European markets advance as investors await Fed minutes

Swiss consumer prices added 2.8% year-on-year and eased by 0.2% on the month in December, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office said today.

It found Swiss inflation averaged 2.8% in 2022, up from 0.6% in 2021. It attributed the annual hike to higher costs for petroleum products, gas, cars and house rentals, which offset price declines for medicines and fixed-line and mobile communication.

Swiss power supplier BKW jumped 6% in early trade to guide the Stoxx 600 after projecting an “outstanding” full-year result for 2022.

Italian steel pipe manufacturer Tenaris fell 5% to the underside of the European blue chip index.

– Elliot Smith

Skyrocketing energy costs have spurred investment in renewable energy internationally.

Swiss investment bank UBS named 10 distinguished renewable energy players capitalizing on the trend and are set to outperform over the subsequent yr.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

The once-hot chip sector suffered in 2022, but Wall Street looks to be turning more optimistic on semiconductor stocks for the yr ahead.

Recently, several pros have urged investors to take a longer-term view on the sector, given the importance of chips in several key secular trends.

Analysts named one stock particularly they’re bullish on, citing its earnings potential and future profitability.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Goldman Sachs has an out-of-consensus forecast for the U.S. economy in 2023.

“Our economists proceed to imagine that the US will avoid recession because the Fed successfully engineers a soft landing of the economy,” analysts wrote Tuesday.

“This out-of-consensus forecast partly reflects our view that a period of below-potential growth is sufficient to step by step rebalance the labor market and dampen wage and price pressures,” the note said. “Nevertheless it also reflects our evaluation that indicates that the drag from fiscal and monetary policy tightening will diminish sharply next yr, in contrast to the consensus view that the lagged effects of rate of interest hikes will cause a recession in 2023.”

As well as, the bank today raised its 4Q22 GDP growth forecast by 10bp to +2.1% on the back of a surprisingly strong November Construction Spending release

“The disconnect between the resilience of the US economy in 2022 and the downdraft experienced by stocks is has been a key narrative of the past yr,” Goldman said. “And, whether this disconnect continues, or the economy matches the market downdraft, or the market rebounds within the wake of an economic soft landing could also be at the very least a part of the narrative of 2023.”

—Carmen Reinicke

Stock markets endured a horrible 2022 as major indexes clocked their worst performances in greater than a decade.

As market pros warn investors of bumpy times ahead, CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen for low-volatility stocks that not only beat the market in 2022 but are expected to rise further this yr.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

European markets are heading for a better open Wednesday as investors await the newest U.S. Federal Reserve minutes, searching for signs of more rates of interest to come back.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is anticipated to open 11 points higher at 7,570, Germany’s DAX 28 points higher at 14,227, France’s CAC up 9 points at 6,643 and Italy’s FTSE MIB up 31 points at 24,449, in response to data from IG.

In Europe Tuesday, markets closed higher, buoyed after Germany published lower-than-expected inflation figures for December, right down to 9.6% yr on yr. Inflation figures from France are due on Wednesday.

— Holly Ellyatt