Tesla Inc. notched a third consecutive record quarterly profit, thanks in part to the electric-vehicle maker’s ability to navigate persistent global supply-chain disruptions. The strong earnings came after Tesla delivered roughly 73% more vehicles than in the year-ago period. Underpinning that growth was an uptick in sales of vehicles made in China, now home to Tesla’s largest auto plant by output. The company on Wednesday said it also benefited from cutting some expenses. The efficiency gains, combined with greater vehicle output, more-than offset higher supply costs and other factors, including a reduction in the average price of the vehicles the company sold in the period. The car maker reported a $1.6 billion third-quarter profit, up from $331 million a year earlier, on record revenue of $13.8 billion. The results beat Wall Street expectations of a profit of around $1.3 billion and $13.6 billion in revenue.

Midweek trading on the Swiss stock market was dominated by the balance sheet season. The SMI gained 0.6 per cent to 12,013 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were twelve price gainers and eight price losers. 32.09 (previously: 25.76) million shares were traded. The situation was different for Roche, which had also been sold off sharply the previous day and now lost a further 1.6 per cent. Although the pharmaceutical company had also performed better than expected and also increased its forecast, observers criticised that this was based on the diagnostics division with its Corona tests. It was questionable how long these would still be in demand. Especially after the setback with the anti-Corona pill, which had been the cause of the sell-off on Tuesday, the market is likely to be cautious here. Shares in logistics company Kühne + Nagel fell 3.1 per cent. Although the company had reported record results for its third quarter, analysts at Baader Helvea doubted the sustainability of this development. In the banking sector, Credit Suisse fell by 1.7 per cent. The money house settles the so-called Mozambique affair against payment of 475 million US dollars. Observers spoke of a further loss of credibility regarding ESG criteria. Lonza rose 1.7 per cent after UBS upgraded it to Buy.

European equity markets ended Wednesday's session higher, after another round of quarterly results showed a limited impact from inflation and supply problems affecting companies. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.3% to 470.1 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 rose 0.5% each. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 gained 0.1%, as did the FTSE 100 in London. Global concerns on rising inflation were in focus, with Germany reporting a 14.2% surge in annual producer prices for September, the highest annual gain since October 1974, said statistics office Destatis. The mining sector was among the weakest in Europe, with shares of Antofagasta dropping over 3% after the mining group reported weak copper production for the third quarter and forecast lower output for next year, due to drought conditions in Chile. In other news, Jens Weidmann, the president of the Bundesbank and one of the more hawkish European Central Bank voters, announced his resignation on Wednesday, which he said was for personal reasons. Another gainer was Deliveroo, with shares of the delivery service also rising above 3% after reporting a rise in third quarter orders and gross transaction value and lifting guidance on the latter for the year. Vinci stock rose 2.9% after it delivered a solid top-line third-quarter update, according to Deutsche Bank, with revenue at EUR13.24 billion, a slight beat to the bank's expectations. On the downside, shares of ASML fell over 1% even after the Dutch chip equipment maker reported a 64% gain in third-quarter net profit that beat forecasts. Amid a continuing industry chip shortage, ASML said it would need to boost capacity to meet demand for memory and logic modes. Akzo Nobel shares also fell over 1% after the Dutch paints and coating company reported a third-quarter fall in net profit, missing consensus and said its performance was hit by high raw-material costs and supply-chain disruptions. Kering stock fell over 3% after the French luxury goods group reported late Tuesday third-quarter revenue above expectations, but a miss at its flagship Gucci label.

U.S. stocks rose Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average stopping just short of fresh record highs. The S&P 500 added 16.56 points, or 0.4%, to 4536.19. That marked its sixth straight session of gains. The Dow rose 152.03 points, or 0.4%, to 35609.34. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index bucked the trend, slipping 7.41 points, or about 0.1%, to 15121.68. Investors are parsing corporate results for fresh insight into the effects of inflation and supply-chain disruptions. Shares of Verizon Communications climbed 2.4%, or $1.26, to $53.61 after the telecommunications giant raised its full-year outlook. Biogen fell 0.6%, or $1.56, to $266.57 even after the pharmaceutical company increased its full-year sales and earnings guidance. Netflix shares fell 2.2%, or $13.86, to $625.14. The company said it added more new users than expected in the last quarter, but its co-chief executive also apologized for defending a controversial comedy special by Dave Chappelle. Novavax fell 15%, or $23.69, to $136.86 after a report that the pharmaceutical company was running into difficulties manufacturing a Covid-19 vaccine that met regulators’ quality standards. Bitcoin hit a record, trading as high as $66,975, according to CoinDesk. The cryptocurrency has climbed more than 50% this month. The first bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund began trading Tuesday.

The stock markets in East Asia are mainly showing moderate reductions on Thursday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index is down 0.3 per cent. The main focus here is on the shares of the highly indebted Chinese real estate company Evergrande. The shares slump by 10.8 per cent. The tottering real estate giant has cancelled plans to sell a majority stake in its property management division for the equivalent of 2.6 billion US dollars - a major setback for the company's efforts to overcome its liquidity crisis. In mainland China, however, the Shanghai composite advances 0.5 per cent. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index drops 1.1 per cent to 28,948 points, weighed down by electronics stocks. The Kospi in South Korea closed 0.1 per cent lower.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note settled at 1.635%, up slightly from 1.634% Tuesday. The yield on the German Bund with the same maturity is -0.123%, down from -0.102% on Tuesday evening.

Jefferies lowers Danone target to EUR 65 (70.75) - Buy
Hauck&Aufhäuser increases Jenoptik target to EUR 38 (34) - Buy
Jefferies lowers Philips target to EUR 52 (55) - Buy

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