Swiss stocks welcomed the new trading week on a downbeat note following a long weekend, with the Swiss Market Index down 1.01% on Monday's close.
Switzerland's manufacturing PMI rose to 54.5 in April from 53.3 in March, data from procure.ch and UBS showed, beating the consensus estimate of 52.
On the labor market front, the KOF employment indicator edged up to 2.2 points in the second quarter from the downwardly revised 2.1 points in the previous quarter, remaining "slightly" higher than its long-term average of 1.7 points.
"Despite the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran since the end of February and the associated rise in oil and gas prices, the employment outlook for Swiss firms has not deteriorated overall," the KOF Swiss Economic Institute said. "Assessments of current employment levels have remained virtually unchanged since the last quarter. The net balance of employment prospects for the next three months remains unchanged at 2.9 points compared with the last quarter. The proportion of firms planning to increase their workforces over the coming months thus remains higher than the percentage of firms expecting job cuts."
Over to corporates, Graubündner Kantonalbank (GRKP.SW) shed 7.17% at closing after disclosing that a lawsuit was filed against it and its BZ Bank subsidiary for alleged breaches of duty related to a client relationship and an investment product managed by the unit. The plaintiff is seeking mid-three-digit million compensation, while both banks deny the claims as "unfounded."
Meanwhile, AlphaValue/Baader Europe changed its opinion on BB Biotech (BION.SW) to add from reduce and lifted its price target to 53.3 francs from 50.1 francs, following the Switzerland-based biotechnology investor's first-quarter results and upgraded outlook. The stock closed the session 0.34% higher.
"We have raised our target price for BB Biotech, reflecting an improved outlook for the biotech sector as well as strong execution by the investment team, following the positive pivotal Phase III readout from Revolution Medicines, and the acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals by Merck," the research firm said. "2026 EPS estimates (as reliable as they can be for this kind of business) have been adjusted to reflect the negative net profit reported in Q1 (-CHF 21m). EPS estimates from 2027 onwards benefit from a higher growth assumption for the U.S. biotech market (raised from 6% to 8% per year)."