Remy Cointreau said that it expects little growth in margins or sales in the new fiscal year as U.S. consumption drops from recent highs. The French cognac maker said it anticipates stable profitability and sales in fiscal 2024 as a postpandemic boom in the U.S. fades, balanced by acceleration in the key China market and other regions. The company, which produces the premium Remy Martin range of cognac labels, said the year will be marked by a sharp fall in sales in the first half, against tough bases and worsening U.S. trends, followed by recovery in the second half. In April, the group reported a 10% organic rise in sales for fiscal 2023 to 1.55 billion euros ($1.66 billion), but already warned of a likely slowdown to flat growth in the new fiscal year. On Thursday, Remy said that it made current operating profit of EUR429.6 million in the 12 months to March 31, 16% higher on year at constant currency, on a margin that climbed to 27.7% from 25.5% the previous year. Analysts had expected Remy to make operating profit of EUR425.1 million, according to a poll of estimates compiled by FactSet.

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The Switzerland stock market ended on a firm note on Thursday.The benchmark SMI, which climbed to 11,324.54, ended with a gain of 78.39 points or 0.7% at 11,296.28. Credit Suisse climbed more than 3%. UBS Group gained about 2.4%. Swiss Re surged 1.71%, while Geberit, Lonza Group, Novartis, Givaudan, Sonovi, Alcon, ABB and Nestle gained 0.8 to 1.2%. Richemont declined 1.42%. Logitech ended lower by about 0.9% and Swisscom ended marginally down. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, DocMorris surged 6.5%. Belimo Holding rallied 2.5%, Barry Callebaut climbed 1.58% and Straumann Holding gained 1.5%. Schindler Ps, AMS, SIG Combibloc, Lindt & Spruengli, Clariant, Adecco, SGS and Georg Fischer also ended with strong gains. Helvetia and Swatch Group ended lower by 3.8% and 3.7%, respectively. Bachem Holding and Dufry both ended down by about 1.65%. In economic news, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed Switzerland's trade surplus shrank to CHF 2.2 billion in April from CHF 3.1 billion in March. Further, this was the lowest trade surplus since November last year. In real terms, exports dropped 5.2% month-on-month in April, reversing a 2.5% gain in March. Imports showed a decline of 3.3% versus a 0.4% rise in the previous month.

European stocks closed on a strong note on Thursday with investors cheering signs of progress on the U.S. debt ceiling deal, encouraging manufacturing data from China and dovish comments from Fed officials hinting at a pause in interest-rate hikes. The U.S. House of Representatives approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package on Wednesday. The bill now heads to the Senate, with passage expected by the weekend. Flash data showing a sharp decline in eurozone inflation, an upward revision in euro area manufacturing activity, and a jump in German retail sales helped as well. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.78%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.59%, Germany's DAX surged 1.21% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.55%, while Switzerland's SMI rose 0.7%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Czech Republic, Denmark and Greece ended weak. In the UK market, Fresnillo surged more than 4.5%. B&M European Value Retail, Melrose Industries, Anglo American Plc, Prudential, Antofagasta and Convatec Group climbed 3 to 4%. Beazley, Rio Tinto, Rolls-Royce Holdings, United Utilities, Centrica, Johnson Matthey, BP, Airtel Africa, BAE Systems and Persimmon gained 1.5 to 2.5%. National Grid and Ocado Group both ended lower by about 4.5%. Auto Trader Group and Severn Trent lost 3.4% and 2.4%, respectively. In the German market, Hannover Rueck, Sartorius, Infineon, Siemens, Allianz and HeidelbergCement gained 2 to 2.6%. Munih RE, Continental, BMW, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens Energy, Mercedes-Benz, Deutsche Bank, Symrise and MTU Aero Engines also closed notably higher.

Major U.S. indexes jumped on the first trading day of June as investors cheered progress toward a deal to avert a government default. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the way, adding 1.3% and building on strong gains from May. The S&P 500 added 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 153 points, or 0.5%. Thursday's trading activity underscored a continuing divergence: The tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed the Dow by 0.81 percentage points after beating the blue-chip index in May by its widest monthly margin since October 2001. Meanwhile, fresh data showed that the jobs market remains strong. Hiring was robust again in May, with nonfarm private-sector employment rising by 278,000. Jobless-claims data showed that worker filings for unemployment benefits remain historically low. Thursday's rally was broad-based, with shares of everything from energy companies and cruise lines to technology stocks jumping. Shares of Nvidia, which have been on a hot streak, added 5.1%, making the stock one of the S&P 500's best performers again. Shares of Meta Platforms and Amazon.com gained 3% and 1.8%, respectively. Retail stocks fell Thursday, badly underperforming the broader market. Shares of Dollar General dropped almost 20% after the company's weak forecast. Its executives blamed worse-than-expected macroeconomic forces, saying that lower-income customers were caught off guard by lower tax refunds and a reduction in food-stamp benefits.

The stock markets in East Asia and Australia show gains on Friday. There is no trading on the Singapore stock exchange due to a public holiday. The Hong Kong stock market rises sharply. The Hang Seng Index jumps by 3.7 per cent. Tailwind comes mainly from technology stocks.

On the U.S. bond market, yields continued to fall with reduced interest rate expectations, as they had on previous days. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell for the third consecutive session to 3.607%, from 3.636% Wednesday.

Barclays raises BMW target to EUR 107.50 (97.50) – Equalweight

JP Morgan raises Heidelberg Materials to Overweight (Neutral) – Target EUR 80 (66)

Deutsche Bank raises Fresenius target to EUR 28 (22) – Hold

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