A slowdown in cloud-computing sales dragged down Google’s revenue growth in its most recent quarter, sending its shares tumbling in after-hours trading. Parent company Alphabet reported $96.5 billion of revenue for the three months ending December, an increase of 12% from the same period a year earlier. Alphabet hasn’t reported a growth rate that low since 2023. Shares in Alphabet were down around 7% in after-hours trading following the earnings report, paring much of this year’s gains of about 8%. Microsoft shares also dropped last week after investors were similarly disappointed in the growth rate of its cloud business. Google’s cloud-computing division reported $12 billion in fourth-quarter sales, up 30.1% from the same period a year earlier. In the third quarter, cloud sales grew 35%. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Google was accelerating its investments in the data centers that power AI, both for his company and clients of its cloud-computing business. Pichai said Google would spend about $75 billion on capital expenditures this year, compared with $52.5 billion in 2024.

Save for a very brief while at the start, the Swiss market languished in negative territory on Tuesday with investors largely staying cautious and making stock specific moves. The benchmark SMI, which edged up to 12,557.62 at the start, settled with a loss of 71.28 points or 0.57% at 12,475.49. UBS Group ended lower by 7.05% despite posting better-than-expected results for the final quarter of 2024. The bank, which reported a profit in its fourth quarter, compared to prior year's loss, raised its dividend, and announced up to $3 billion share buyback program. Sonova and Swatch Group ended down 3.42% and 3.24%, respectively. VAT Group drifted lower by 1.56%. Julius Baer, Lindt & Spruengli, Kuehne + Nagel and Swisscom lost 0.7 to 0.9%. Novartis and Nestle lost a little over 0.5%. Lonza Group climbed nearly 1.5%. Logitech International gained 0.9%, while Zurich Insurance Group and ABB closed higher by about 0.7% and 0.65%, respectively.

As worries about U.S. tariffs eased following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to delay levies on Canada and Mexico, investors shifted their focus on quarterly earnings, and most of the markets across Europe had a positive session on Tuesday. The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.22%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.36% and 0.66%, respectively, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed lower by 0.15%. Switzerland's SMI settled lower by 0.57%. Among other markets in Europe, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Belgium edged up marginally. Denmark, Finland and Russia closed weak, while Austrial ended flat. In the UK market, Entain climbed 5.8%. Marks & Spencer closed 3.3% up and Scottish Mortgage gained 2.5%. Vodafone closed lower by about 7% after the telecom operator reported another revenue decline in its key German market in the third quarter. Vodafone reported that its third quarter adjusted EBITDAaL increased by 2.2% on an organic basis to 2.8 billion euros. Total revenue increased by 5.0% to 9.8 billion euros. Service revenue grew by 5.6% to 7.9 billion euros, and on an organic basis increased 5.2%. Diageo, the world's top spirits maker, tumbled 4% in early trades, after scrapping its long-standing sales growth guidance. However, the stock recovered some lost ground as the day progressed and eventually ended with a 1.3% loss. In the German market, Infineon soared nearly 10% following the chipmaker upgrading its full-year revenue outlook a bit. The company's quarterly results have come in stronger-than-expected, easing concerns about continued deterioration in automotive demand. Infineon expects fiscal second-quarter revenue of 3.6 billion euros.

Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday, largely offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge. The major averages finished the session just off their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq jumped 262.06 points or 1.4 percent to 19,654.02, the S&P 500 climbed 43.31 points or 0.7 percent to 6,037.88 and the Dow rose 134.13 points or 0.3 percent to 44,556.04. The strength on Wall Street partly reflected easing concerns about a global trade war after President Donald Trump agreed to pause 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for a month. Positive sentiment may also have been regenerated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing job openings in the U.S. fell by much more than expected in the month of December. The report said job openings tumbled to 7.6 million in December after climbing to an upwardly revised 8.2 million in November. Economists had expected job openings to dip to 8.0 million from the 8.1 million originally reported for the previous month. PepsiCo beat Wall Street estimates for profit in the fourth quarter but missed on revenue. The stock is falling on Tuesday, but some analysts say shares in the snack and beverage giant could bounce back as it invests in new products and further expands internationally. The maker of Pepsi and Mountain Dew sodas said on Tuesday that adjusted earnings per share were $1.96 in the final three months of 2024. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.94. Revenue came in at $27.78 billion, slightly below the expectations of $27.89 billion

The stock markets in East Asia and Australia were mixed on Wednesday. While the South Korean stock market rose more sharply, the Chinese stock markets fell. The trade conflict with the USA remains at the centre of attention

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries recovered from early weakness to end the day moderately higher. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 3.0 basis points to 4.513 percent after reaching a high of 4.598 percent.

UBS raises Adidas target to EUR 289 (280) – Buy
JP Morgan raises LSE target to 13,700 (13,500) p – Overweight
Bank of America raises Infineon target to EUR 44 (40) – Buy

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