The French tire maker said it made 1.98 billion euros ($2.14 billion) in net profit for 2023, compared with EUR2 billion a year prior, on sales which declined by nearly 1% on year to EUR28.34 billion. The result compares with expectations of EUR1.98 billion in net profit and EUR28.51 billion in sales, according to Visible Alpha consensus. Michelin’s 2023 operating income came to EUR2.65 billion, a 12% decrease compared with a year ago. The company said that its mix and prices offset unfavorable market conditions, and that non-tire sales grew by 10%. For 2024, Michelin said that it was targeting more than EUR3.5 billion in segment operating income at constant exchange rates and more than EUR1.5 billion in reported cash flow before acquisitions.

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The Switzerland market ended weak on Tuesday, although the downside was less pronounced than that of the major markets in Europe. Data showing a slowdown in Swiss consumer price inflation helped limit market's losses. The benchmark SMI, which stayed positive till more than an hour past noon, ended the session with a loss of 36.51 points or 0.33% at 11,142.70. The index, which advanced to 11,231.94 around mid-morning, dropped to a low of 11,100.88 before recovering some lost ground. Geberit, Sika and Richemont lost 1.8 to 1.9%. UBS Group ended down 1.5%, while Sonova, Partners Group, Lonza Group, Holcim, Alcon and ABB closed lower by 0.7 to 1.3%. Swiss Re climbed about 1.5%, and Zurich Insurance Group ended nearly 1% up. Swisscom, Logitech International, Roche Holdings and Novartis also closed higher. In the mid price index, ams OSRAM AG ended down 3.2%. Julius Baer drifted down 2.14%, and Straumann Holdings lost 1.9%. Swatch Group, VAT Group, Flughafen Zurich, Adecco, Ems Chemie Holding, Swiss Prime Site, Temenos Group and Clariant ended down 1 to 1.6%. Sandoz, Meyer Burger Tech and Lindt & Spruengli gained 2.25%, 2.15% and 1.81%, respectively.

European stocks closed notably lower on Tuesday as hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer price inflation dashed hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Investors also digested the latest batch of regional economic data and corporate earnings updates. The pan European Stoxx 600 tumbled 0.95%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped 0.81%, Germany's DAX ended 0.92% down, and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.84%. Switzerland's SMI settled 0.33% down. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate losses. Russia edged up marginally. In the UK market, Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey, Fresnillo, Endeavour Mining, Berkeley Holdings, Entain, Scottish Mortgage, ICP, Airtel Africa, Ocado Group, Ashtead, RS Group and Segro ended lower by 3 to 5%. Marks & Spencer, Next, Schrodders, Kingfisher, Land Securities, Prudential, M&G, Legal & General, Howeden Joinery, Barclays Group and Tesco lost 2 to 3%. AstraZeneca gained about 1%. GSK, Centrica and HSBC Holdings posted modest gains. In the German market, Infineon tumbled 5%. SAP, Vonovia and Puma ended lower by 2.7 to 3.1%. Siemens Energy, Zalando, Adidas, Qiagen, Sartorius, Brenntag, Bayer, Commerzbank, BMW and Fresenius lost 1 to 3.2%. Fresenius Medical Care climbed more than 2%. Hannover Rueck, Munich RE, Continental and BASF gained 0.6 to 1.2%. In Paris, ArcelorMittal and Unibail Rodamco both ended lower by more than 4%. Teleperformance, STMicroElectronics, Alstom, Hermes International, LVMH and Legrand declined 2.5 to 3.4%. Michelin surged more than 6%. Veolia, Orange, TotalEnergies and Pernod Ricard posted moderate gains. In European economic news, France's unemployment rate held steady in the fourth quarter after rising in the previous two quarters, the statistical office INSEE reported. The ILO unemployment rate stood at 7.5% in the fourth quarter, the same as in the previous quarter, which was revised up slightly from 7.4%.

Stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Tuesday, with the major averages all showing significant moves to the downside after ending Monday's trading narrowly mixed. The Dow pulled back well off yesterday's record closing highs. The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but still posted steep losses on the day. The Dow tumbled 524.63 points or 1.4 percent to 38,272.75, the Nasdaq plunged 286.95 points or 1.8 percent to 15,655.60 and the S&P 500 slumped 68.67 points or 1.4 percent to 4,953.17. The sell-off on Wall Street came following the release of a highly anticipated Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in the month of January. The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.3 percent in January after inching up by 0.2 percent in December. Economists had expected consumer prices to edge up by 0.2 percent. While the report also showed the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 3.1 percent in January from 3.4 percent in December, economists had expected the pace of growth to slow to 2.9 percent. Tobacco, steel, banking and telecom stocks also moved notably lower amid broad based weakness on Wall Street.

The unexpectedly high inflation in the USA in January and the resulting delay in the expectation of the first interest rate cut in the USA put pressure on share prices on the East Asian stock exchanges and in Sydney on Wednesday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 fell by 0.6 per cent to 37,721 points. The yen is likely to help limit the losses.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved sharply lower in reaction to the U.S. inflation data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, spiked 14.4 basis points to 4.316 percent.

Citi upgrades GSK to Buy (Neutral) - Target GBP 21 (17)
UBS raises Carl Zeiss Meditec target to EUR 130 (125) – Buy
Deutsche Bank raises Ams-Osram target to CHF 2.75 (2.50) – Buy

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