American Express Co. saw an acceleration in new card acquisitions during the latest quarter, and it recorded a profit beat for that period. “We continue to attract high-spending, high-credit-quality customers to the franchise,” Chief Executive Stephen Squeri said in the company’s earnings release Friday morning. American Express AXP, meanwhile, saw a 7% boost in card-member spending during the first quarter, on a currency-neutral basis. Spending by consumer card members in the U.S. grew 8% from a year before. Cardholders are also spending up on pricey airline tickets, according to Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec. The company is seeing “a lot of strength on the front-of-cabin tickets,” he told MarketWatch. The trend not only shows that Amex consumers are traveling and “enjoying life,” he said. It also indicates the premium nature of the company’s member base. That’s one reason the company’s credit metrics are better than those of industry peers, and “the gap between us and competitors keeps increasing,” according to Le Caillec.

The Switzerland market ended on a firm note on Friday, with stocks recovering gradually after a weak start and emerging into positive territory in the penultimate hour of the day's trading session. The mood, however, remained cautious due to the tensions in the Middle East and on uncertainty about the outlook for Fed interest rates. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 11,127.42 at the start, ended with a gain of 65.97 points or 0.59% at 11,296.40, the day's high. Nestle climbed 2.15%. Swisscom, Givaudan, Zurich Insurance Group and Novartis gained 1.2 to 1.5%. Roche Holding advanced nearly 1%. ABB, Alcon and Swiss Life Holding also ended on firm note. Geberit ended down 2.72%. Sika closed nearly 2% down, while Lonza Group, Logitech International and Partners Group ended lower by 1.45%, 1.2% and 1.16%, respectively. Kuehne & Nagel and Richemont also ended notably lower. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Tecan Group rallied more than 3.5%. Sandoz climbed 2.82% and Meryer Burger Tech ended 2% up. Barry Callebaut gained about 1.25%. VAT Group, Georg Fischer and Temenos Group lost 2.2 to 2.8%. Clariant, Straumann Holding, Baloise Holding and Swatch Group ended nearly 1% down.

European stocks closed on a mixed note on Friday with investors mostly making cautious moves amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and continued uncertainty about Federal Reserve's interest rate trajectory. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.08%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.24%, Germany's DAX drifted down 0.56% and France's CAC 40 edged down 0.01%. Switzerland's SMI climbed 0.59%. Among other markets in Europe, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Poland, Russia and Turkiye closed higher. Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended weak, while Austria, Belgium and Czech Republic closed flat. In the UK market, Mondi soared 9.3%. The British packaging company decided against bidding for DS Smith, who had agreed to a 5.8 billion pound deal with International Paper. DS Smith's shares tanked more than 10%. Rentokil Initial gained about 2.4%, and Coca-Cola HBC advanced nearly 2%. Entain, Compass Group, United Utilities, Imperial Brands, Severn Trent, Haleon, St. James's Place, Intertek Group, Unilever, Barclays and Easyjet gained 1 to 1.6%. JD Sports Fashion ended down by 2.8%. B&M European Value Retail, Marks & Spencer, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Scottish Mortgage, RS Group, Melrose Industries and Barratt Developments lost 1 to 2%. In the German market, Symrise, Vonovia, Qiagen, Fresenius, Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Bank, E.ON and Alliance posted moderate gains. Sartorius, Infineon, Covestro, Continental, SAP, Rheinmetall, HeidelbergCement, BASF, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Daimler Truck Holding ended lower by 1 to 2.5%. In Paris, L'Oreal rallied 5% after the company reported stronger than expected sales in the first quarter. Sanofi, Orange, Pernod Ricard and Credit Agricole posted sharp to moderate gains.

With technology stocks under pressure, the Nasdaq showed a substantial move to the downside during trading on Friday, extending its recent losing streak. The S&P 500 also saw further downside, while the narrower Dow bucked the downtrend. The Nasdaq plunged 319.49 points or 2.1 percent to 15,282.01, closing lower for the sixth straight session and tumbling to its lowest closing level in well over two months. The S&P 500 also closed lower for the sixth straight day, slumping 43.89 points or 0.9 percent to a two-month closing low of 4,967.23. Meanwhile, the Dow added to the slim gain posted in the previous session, climbing 211.02 points or 0.6 percent to 37,986.40. For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq cratered by 5.5 percent and the S&P 500 dove by 3.1 percent, while the Dow crept slightly higher. The steep drop by the Nasdaq partly reflected a nosedive by shares of Netflix (NFLX), with the streaming giant plunging by 9.1 percent. Netflix came under pressure after reporting better than expected first quarter results but providing disappointing revenue guidance. AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) also plummeted by 10.0 percent on the day, contributing to significant weakness in the semiconductor sector. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dove by 4.1 percent to its lowest closing level since early February. Considerable weakness among computer hardware stocks also weighed on the Nasdaq, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index tumbling by 3.7 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.

Recovery is the order of the day on the East Asian stock markets and in Australia on Monday. With the exception of the Shanghai stock exchange index (-0.5%), prices are rising everywhere. The fact that the Chinese central bank left interest rates unchanged did not provide any impetus, as had already been expected.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries pulled back off their highs after an early advance but remained positive. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.2 basis points to 4.615 percent after hitting a low of 4.582 percent.

UBS raises the Schindler target to CHF 275 (270) – Buy
UBS raises the L'Oreal target to EUR 467 (460) – Neutral
HSBC raises the Beiersdorf target to EUR 152 (151) – Buy

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