Partners Group attracted further new money last year and slightly increased its assets under management. However, the asset manager, which is otherwise spoilt for success, did not quite meet analysts' expectations. Capital commitments from clients totalled USD 22 billion in 2024 - compared to USD 18 billion in the previous year, as the Zug-based asset manager announced on Tuesday evening. This means that new money was roughly in the middle of the company's forecast of USD 20 to 25 billion. The company's assets under management totalled 152 billion at the end of the year, up from 149 billion at the end of June. Analysts had seen these at an average of 155.6 billion. The market is slowly returning to normal levels of client activity, CEO David Layton was quoted as saying in the press release. For the new financial year 2025, the Group expects a further inflow of new money and anticipates capital commitments of 26 to 31 billion dollars. The forecast is therefore considerably more optimistic than recently. 22 billion was invested last year, compared to just 13 billion in 2023. However, 18 billion flowed into the coffers through sales and exits from investments - compared to 12 billion in the previous year. According to Partners Group, the transaction environment continued to improve in the second half of the year. As a result, several high-calibre exits (Techem, VSB, Annington) have already been announced, which will have a positive impact on earnings in 2025. Partners Group will publish its detailed annual results on 11 March.

On Tuesday, the Swiss stock market ended trading little changed after the price losses at the beginning of the week. The SMI closed virtually unchanged at 11,703 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were twelve price gainers and seven price losers, while Swisscom closed unchanged. A total of 16.13 (previously: 17.42) million shares were traded. Logitech was in high demand among investors. The share price rose by 1.6 per cent. Richemont (+1.3 per cent) also recorded significant price gains. However, the shares of the index heavyweights were sold. Nestlé shares fell 0.1 per cent. Among the pharmaceutical giants, Roche dropped 0.6 per cent and Novartis 0.7 per cent. Partners Group shares climbed 0.8 per cent. The company presented its results after the close of trading. In the broader market, Lindt & Sprüngli advanced by 3.3 per cent. The chocolate manufacturer once again grew strongly in the past financial year. According to Baader, organic sales growth of 8.3 per cent in the second half of 2024 clearly exceeded the consensus forecast of 7.3 per cent. This was driven by Europe, while development in North America was negatively impacted by special factors. Temenos saw its share price jump by 5.3 per cent following the presentation of preliminary figures for the fourth quarter. The manufacturer of banking software increased its turnover and operating results. Clariant slipped 1.8 per cent. The chemical company has been sued for damages by its German competitor BASF for alleged violations of competition law in the ethylene purchasing market. BASF is claiming damages totalling 1.4 billion euros. The shares of U-Blox shed 9.1 per cent. The semiconductor manufacturer had announced that it was divesting its cellular business and focussing more on local business.

The European stock markets saw their gains eroded at the end of the session on Tuesday, despite a reassuring indicator on inflation in the United States. The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed down 0.1% at 508.3 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 gained 0.2% each. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt added 0.7%, while the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.3%. The European stocks most exposed to tariffs rebounded on Tuesday, notably automotive suppliers. Forvia gained 8.5%, OPMobility 7.1% and Valeo 5.5%. In the eurozone, bank shares were by far the biggest gainers. Their Euro-Stoxx sector index rose by 1.6%. Sector stocks in France, Italy and Spain, as well as Deutsche Bank, were very strong on the market and led the DAX with a rise of 3.3%. Bucking the day's trend, oil and gas stocks slipped by 0.8 per cent. BP dropped by 2.5 per cent after the oil group announced that it had booked charges of between 1 and 2 billion dollars in the fourth quarter. The group also expects oil and gas production to be lower than in the previous quarter. The decline in oil prices benefited certain shares in the aviation sector. Lufthansa picked up 3.2% and IAG 1.6%. The red lantern was the pharmaceuticals stock index, with a 1.5% decline. Sentiment in the sector was affected by Eli Lilly.

In a choppy session, the Nasdaq flirted with gains but ultimately fell 0.2%. The S&P 500 rose 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%, or roughly 221 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell for the fifth straight session on Tuesday, dragged lower by continued weakness in technology shares. Viewed as richly priced by many analysts, tech shares have taken a hit from a surge in bond yields, which has increased the risk-free return that investors can get by holding U.S. Treasuries to maturity. Large tech stocks fell again, with Nvidia dropping 1.1% and Apple declining 0.5%. Shares of both companies are down to start the year after logging big gains in 2024. The wholesale inflation report wasn’t all good news for investors. Price gains were bigger in key categories, such as airfares, that will be incorporated into the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge that will be released later in the month. Investors will get more important inflation data on Wednesday, when the Labor Department releases consumer-price index data. There will also be a slew of bank earnings, with Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo all set to report their quarterly results. KB Home climbed 4.8% after the homebuilder posted better-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit. Eli Lilly fell 6.6% in the U.S. trading session after warning that sales of its diabetes and anti-obesity drugs were growing slower than expected. Angi climbed by 9.0 per cent. The media and internet holding company IAC announced that it would spin off its stake in Angi, a provider of household services. Staffing 360 Solutions jumped 22.6 per cent. The staffing company provided updated details of its merger agreement with Atlantic International (+2.7%) and one of its subsidiaries, A36 Merger Sub. Signet slumped 21.7 per cent after the jewelry chain lowered its fourth-quarter guidance.

Asian indexes diverged for the Wednesday trading session. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 fell by 0.2 per cent to 38,385 points. The market barometers in Shanghai are also slightly down, while in Hong Kong and Seoul stock markets edged marginally higher. Amid individual stocks, Great Wall Motor dropped by almost 4 per cent in Hong Kong following the presentation of business figures. According to analysts at Daiwa, the results were largely as expected. However, the car manufacturer has not yet provided an outlook for 2025.

U.S. government debt yields were broadly slipping Tuesday after a milder-than-expected reading from the December producer-price index, though the 30-year rate briefly moved to the edge of 5%. The 10-year Treasury note yield eased by 2 basis points (0.02 percentage points) to 4.784%. The 2-year Treasury note yield dropped 4 basis points to 4.365%.

JP Morgan downgrades Adecco to CHF 19.60 (21.20)/Underweight - Traders
Price target Partners Group: Goldman Sachs raises to CHF 1510 (1330) - Buy
Price target UBS: Goldman Sachs lowers to CHF 42.70 (42.90) - Buy

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