A surge in heart procedures and higher demand for cold and flu medicines helped Johnson & Johnson report solid gains in revenue and profit for the second quarter. J&J’s quarterly earnings are regarded as a bellwether for healthcare because the company has large pharmaceutical, medical-device and consumer-health divisions. The overall improvement in J&J’s results suggests an easing of some of the challenges that have dogged health-product makers in recent years: supply-chain constraints, hospital staffing shortages and Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. “You now have hospital staffing much more on a routine cadence,” J&J Chief Financial Officer Joseph Wolk said in an interview Thursday. Knee replacements and other hospital procedures are picking up, boosting sales for the companies that supply the parts. “I would say there’s some seniors going back and getting elective procedures that, quite frankly, they were not only nervous about getting during the pandemic but even thereafter,” Mr. Wolk said. “Those folks are starting to come back.”

The Switzerland stock market ended on a bright note on Thursday, in line with other markets across the region, amid easing concerns about interest rates thanks to soft inflation data from the U.S., the U.K., and the Eurozone. The market started off on a negative note, but recovered soon and stayed positive thereafter, gaining in strength as the session progressed. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 11,087.67 in early trades, ended with a gain of 81.40 points or 0.73% at 11,201.55, after climbing to a high of 11,216.81. ABB rallied 3.4% and Novartis climbed 2.25%. Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Life Holding and Swiss Re ended higher by 1.7 to 2%. Holcim ended 1.3% up. Roche Holding gained nearly 1%, while Alcon and Swisscom both ended higher by about 0.8%. Givaudan ended lower by 1.7% and Richemont ended 1.1% down. Nestle and Partners Group posted moderate losses. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, DocMorris climbed 3.5%. Helvetia, Barry Callebaut, Lindt & Spruengli and Baloise Holding gained 1.2 to 1.6%. Georg Fischer plunged nearly 8%. VAT Group dropped 4.6%, while AMS and Adecco ended lower by 2.8% and 2.3%, respectively. Temenos Group, Straumann Holding, Tecan Group, Swatch Group, Schindler Holding and Schindler Ps also ended notably lower.

European stocks closed higher on Thursday, extending recent uptick, thanks to gains in materials and healthcare sectors outweighing losses posted by technology shares. Easing concerns about policy tightening after recent data from the U.S. and several European countries showing drops in consumer continued to contribute to the positive sentiment in the markets. The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.42%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.76%, Germany's DAX gained 0.59% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.79% up, while Switzerland's SMI closed higher by 0.73%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Turkiye closed higher. Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Sweden ended weak, while Belgium closed flat. Technology stocks were mostly lower, weighed down by lower earnings from Netflix, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. In the UK market, Anglo American Plc shares gained more than 3% after reporting strong production for the second quarter. Hikma Pharmaceuticals surged 5.75%. Glencore ralllied 4.2%. M&G, Antofagasta, Imperial Brands, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Centrica, Next, Royal Mail, Burberry and British American Tobacco gained 2 to 3.4%. Pennon ended more than 4% down. Easyjet ended nearly 4% down. Just Eat Takeaway.com, Scottish Mortgage, RightMove, Entain, Flutter Entertainment, Polymetal International, IAG, Croda International, Natwest Group, Diageo, Carnival and Experian lost 1 to 3.5%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Thursday for a ninth consecutive session, while a post-earnings selloff in Tesla shares weighed on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. The Dow rose about 160 points, or 0.5 %, to clinch its longest winning streak since September 2017. The S&P 500 declined 0.7 %. The tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled back 2.1 %. The Dow outperformed the Nasdaq by the widest one-day percentage-point margin since March 2021. Tesla fell 9.7 % after Chief Executive Elon Musk cautioned that the electric-vehicle maker might need to cut prices further. Netflix, another tech-focused stock that has climbed this year, slid 8.4 % after the streamer reported revenue that fell short of its own projections, despite adding 5.9 million subscribers. Semiconductor stocks pulled back after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world's biggest contract chip maker, offered weaker-than-expected sales guidance for the year. The PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index dropped more than 3%. U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor declined 5 %, while Intel and Nvidia each shed 3 %. Shares of regional banks diverged after a fresh batch of quarterly reports. Fifth Third Bancorp and KeyCorp rose after reporting an increase in deposits from the previous quarter, while Truist Financial fell as deposits were largely flat from the quarter prior. With about 15% of companies in the S&P 500 having reported fourth-quarter results, 74% have topped analysts' consensus earnings estimates, according to FactSet. That is below the five-year average of 77%.

Little is happening on the stock exchanges in East Asia on Friday. Hong Kong is trending upwards by 0.7 per cent, while in Tokyo the Nikkei index loses 0.3 per cent to 32,378 points. In Shanghai, Seoul and Sydney, the market barometers are close to the previous day's closing levels. In Japan, consumer prices rose by 3.3 per cent in June.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 3.853% from 3.741% Wednesday -- its largest one-day yield increase of the month.

UBS lowers Handelsbanken to SEK 115 (120) – Buy
Bank of America raises ASML target to EUR 794 (791) – Buy
UBS lowers DSM-Firmenich to EUR 118 (136) – Buy

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