The Swiss equity market opened slightly in positive territory on Wednesday, with all 20 SMI constituents trading higher in early dealing. The index was marked 0.1% higher at Julius Bär and 0.26% lower at IG Bank, following Monday's 0.75% gain.
Semiconductor names were among the better performers. AMS Osram, an Austrian chipmaker listed on the Swiss exchange, rose 2% in pre-market trading after shedding 11% on Monday. The broader recovery in halflTern stocks came after the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.82% to 29,127.16 on Monday, weighed down by mounting concerns over the pace and safety of artificial intelligence development.
On Monday, the S&P 500 pared its losses to finish down 0.48% at 7,619.98, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.29% to 52,421.20 after briefly posting gains.
Tensions in the Middle East continued to underpin commodity prices. A new Houthi rebel attack on Saudi Arabia, backed by Iran, heightened fears of potential oil supply disruptions. Brent crude rose 1.6% to $107.40 a barrel, and US WTI crude gained 1.7% to $103.15. Gold, however, slipped slightly to $4,291.59 per ounce.
In Asian markets, the MSCI index for Asia ex-Japan edged lower, while Tokyo's benchmark gained 0.9% and Shanghai traded marginally higher. The dollar strengthened against most major currencies: it rose 0.3% to 154.87 yen, gained to 6.7097 yuan, and climbed 0.15% to 0.8190 Swiss francs. The euro remained near flat at 1.1536 dollars and rose to 0.9437 francs.
Investors remained cautious ahead of highly anticipated interest-rate decisions in the United States and Japan. Yokoo Akihiko, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, said markets were focused on the risk that elevated oil prices could reignite inflationary pressures and push central banks to maintain higher rates for longer.
The debate over AI safety intensified after prominent industry figures raised alarms about the technology's rapid advancement. Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, warned that a swarm of AI systems could within six to twelve months gain the ability to seize control of the entire internet, potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. He urged the industry to slow the development of its most capable models.
The concerns spilled over into equity markets across Asia and Europe. South Korea's Kospi fell, and European investors largely avoided technology titles. Timothy Arcuri of UBS described the AI-safety debate as a "new, significant risk factor" clouding outlooks in the chip sector, though he dismissed the notion of a fundamental slowdown in AI investment, noting that leading labs had recently committed to substantial infrastructure spending.
Cybersecurity stocks, by contrast, benefited from the sentiment shift. Shares of CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and Okta rose between 12% and 14%.
