Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin said it would cease production at three sites in Germany and transfer its local customer contact center to Poland, citing growing competition for budget truck tires. The French tire maker said it would book a provision of roughly 425 million euros ($465.5 million) this year from its decision, which it said would affect 1,532 employees. Michelin will gradually cease production at its Karlsruhe and Trier sites and the new tire and semi-finished products manufacturing in Homburg. The group will also move its customer contact center to Poland from Karlsruhe. "This decision is linked to the growing competition of budget truck tires, and the lack of competitiveness of our German operations for our European and export markets," Michelin said. The announcement comes a month after Michelin said it plans to wind down tire production at its Ardmore site in the U.S., citing the shifting needs in the North American market and the site not being equipped to produce tires at competitive costs.

The Switzerland stock market ended moderately lower on Tuesday after languishing in negative territory right through the day's session. Worries about economic slowdown and uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates prevented investors from picking up stocks. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 10,720.89, ended with a loss of 60.68 points or 0.56% at 10,760.38. On Monday, the index ended lower by 58.46 points or 0.54% at 10,821.06, the session's low. Sonova and Richemont, both shed about 2.8%. Lonza Group ended down 1.68%. Givaudan, Nestle, Novartis, Swiss Life Holding and Roche Holding ended with moderate losses. UBS Group climbed 0.83%. Holcim advanced nearly 0.5%, while Swiss Re and Alcon ended up 0.24% and 0.12%, respectively. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burger Tech ended 5.6% down. Julius Baer drifted down 4.7%. Swatch Group, Barry Callebaut, Straumann Holding, Sandoz, VAT Group, BKW, Ems Chemie Holding and Flughafen Zurich lost 1 to 1.6%.

European stocks closed mostly lower on Tuesday, weighed down by concerns about economic slowdown, and uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following recent comments from ECB officials that the fight against inflation is not over yet. Investors, awaiting a slew of key economic data this week, were reluctant to make significant moves. On Thursday, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on personal income and spending in the month of October. The report includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve and could impact the outlook for interest rates. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.3% down. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.07%, France's CAC 40 shed 0.21%, and Germany's DAX gained 0.16%. Switzerland's SMI ended down 0.56%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Greece edged down marginally. Austria, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain ended higher. In the UK market, Pearson, Just Eat Takeaway.com, Royal Mail, Burberry Group, ITV, Prudential and Entain lost 2.1 to 3.8%. RightMove, Persimmon, Land Securities, Legal & General, Croda International, Segro, WPP and St. James's Place ended down 1 to 1.7%. Rolls Royce Holdings rallied more than 6%. Rolls-Royce has set out ambitious new profit targets and said it plans to sell it electric aircraft division, aiming to turn around the company. Easyjet gained about 4.6% lifted by strong earnings and guidance. Smurfit Kappa Group and Mondi climbed 2.7% and 2.1%, respectively. J Sainsbury, Johnson Matthey, Flutter Entertainment and Fresnillo gained 1.2 to 1.7%. In the German market, Zalando ended 5.7% down. Bayer ended down 3.5% and Siemens Energy lost about 2.7%.

The S&P 500 edged higher Tuesday, lifted by rising tech stocks and consumer-focused shares. The broad U.S. stock index is on pace to end November with its best monthly performance since July 2022, boosted by a decline in bond yields. The S&P 500 gained 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2%, or about 84 points. The consumer-discretionary, consumer-staples and real-estate sectors led the day’s gains in stocks. Staples and real-estate stocks have been among the market’s underdogs, with each still in negative territory in 2023. Tesla rose 4.5%, making it one of the S&P 500’s top gainers. The technology segment ticked higher, helped by a 1.1% rise in shares of Microsoft. The group is up 50% in 2023, compared with a gain of 19% by the S&P 500. Like the stock index, the tech sector is on pace for its best month since July 2022. “The key thing on people’s minds right now is are we going to see the next leg of the equity market be led by the laggards, if you will, for the year-to-date period,” said Eric Freedman, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Data Tuesday suggested consumers have grown more confident in recent weeks. The Conference Board said its consumer-confidence index rose in November to 102 from just above 99 in October. Among individual stocks, shares of Carlyle Group added 4.9% after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the buyout firm will join the S&P Midcap 400. Micron fell 1.8% after the memory-chip maker warned of higher expenses.

At midweek, the East Asian stock exchanges were mostly down slightly. In contrast, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong is again under pressure, losing 2.0 per cent. This was due to falls in property and technology stocks. Shares in Meituan also fell by 11 per cent. Although the Chinese online retailer almost tripled its net profit in the third quarter, it gave a weak outlook for the current final quarter. The share has already lost around 13 per cent over the course of the week.

Benchmark yields crept lower, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note ending at 4.335%, down from 4.388% on Monday. Lower yields make the returns offered by the stock market more appealing to investors.

UBS lowers the Forbo target to CHF 1,090 (1,370) – Neutral
UBS lowers the target About You to EUR 5.50 (6.10) – Neutral
Deutsche Bank lowers ABN Amro to Hold (Buy) – Target EUR 15 (22)

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