Shares of Caterpillar Inc. rallied further into record territory Monday, after the maker of construction and mining equipment reported fourth-quarter profit that rose well above forecasts, with particular strength in its energy and transportation business. And for the full-year, the company said sales reached the highest level in the company’s 98-year history, reflecting higher prices and increased volume. Looking ahead, Caterpillar said that it expects demand for nonresidential construction to continue at current levels amid government-related infrastructure investments, and residential construction is expected to remain “healthy.” Outside of the U.S., there has been “some softening” in Asia, excluding China, while demand from China is expected to remain at “a relatively low level” and Europe demand may be hampered by economic uncertainty.

Despite a couple of setbacks, once around mid morning, and another just before the final hour of the day's session, the Switzerland market ended modestly higher on Monday. Fading optimism about early interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve weighed on sentiment, but the market still managed to sign off on a positive note thanks to some strong buying at a few frontline counters. The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 34.79 points or 0.31% at 11,274.47, after moving between 11,227.45 and 11,295.09. Lonza Group climbed nearly 3.25%. Alcon, Swiss Re and Nestle gained 1.5 to 1.61%, while Kuehne & Nagel advanced 1.36%. Zurich Insurance Group, Logitech International, Novartis, Givaudan and Sonova gained 0.4 to 0.8%. Roche Holding ended down 1.5%. ABB drifted down by about 1.25%, while Swisscom and UBS Group closed lower by about 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Galenica Sante, Sandos, Flughafen Zurich, Barry Callebaut, Straumann Holding, VAT Group, Avolta and Clariant gained 1 to 1.5%, while Lindt & Spruengli ended nearly 1% up. BKW and Belimo Holding ended lower by 1.66% and 1.63%, respectively. Schindler Holding drifted down 1.16%. Schindler Ps, Georg Fischer, Adecco, Meyer Burger Tech and Swatch Group lost 0.6 to 1%.

European stocks closed slightly lower on Monday after a somewhat lackluster session as investors stayed wary of creating fresh positions amid fading hopes of an early interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and a few other central banks. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.05%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended down 0.04%, 0.08% and 0.03%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI climbed up 0.31%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden climbed higher. Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Russia and Turkiye closed higher, while Belgium ended flat. In the UK market, Ashtead, JD Sports Fashion, Howden Joinery, Airtel Africa, Barclays, Weir Holdings, Vodafone and Glencore lost 2 to 5%. Lloyds Bank ended down by about 1.4% after the Financial Times reported that Iran evaded sanctions and was able to covertly move money around the world using accounts at Lloyds and Santander. IMI, Kingfisher, Anglo American Plc, Frasers Group, RS Group, Barratt Developments, BT, Endeavour Mining, BP and Rio Tinto also ended notably lower. Ocado Group surged nearly 4%. GlaxoSmithKline advanced by about 3%. Croda International, Diageo, Smith & Nephew, Informa, Unilever, Haleon, Flutter Entertainment, Burberry Group and Scottish Mortgage gained 1 to 2%. In Germany, Deutsche Bank ended down 2.7%. Continental and Zalando ended lower by about 2.5% and 2.1%, respectively. Mercedes-Benz, Vonovia, BMW, Siemens, Volkswagen and Deutsche Post lost 0.8 to 2%. Beiersdorf climbed about 4.3%. Puma gained nearly 3%, while Infineon, Hannover Rueck, Symrise and Henkel gained 1.4 to 2.2%. In the French market, Alstom ended down nearly 4%. Arcelor Mittal, Air Liquide, Stellantis, Saint Gobain, TotalEnergies and Orange lost 1 to 2.6%.

Following the rally seen over the two previous sessions, stocks showed a significant pullback during morning trading on Monday. The major averages staged a recovery attempt over the course of the afternoon but still finished the day in negative territory. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 31.28 points or 0.2 percent to 15,597.68 after falling as much as 1.0 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 fell 15.80 points or 0.3 percent to 4,942.81, while the narrower Dow remained more firmly in the red, closing down 274.30 points or 0.7 percent at 38,380.12. The early weakness on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on the rally seen to close out the previous week amid fading optimism about the likelihood the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in March. Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the central bank is unlikely to cut interest rates next month during an interview with '60 Minutes' on Sunday. Stocks fell to their lows of the session as the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing U.S. service sector growth accelerated by more than expected in the month of January. The ISM said its services PMI climbed to 53.4 in January from a downwardly revised 50.5 in December, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Economists had expected the index to rise to 52.0 from the 50.6 originally reported for the previous month. Despite the recovery attempt by the broader markets, airline stocks finished the day sharply lower, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.9 percent. Substantial weakness also remained visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

On the Asian and Australian stock markets, the Chinese markets once again stood out on Tuesday. The Shanghai Composite is up 2.7 per cent in late trading and the HSI in Hong Kong is up 3.7 per cent - both indices are rising sharply on headlines supporting the market. Pharmaceutical stocks are among the strongest performers, with Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine jumping 7.5 per cent, but technology stocks are also in demand. The technology sub-index in the HSI gains 4.2 per cent - Alibaba 6.8 per cent.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved sharply lower, extending the sell-off seen last Friday. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, surged 13.1 basis points to 4.164 percent.

UBS raises the Caixa Bank target o EUR 5.60 (5.45) – Buy
UBS lowers the Polypeptide Group target to CHF 26.20 (26.50) – Neutral
UBS lowers the H&M target to SEK 148 (187) – Neutral

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