Qualcomm reported strong first-quarter earnings results Wednesday afternoon. Its shares were initially up in after-hours trading before moving into negative territory. Earnings per share rose 24% to $3.41, compared to Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $2.96, according to FactSet. Revenue for the quarter reached $11.67 billion, well above expectations of $10.91 billion, and up 18% on the year. The results were driven by strong demand in Qualcomm’s chip segment, with sales up 20% on the year to $10.1 billion, versus expectations for $9.3 billion. Smartphone chip revenue came in hot for the third quarter in a row, up 13% on the year to $7.6 billion against expectations of $7.0 billion. Though phones constitute 75% of Qualcomm’s chip sales, it has two high growth segments for diversification.

After struggling for direction till an hour before noon, the Swiss market started to climb higher on Wednesday, as investors pickup stocks, reacting to earnings updates. The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 103.95 points or 0.83% at 12,579.44, the day's high. Novartis climbed 3.13% and Sandoz Group gained nearly 3%. Roche Holding closed higher by 1.85% and Julius Baer ended 1.58% up. SGS, Sonova, Partners Group, Alcon, Lonza Group and Swiss Life Holding moved up 1 to 1.4%. Logitech International closed nearly 1% up. SIG Group, Richemont, Swiss Re, Swisscom, Holcim and Geberit posted moderate gains. Swatch Group ended down 2.2%. UBS Group and Lindt & Spruengli closed lower by 1.52% and 1.44%, respectively. Adecco, ABB and Sika also closed weak.

European stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday with investors shrugging off concerns about tariffs for now and focusing on corporate earnings and regional economic data. Investors digested the data on manufacturing and services sector activity in European countries. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.47%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.61% and Germany's DAX ended higher by 0.37% and France's CAC 40 closed down 0.19%. Switzerland's SMI ended stronger by 0.83%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Russia and Spain ended higher. Greece, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak, while Austria and Netherlands ended flat. In the UK market, GSK climbed 7.61%. The pharmaceutical giant reported robust 2024 performance and lifted its long-term sales outlook. Fresnillo closed nearly 6% up. Marks & Spencer gained 3.65% and Endeavour Mining rallied 3%. Tesco, Land Securities, Schrodders, Sainsbury (J), LondonMetric Property, BT Group, Beazley, M&G, Taylor Wimpey, British Land Company, British American Tobacco and Phoenix Group Holdings closed higher by 2 to 2.7%. Diageo, DCC and Croda International lost 3.2 to 4%. Spirax Group, Prudential, Halma, Diploma, Ashtead Group and Pershing Square Holdings ended down 1.2 to 2.2%. In the German market, Vonovia climbed nearly 3.5%, Infineon gained about 2.8% and Siemens Energy closed 2.6% up. Zalando gained 2%, while SAP and Siemens Healthineers ended higher by about 1.4% and 1%, respectively. Symrise, Continental, Daimler Truck Holding, Sartorius, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, BMW and Porsche lost 1.4 to 2.7%. In the French market, Publicis Groupe gained more than 2%.

Stocks came under pressure early in the session on Wednesday but showed a significant rebound over the course of the trading day. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and into positive territory. The major averages reached new highs for the session going into the close of trading. The Dow advanced 317.24 points or 0.7 percent to 44,873.28, the S&P 500 climbed 23.60 points or 0.4 percent to 6,061.48 and the Nasdaq rose 38.31 points or 0.2 percent to 19,692.33. The initial pullback on Wall Street came amid weakness among tech stocks due to a negative reaction to earnings news from Alphabet (GOOGL) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Shares of Alphabet plunged by 7.3 percent after the Google parent reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings but its cloud revenues missed estimates. Chip maker AMD also tumbled by 6.3 percent after reporting fourth quarter earnings and revenues that beat estimates but its data center sales fell short of expectations. On the U.S. economic front, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing service sector growth in the U.S. unexpectedly slowed modestly in the month of January. The ISM said its services PMI dipped to 52.8 in January from a revised 54.0 in December. While a reading above 50 still indicates growth, economists had expected the index to inch up to 54.3 from the 54.1 originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, payroll processor ADP released a separate report showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of January. ADP said private sector employment climbed by 183,000 jobs in January after rising by an upwardly revised 176,000 jobs in December.

The stock markets in East Asia and Australia rose on Thursday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index rose by 0.5 per cent to 39.019 points. Business figures presented provide movement. Nomura shares rose by 5.2 per cent after net profit more than doubled in the first nine months of the financial year. And Renesas Electronics even jumped 13.8 per cent after presenting its fourth-quarter figures.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries showed a strong move to the upside, extending the advance seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note slumped 9.1 basis points to 4.422 percent.

UBS lowers OMV target to EUR 44 (47) – Buy
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Bank of America raises Dassault Systems target to EUR 46.50 (43) – Buy

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