Apple reported its second straight quarter of declining revenue but said iPhone sales surged due to strong demand in emerging markets, a sign of resilience as the tech giant continues to face economic uncertainty. This is the third time in a decade that the iPhone maker has posted back-to-back quarters of falling revenue. The tech giant's revenue for the three months ended April 1 was $94.8 billion, down 3% from the year-earlier period. Net income dropped 3% year-over-year to $24.2 billion. Apple exceeded analyst expectations, according to FactSet, of $92.9 billion in sales and $22.6 billion in net income for its fiscal second quarter. Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in an interview that the company experienced a difficult environment for consumer demand as reflected in declining Mac and iPad sales, but the iPhone did particularly well in developing markets. "The iPhone is truly a global product and we're doing well in emerging markets right now," Mr. Maestri said. "That has helped us offset some macroeconomic challenges." iPhone sales grew about 1.5% to $51.3 billion, well ahead of the $48.7 billion analysts were expecting.

The Switzerland stock market ended weak on Thursday, in line with markets across Europe, as worries about interest rate hikes and global economic growth weighed on sentiment. The benchmark SMI, which moved in a narrow range between 11,418.25 and 11,487.91, ended with a loss of 49.82 points or 0.43% at 11,456.37. Credit Suisse lost 3.37%, UBS Group ended 2.84% down and Swisscom drifted down 2.3%. Richemont and Swiss Re ended lower by 1.98% and 1.83%, respectively. Swiss Life Holding lost 1.46%, while ABB ended 1% down. Logitech climbed 1.62% and Geberit advanced 1.35%. Givaudan, Roche Holding and Sika posted modest gains. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Temenos Group ended nearly 4% down. AMS declined 2.9%, while Adecco, Swatch Group and Julius Baer lost 2 to 2.3%. Clariant, Flughafen Zurich and Straumann Holding also ended notably lower. SIG Combibloc surged 4.7% and Zur Rose climbed 4.5%. Bachem Holding ended stronger by 3.75%, while Tecan Group, VAT Group, Ems Chemie Holding and Belimo Holding gained 0.9 to 1.25%.

European stocks closed lower on Thursday after the European Central Bank raised interest rates by 25 basis points and ECB President Christine Lagarde's remarks suggested the bank is unlikely to pause its policy tightening anytime soon. Concerns about the health of the banking sector weighed as well. Investors digested a slew of economic data from the region, and continued to react to quarterly earnings updates from European companies. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.47% down. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 drifted down 1.1%, Germany's DAX lost 0.51% and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.85%, while Switzerland's SMI declined 0.43%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended with sharp to moderate losses. Czech Republic, Greece and Portugal edged higher, while Turkiye closed flat. The European Central Bank raised its three key interest rates by a quarter basis point today as widely expected, with policymakers assessing that the inflation outlook in the euro area remained 'too high for too long' and ECB President Christine Lagarde signaled more rate hikes ahead. The Governing Council raised the main refinancing rate, or refi, by 25 basis points at 3.75%. 'The Governing Council's future decisions will ensure that the policy rates will be brought to levels sufficiently restrictive to achieve a timely return of inflation to the 2 percent medium-term target and will be kept at those levels for as long as necessary,' the ECB said. 'We are not pausing, it's very clear.....there is more ground to cover,' Lagarde said during the post-decision press conference. In the UK market, St. James's Place and Glencore lost 6.4% and 6.1%, respectively. Informa, RS Group, Hiscox, WPP, Experian, Barclays, Legal & General, Prudential, Relx, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, BP, Standard Chartered, M&G and BAE Systems ended lower by 2 to 4.5%. In the German market, Mercedes-Benz plunged 7.4%.

U.S. stocks fell while government bonds and gold rallied Thursday, reflecting persistent anxieties on Wall Street about regional banks and the economic outlook. The S&P 500 slipped 0.7% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.9%, or nearly 287 points, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.5%. Shares of three midsize lenders - PacWest Bancorp, Western Alliance Bancorp and First Horizon - all fell more than 30%, while a broad index of regional banks dropped 3.5% to its lowest level since 2020. Reflecting demand for safer assets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 3.350% from 3.401% Wednesday. Gold settled near a record high at $2,048.00 a troy ounce. A renewed state of heightened concern about regional banks arose this week after regulators seized First Republic Bank and struck a deal to sell the bulk of its operations to JPMorgan Chase. Declines in regional banks were generally modest on Monday after the deal was first announced but became more acute on Tuesday, sparking broad losses in stocks and gains in government bonds. Stocks continued to slide Wednesday even after the Fed hinted that it could be done raising short-term interest rates for a while after having lifted them to their highest level in 16 years. Some investors said Fed Chair Jerome Powell might have unsettled the market by still leaving the door open to future rate increases to combat inflation and not expressing greater concern about the banking system.

While stock trading in Japan and South Korea is at a standstill on Friday due to the holiday, the other Asian stock markets are rather directionless. In China, meanwhile, moderate data are once again a burden, although these are not quite as weak as those recently published. The Caixin purchasing managers' index for the service sector fell in April, but still remained well above the growth threshold.

The yield on the two-year U.S. Treasury note, which is especially sensitive to the near-term interest-rate outlook, fell to 3.727% from 3.939% Wednesday, according to Tradeweb, marking its largest decline since March 17

UBS raises Lufthansa target to EUR 14.25 (13.25) – Buy
UBS raises Unicredit target to EUR 31.50 (25.80) – Buy
CS lowers BP target to 610 (630) p – Neutral

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.