Kuehne + Nagel has agreed to buy cross-border logistics provider City Zone Express as it looks to strengthen its offering in Asia Pacific to cater to booming e-commerce and high-tech industries in the region. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the acquisition will be immediately earnings-accretive and strategically enhance Kuehne + Nagel's cross-border road logistics service offerings in Asia, it said. Malaysia-based City Zone Express is a subsidiary of Singapore-listed Chasen Holdings and operates in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, and China. The Swiss logistics company also announced earnings Friday, reporting a net profit of 283 million Swiss francs ($320 million) in the final quarter of 2023, down from CHF494 million in the same period a year earlier as turnover fell 35% to CHF5.69 billion. For the full-year, net profit rose to CHF1.46 billion on turnover of CHF23.85 billion, in line with a company-compiled consensus for CHF1.46 billion and CHF24.02 billion, respectively. It will pay a dividend of CHF10, down from the CHF14 payout for 2022.

The Swiss market ended modestly higher on Thursday after holding firm right through the day's session, with investors digesting Swiss GDP data. The benchmark SMI, which moved in a tight band between 11,418.45 and 11,486.43, ended with a gain of 24.48 points or 0.21% at 11,438.86. Holcim gained nearly 2%. Richemont climbed about 1.5% and Kuehne & Nagel gained 1.05%. ABB advaned nearly 1%. Swiss Re, Sika, Alcon and Swiss Life Holding gained 0.7 to 0.8%. Swisscom and Roche Holding also closed higher. Logitech International ended down 0.84%. Novartis, Lonza Group and Nestle ended lower by 0.3 to 0.6%. In the Mid Price Index, Temenos Group climbed nearly 2.5%. SIG Combibloc gained 1.86% and Julius Baer advanced 1.35%. Helvetia, SGS and VAT Group also closed on firm note. Shares of AMS-OSRAM AG tanked 39% after the Swiss chipmaker said a customer canceled a key project that could force it to sell part of its Malaysian production site. Meyer Burger Tech plunged 14.4%. Adecco drifted down more than 5%. Straumann Holding, Avolta, Clariant, Tecan Group, Swatch Group and Lindt & Spruengli lost 1 to 2%. An indicator of the turning points in the Swiss economy declined for the first time in four months in February, yet remained positive reflecting the brighter outlook for the manufacturing and construction sectors, results of a monthly survey by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute showed.

European stocks closed on a mixed note on Thursday as investors digested a slew of economic data including U.S. personal consumption expenditure report, inflation reports from Germany, France and Spain, in addition to reacting to corporate earnings updates. Data from the Commerce Department showed consumer price growth in the U.S. slowed to 2.4% in January from 2.6% in December. The annual rate of core consumer price growth also slowed to 2.8% in January from 2.9% in December, in line with estimates. The slowdown in consumer price growth is likely to generate optimism about the outlook for interest rates, as Fed officials have said they need greater confidence is slowing before they consider cutting rates. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended little changed. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.07%, Germany's DAX gained 0.44%, and France's CAC 40 ended down 0.34%. Switzerland's SMI ended higher by 0.21%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Spain ended weak. Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Iceland ended flat. In the UK market, Howden Joinery and Haleo gained about 7.5% and 6.7%, respectively. Ocado Group, Rentokil Initial, Croda International, Taylor Wimpey, Standard Chartered, The Sage Group, Admiral, Ashtead, ICP, Schrodders, Fresnillo and Melrose Industries climbed 2 to 4%. Whitbread dropped about 5%. Weir Holdings, Barclays Group, IHG, Diageo, Marks & Spencer, AstraZeneca and Reckitt Benckiser lost 1 to 2.2%.

Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday but largely maintained a positive bias before ending the day mostly higher. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 reached new highs for the session in late-day trading before giving back some ground going into the close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 144.18 points or 0.9 percent to 16,091.92 and the S&P 500 climbed 26.51 points or 0.5 percent to 5,06.27. Meanwhile, the narrower Dow spent most of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing up 47.37 points or 0.1 percent at 38,996.39. The strength on Wall Street came following the release of a highly anticipated Commerce Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of January. The Commerce Department said consumer prices rose by 0.3 percent in January after inching up by a revised 0.1 percent in December. Computer hardware stocks saw substantial strength the day, resulting in a 3.3 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Pure Storage (PSTG) led the sector higher, with the data storage company soaring by 25.0 percent after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results and providing upbeat guidance. Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging by 2.7 percent to a record closing high.

The stock markets in Asia were positive on Friday. Tokyo is the clear winner of the day, with the Nikkei-225 shooting up by around 2 per cent to new record highs of 39,936 points. New purchasing managers' indices from China and favourable inflation news from the USA provided relief. In addition, the yen exchange rate is falling more sharply again. However, the movements on the other stock exchanges in the region were much more moderate, with the indices in Shanghai and Hong Kong barely moving. In Korea, the stock exchange is closed due to Independence Day.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries gave back ground after an early advance but remained in positive territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 2.2 basis points to 4.252 percent.

UBS raises the Straumann target to CHF 148 (110) – Neutral
UBS raises the Universal Music target to EUR 31.40 (31) – Buy
Barclays raises the ASMI target to EUR 480 (405) – Equalweight

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