building the hardware and software underpinning Meta’s ambitions to build a platform in the metaverse, incurred a $210 million charge. Reality Labs reported revenue of $339 million for the quarter, a decline of 51% compared with a year prior. The unit, which makes Meta’s Quest virtual-reality headsets, posted an operating loss of $4 billion. The company also reported a net profit of $5.7 billion for the first quarter. That represents a roughly 24% decline from the year-ago period, but it is up from $4.7 billion in the October-to-December quarter.

The Swiss stock market ended Wednesday's trading session with markdowns. The SMI lost 1.3 per cent to 11,365 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 16 price losers and four price winners. 42.31 (previously: 48.57) million shares were traded. Notwithstanding the banking worries in the USA, the shares of Credit Suisse and UBS held up well in the weak market environment, with premiums of 0.8 and 0.9 per cent respectively. On Wednesday, Roche also presented business figures for the first quarter. The pharmaceutical giant posted lower sales than in the same period last year due to declining business with Corona tests. The share declined by 2.6 per cent. The shares of competitor Novartis shed 1.6 per cent after the previous day's strong gains of 4.0 per cent following an increase of the 2023 forecast. Subsequent to strong quarterly results and gains the previous day, shares of index heavyweights Nestle (-0.4 per cent) as well as ABB (-2.6 per cent) also declined. In the broader market, Temenos shares were up 13.4 per cent after first-quarter figures. Inficon also reported first quarter figures. The share of the measurement technology company rose by 3.2 per cent.

European shares extended their recent losses on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street's retreat, after investor concerns about regional banks and the U.S. economy ticked upward. The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 0.8% to 463.2 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 lost 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt and the FTSE 100 in London were down 0.5% each. Teleperformance fell 14% after announcing plans to launch a €3bn takeover bid for Luxembourg-based personalised customer experience specialist Majorel. Majorel shares, listed in Amsterdam, jumped 38.2% to 28.95 euros. Automotive supplier Valeo (-4%) reported first-quarter sales of 5.48 billion euros, up 8% like-for-like. Nexans (-8%) and Dassault Systèmes (-6.8%) also tumbled after publishing sales figures in line with expectations in the first quarter. Korian jumped 7.4%. Investors welcomed the announcement of a real estate partnership, the confirmation of the retirement home and clinic operator's targets for 2023 and the 8.8% organic growth of its turnover in the first quarter. Carrefour (+2.1%) demonstrated market share gains in all key countries, Jefferies noted after the retailer posted higher-than-expected first-quarter sales of €22.07bn. Jefferies predicts that the integration of Brazilian retailer Grupo BIG will boost Carrefour's margins from the second half of the year. British pharmaceutical company GSK (-3.9% in London) released lower but higher-than-expected first-quarter results and confirmed its full-year guidance for 2023.

Tech companies including Microsoft Corp. were among the stock market’s few bright spots Wednesday, as investors digested corporate earnings that offered mixed messages about the state of the U.S. economy. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% while the S&P 500 dipped 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked 0.7%, or 229 points, lower. Part of the gloom stems from an emerging consensus that the Federal Reserve will continue raising rates next week. Already, companies from Google parent Alphabet Inc. to shipping giant United Parcel Service Inc. have warned investors of petering U.S. growth. But hiring has remained robust and the U.S. service sector has proven resilient despite softening manufacturing activity and declining home sales. On Wednesday, technology firms largely shielded investors from steeper losses. Microsoft was the Dow’s best-performing stock, jumping 7.2%, after reporting continued growth in its cloud-computing business and as the U.K. rejected its takeover attempt of game developer Activision Blizzard Inc. Shares in the “Call of Duty” developer dropped 11% after the U.K. antitrust watchdog raised a major hurdle to global approval of the $75 billion deal. Shares in Alphabet dipped 0.1% Wednesday after the company reported a second consecutive quarter of declining ad sales. Amazon.com Inc., which is slated to report its first quarter results on Thursday, rose 2.3%. Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. traded 0.9% higher in the lead up to its earnings release after the close. Shares in solar-energy manufacturers slid Wednesday after Enphase Energy Inc. warned of waning appetite for investment in such systems. Enphase plunged 26%, making it one of the S&P 500’s worst performers. Shares in First Republic Bank on Wednesday tumbled 30%, extending a sharp selloff and leaving the beleaguered San Francisco bank with a market cap around $1 billion. PacWest Bancorp. , meanwhile, jumped 7.5%.

Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday. On the South Korean market, which is trading flat, the focus is on the financial results of the index heavyweight Samsung Electronics. The share loses 0.2 per cent, recovering from higher decreases in early trading. The group reported a drop in first-quarter profit. Net profit fell 86 per cent from a year earlier, with the semiconductor division taking a big hit in the wake of a downturn in the industry. However, Samsung signalled a recovery in the second half of the year. Shares of memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix (+1.7%) recovered from the previous day's losses after quarterly figures revealed a deficit. Japan's Nikkei-225 is narrowly holding its ground, dragged down by brokerage and semiconductor stocks. Nomura Holdings, for example, falls 7.5 per cent after a 35 per cent setback in fiscal year profit. Advantest loses as much as 9.1 per cent following the company's forecast for a 40 per cent drop in net profit for the year. On the Shanghai market (+0.2 per cent), Ping An Insurance climbs 4.5 per cent after strong quarterly results. The Hong Kong market is slightly up after the previous day's gains.

U.S. government debt yields ended mostly higher on Wednesday, paring some of the steep declines seen in the prior session, as traders considered the Federal Reserve’s most likely next steps at its May 2-3 policy meeting. Meanwhile, Treasury’s $43 billion auction of 5-year notes was strong and produced a “good result,” even though the statistics were rather “average,” according to BMO Capital Markets strategist Ben Jeffery. The 10-year Treasury note yield rose 4 basis points to 3.439%, as did the 2-year to 3.932%.

ABB target price: Barclays lifts to CHF 30 (29) - Equal Weight
Target price Phoenix Mecano: UBS increases to CHF 360 (330) - Sell
Target price Novartis: Bank of America raises to CHF 107 (104) - Buy

Produced by MBI Martin Brückner Infosource GmbH & Co. KG on behalf of Swissquote. All news is acquired with journalistic accuracy. No liability is assumed for delays or errors.