Broadcom shares jumped 9% Thursday postmarket after the company reported a surge in first-quarter revenue. The company’s revenue grew 25% from the prior year to $14.9 billion during the first quarter. That was above FactSet analysts’ expectations of $14.6 billion. Chief Executive Hock Tan said that Broadcom’s AI revenue jumped 77% year-over-year to $4.1 billion during its most recent quarter. The company’s business has grown rapidly in recent years, capitalizing on the artificial intelligence boom by creating custom AI chips for tech behemoths including Meta Platforms and Alphabet. Still, Broadcom’s stock has been clobbered recently, like those of other chip makers, with tariff uncertainty and soft economic growth weighing on formerly high-flying AI stocks.

The Swiss market ended weak on Thursday, after languishing in negative territory right through the day's session as worries about global growth due to stringent tariffs by the U.S. on imports from Canada and Mexico rendered the mood a bit bearish. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to a low of 12,928.22 around mid afternoon, ended the day's session with a loss of 83.36 points or 0.64% at 13,029.39. Sonova ended 5.5% down. SGS, Richemont and VAT Group closed lower by 4.77%, 4.23% and 4.12%, respectively. Sandoz Group ended lower by 3%, while Swiss Re, Straumann Holding and Alcon lost 1.7 to 2%. Lonza Group, Givaudan and UBS Group also ended notably lower. Galderma Group shared dropped nearly 10% after the company said it expects to see the highest adverse profit and loss impact in 2025 due to its investments in nemolizumab, particularly in the first half of the year. The group booked a 2024 net income of $231 million for 2024, swinging from a year-ago loss of $57 million. Adecco rallied 8.4% and Geberit gained 6.82%. Geberit's net sales for full-year 2024 increased year over year to 3.09 billion francs from 3.08 billion despite an 'extremely challenging' market environment. Net income, however, decreased by 3.2% to 597 million francs, hurt by higher tax rate. SIG Group, Kuehne + Nagel and Holcim climbed 3.28%, 2.89% and 2.25%, respectively. Holcim ended 1.76% up. Data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said the unemployment rate in Switzerland decreased for the first time in ten months in February, though slightly.

European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday as investors reacted to quarterly earnings updates and the European Central Bank's rate cut decision, while continuing to follow the developments on the tariff front. The Governing Council of ECB, led by President Christine Lagarde cut the deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.5%, which is the lowest level since February 2023 when it was at the same level. The main refinancing rate was lowered by a quarter basis points to 2.65% and the lending rate to 2.9%, respectively. The ECB has lowered interest rates by a quarter basis points each in every rate-setting session since September. Responding to reporters' questions, Lagarde said the latest rate cut decision was a consensus with no policymaker opposing, but the Austrian central bank governor Robert Holzmann abstaining. The bank will not pre-commit to a particular rate path, the ECB reiterated. The ECB staff lowered the euro area growth forecast for this year to 0.9% from 1.1%. The outlook for next year was downgraded to 1.2% from 1.4% and the prediction for 2027 was retained at 1.3%. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.03%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed down 0.83%, Germany's DAX climbed 1.47% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.29% up. Switzerland's SMI lost 0.64%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Portugal and Russia ended weak, while Belgium and Netherlands settled flat. In the UK market, Schrodders climbed nearly 13%. Admiral Group gained 5% after reporting a 90% jump in annual pre-tax profit.

After recovering from early weakness to end the previous session sharply higher, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Thursday. With the steep drops on the day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 tumbled to five and four-month closing lows, respectively. The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, lingering near their worst levels of the day. The Nasdaq plummeted 483.48 points or 2.6 percent to 18,069.26, the S&P 500 plunged 104.11 points or 1.8 percent at 5,738.52 and the Dow slumped 427.51 points or 1.0 percent to 42,579.08. The sell-off on Wall Street came as ongoing concerns about the economic impact of President Donald Trump's new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China led traders to cash in on Wednesday's strong gains. While Trump's decision to grant a one-month tariff exemption for automakers contributed to a turnaround on Wednesday, uncertainty about further exemptions weighed on Wall Street. Stocks saw continued weakness even after Trump granted temporary tariff exemptions for Canadian and Mexican goods that are compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement until April 2nd. In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended March 1st. Semiconductor stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunging by 4.5 percent to its lowest closing level in seven months. Substantial weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3.6 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Computer hardware stocks also showed a significant move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down to its lowest closing level in a month.

The East Asian stock markets were very mixed at the end of the week. While Australia and Japan are clearly heading south, the other stock exchanges are holding up well. The clear daily loser among the local share indices is the Japanese Nikkei-225 with losses of 2.3 per cent to 36,840 points - weighed down by a further significant appreciation of the yen since the previous day's close on the stock exchanges.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries regained ground after coming under pressure in early trading but still closed modestly lower. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up 2.1 basis points to 4.286 percent.

UBS raises HSBC target to 960 (820) p – Neutral
UBS lowers Campari to Neutral (Buy) – Target EUR 6.30 (8.50)
Barclays raises Reckitt Benckiser target to 5,600 (5,360) GBp – Equalweight

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