Ford Motor Co. is reorganizing its operations to create two separate divisions - one for its conventional gas-engine business and another to focus on developing electric vehicles and software. Ford said Wednesday that it plans to keep both operations in-house with separate names and their own leadership structures and profit-and-loss statements. Eventually, the auto maker intends to break out separate profit-and-loss statements for the two divisions. The changes are being made immediately, Ford said. The company also raised its projection of electric-vehicle production and profitability. It expects electrics to account for one-third of global sales by 2026 - or about two million EVs total - and half of global sales by 2030, compared with a previous target of 40%. Ford also lifted its forecast for operating-profit margin to 10% by 2026, from a prior goal of 8%. The plan represents one of the company’s boldest steps yet under Chief Executive Jim Farley to speed development of new battery-powered models. It also comes as investors are driving up the valuations of Tesla Inc. and other auto startups that aren’t encumbered by a legacy business and are focused solely on selling electric vehicles.

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After the Swiss stock market had shown relative resilience on the previous days, when the neighboring European stock markets fell sharply in some cases, it now lagged the recovery on Wednesday. The SMI gained only 0.1 per cent, while the German DAX, for example, rose 0.7 per cent. The SMI rose to 11,872 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 13 price gainers and seven price losers. 69.13 (Tuesday: 62.2) million shares were traded. The somewhat divergent development of the SMI can be explained by the fact that some defensive, i.e. less cyclical stocks are heavily weighted in the Swiss leading index. While they have a stabilizing effect on the downside, they turn out to be brakemen in upward movements. These include the pharmaceutical giants Novartis (+0.6%) and Roche (-1.1%) as well as the food giant Nestle (-0.3%). Richemont (+1.9%), which had fallen back very sharply the day before, was on the winning side because Russia is considered a relatively strong buyer of luxury goods. Bank shares, which had been weak recently, also recorded gains. Tailwind came from the halted decline in market interest rates. UBS recovered by 0.5 per cent and Credit Suisse by 1.0 per cent.

European equity markets rebounded on Wednesday amid a surge in oil prices, while US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reassured that the US central bank would not raise rates too quickly because of the war in Ukraine. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.9% to 446.4 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 gained 1.6% and 1.5% respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 advanced 0.7%, while the FTSE 100 in London gained 1.5%. The Moscow Stock Exchange remained closed again on Wednesday, for the third consecutive day. Aviva PLC on Wednesday posted a fall in pretax profit for 2021, and outlined capital returns for shareholders while upgrading its dividend policy for 2022 and 2023. The FTSE 100-listed insurer made a pretax profit of 801 million pounds ($1.07 billion) for the year, compared with GBP1.81 billion in 2020. The company said its gross premiums reached the highest level in more than a decade at GBP8.8 billion, from GBP8.3 billion the previous year. Persimmon PLC said Wednesday that pretax profit rose in 2021 on the back of an increase in homes sold and higher selling prices. The U.K. house builder made a pretax profit of 966.8 million pounds ($1.29 billion) up from GBP783.8 million the prior year. Revenue rose to GBP3.61 billion from GBP3.33 billion, the company said. Completions rose to 14,551 from 13,575 a year earlier, while the new home average selling price rose to GBP237,078 from GBP230,534.

U.S. stocks shot higher as investors watched for updates from Ukraine and parsed testimony on the Federal Reserve's plans to raise interest rates. The S&P 500 rose 1.9%, a day after the benchmark index fell 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.8% and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.6%. The advances were broad-based, with most of the S&P 500's 11 sectors rising 1% or more. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, appearing before the House Committee on Financial Services, said he would propose a quarter-percentage point rate increase at the central bank's meeting in two weeks. That alleviated concerns on Wall Street that the central bank would raise rates by half a percentage point. Investors are responding to fast-moving developments on the battlefield, a volley of Western sanctions on Moscow and major companies cutting ties with Russia. Fanatics Inc. has raised $1.5 billion from a group of big investors, pushing the sports-merchandising giant’s valuation to $27 billion as it works to expand beyond its core business, according to people familiar with the matter. Investors in the latest round include Fidelity Management & Research Co, funds managed by BlackRock Inc. and Michael Dell’s family office, known as MSD Capital LP, the people said. Apple Inc. is hosting its latest product-launch event next week and is expected to reveal a new, cheaper version of the iPhone. Apple sent an invitation Wednesday to an event expected on March 8. Apple said it would broadcast the event on its website.

The Asian stock markets are moving on a slight recovery course on Thursday. In China, the HSI in Hong Kong is showing a positive trend, after it had previously suffered more from the Ukraine war.

After their recent strong gains, US bonds were initially no longer in demand as a safe haven in view of the new glimmer of hope in Ukraine. Accordingly, yields rose sharply again, in the ten-year range by almost 17 basis points to 1.89 per cent. The announced interest rate hike in a fortnight also contributed to this.

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