STOCK MARKET REPORT by CEO Silvano Grimaldi of the independent asset management company GRIMALDI & PARTNERS Ltd.

STOCK MARKET REPORT by CEO Silvano Grimaldi of the independent asset management company GRIMALDI & PARTNERS AG

MONTHLY REVIEW

The international stock markets ended the month of FEBRUARY with significant losses.

STRESSING FACTORS

The first escalating conflict and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

EQUITIES IN FOCUS

Online boom makes GOOGLE profits bubble

The online boom during the corona pandemic and bubbling advertising revenues gave Google a strong tailwind in the final quarter. Sales jumped by a third to $75.3 billion, according to Google parent company Alphabet. Profit increased by 35 percent to $20.6 billion. It was the fourth record surplus in a row. The world's largest search engine operator thus exceeded the expectations of analysts. Shares surged more than 7 percent in after-hours trading. Meta, Twitter and Snap titles also picked up speed.

SIKA follows record after record

The construction supplier Sika writes a new record profit year after year - and again in 2021. However, rising raw material costs are currently causing a lot of work for the management.

Driven by the upswing in the construction industry after the pandemic-related closures in the previous year, Sika increased sales by 17.5 percent to CHF 9.25 billion. This is a new record value and also significantly more than in 2019, Sika emphasized in a communiqué.

Sika had already gotten through the "Corona year" 2020 unscathed. Not least thanks to acquisitions, sales at the time only fell moderately by 2.9 percent.

MONTHLY OUTLOOK

The war between Russia and Ukraine is keeping stock markets under pressure. However, political crises and even warlike events only have a short-term effect on the stock exchanges. Even if the war lasts longer than expected, there will probably be some familiarization effect, except if the war unexpectedly spreads to neighboring countries.

We expect a sideways or slightly falling trend for March.

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