Consolidation and silver linings

The stock markets have anticipated the longed-for economic upturn: the Dow Jones broke through the psychologically important 10000 mark again after almost two years, and the Swiss stock market index has climbed by 20.5 percent since the beginning of 2003. Communications groups also benefited from this trend. The world's largest network, the Omnicom Group (in Switzerland including TBWA, DDB, BBDO and OMD), has gained 27.6 percent since the beginning of the year, while the second-largest Interpublic (including Lowe, McCann Group, FCB Leutenegger Krüll) has lost around six percent since the first trading day of the year. The British WPP Group (including AY&R, Mediaedge|CIA, JWT+H+F and the Ogilvy Group) was worth ten percent more on December 15 compared to January 3, 2003. The French Publicis Group (including Publicis, Optimedia, Saatchi & Saatchi) can also rejoice, with an increase of over 20 percent in the same period. The other French company, the Havas Group, also shone (Euro RSCG), number six worldwide in terms of billings: its shares climbed by around 14 percent in 2003. The Swiss business is unlikely to have had much influence on the share price. (la)