At an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday, Dufry shareholders approved all the proposals submitted to them in connection to the merger with Italian motorway restaurant operator Autogrill. In particular, they agreed to additional conditional share capital and authorised capital. The additional conditional share capital amounts to 153,316,645 francs and the authorised capital to 226,992,515 francs, Dufry announced on Wednesday. The owners of the Basel-based duty-free retail specialist also elected Alessandro Benetton and Enrico Laghi as members of the board of directors for a term of office until the end of the next ordinary general meeting. In mid-July, Basel-based Dufry and Italy's Autogrill announced their merger. The holding company Edizione, owned by the Benetton family, will transfer the 50.3% stake it holds in Autogrill via Schema Beta in exchange for 30.7 million new Dufry shares to be issued as part of the capital increase. Edizione will thus become the main shareholder of the Basel-based retailer, with a stake of between 20% and 25%. The new entity, which will be headed by Dufry boss Xavier Rossinyol, will cater for around 2.3 billion passengers and generate combined sales of CHF 13.6 billion. It will operate 5,500 points of sale, notably in 350 airports, and will count nearly 60,000 employees.

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The Swiss stock market failed to maintain its positive trend and ended Wednesday's session slightly down. Investor sentiment was dampened by rather gloomy macroeconomic data in the face of record inflation in the eurozone and disappointing job creation in the US. On the Swiss stock exchange, the Swiss Market Index (SMI) ended the day slightly down by 0.27% at 10,855.03 points, after a high of 10,949.60 points and a low of 10,816.54 points. Most of the blue chips ended lower, with SGS (-2.0%), Sika (-1.6%) and ABB (-1.3%) being the worst performers. Accelleron, ABB's current turbocharger unit (-1.3%), is still planning to go public in early October. A policy of paying out 50% to 70% of net book profit as a dividend is promised to investors. The three heavyweights weighed on performance, with Nestlé (-0.5%), Roche (-0.3%) and Novartis (-0.04%) edging lower. Temenos (+4.9%), Swiss Re (+2.7%) and Partners Group (+1.4%) finished top of the table. On the broader market, Stadler (+3.0%) announced that it would be appointing a new boss at the beginning of 2023. The company's half-yearly net profit was reduced to a trickle and its profitability targets were lowered.

European stocks were in the red again on Wednesday, tracking global losses after strong U.S. data fuelled expectations of further aggressive interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve. At the close, the Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 0.9% to 416.2 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 were down 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt slipped by 0.7% and the FTSE 100 in London declined by 1.1%. For the month of August as a whole, the trend was clearly negative: the Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 5.3%. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 lost 5% each. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt fell by 4.6% and the FTSE 100 in London was down by more than 2%. In vitro diagnostics specialist bioMérieux (-5.6%) slightly raised its sales and operating profit targets for 2022, after returning to sales growth in the second quarter ended June 30. Aerospace and defence group Airbus (-2.7%) announced that its chief financial officer, Dominik Asam, would leave the company in March 2023 to take the same position at German software company SAP (+0.4% in Frankfurt). Renault gained 1.6% after the publication of press information on the composition of the capital of its future entity dedicated to thermal engines. Engie lost 2.1% after Gazprom announced the suspension of its gas deliveries to the French group. UniCredit (+4.5% in Milan) announced that the European Central Bank (ECB) had authorised the execution of the second tranche of its share buyback program for 2021, for a maximum amount of 1 billion euros.

U.S. stocks fell across the board Wednesday, marking the fourth straight day of declines driven by an expectation of tighter Federal Reserve policy. Major indexes slid between 4% and 5% in August, their worst monthly performances since June. The S&P 500 dropped 31.16 points, or 0.8%, to 3955, extending its monthly loss to 4.2%. Ten of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors were in the red on Wednesday, with communication services the sole riser on the day, edging up one-hundredth of a percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 280.44 points, or 0.9%, to 31510.43. That pushed the blue-chip index to a 4.1% decline in August. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 66.93 points, or 0.6%, to 11816.20, furthering its monthly rout to 4.6%. Stocks have come under pressure in the wake of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole, Wyo., where he said interest rates must be raised further until inflation is under control, despite higher recession risk. Shares of pet retailer Chewy lost 8.2% after it lowered sales guidance for the year, citing changing consumer habits. Bed Bath & Beyond shares plunged 21%. The retailer and meme stock said it plans to close roughly 150 of its flagship stores, cut its workforce and bring in fresh financing. The social network Snap (+8.6%) plans to lay off about 20% of its workforce in order to save 500 million euros annually, according to a note from its CEO, Evan Spiegel. For its part, the American computer and printer manufacturer HP Inc (-7.8%) published a turnover below expectations and reduced its forecasts for the current financial year, penalised in particular by the decline in demand for PCs. Exxon Mobil (-0.8%), Chevron (-1.6%) and the oil sector as a whole suffered further declines in the wake of oil prices. Boeing (-1.2%) and Honeywell (-0.7%) shares were mixed as the US military announced that it had grounded its entire fleet of Chinook helicopters as a "precautionary measure" due to a potential engine fire. The Frankfurt offices of JPMorgan Chase (-0.6%) were raided as part of a wide-ranging tax fraud investigation involving several financial companies, including several US banks, in several European countries.

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday. Meanwhile, the stock market in Shanghai resists the negative trend; the Composite Index is up 0.2 per cent. In contrast, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong loses 1.5 per cent. On the Tokyo stock exchange, the Nikkei 225 index declines by 1.6 per cent. In Seoul, the Kospi slips by 1.9 per cent after South Korea's trade deficit in August was higher than expected. In Tokyo, Kadokawa rises about 6 per cent after Sony (-1.3 per cent in Tokyo) and Tencent (+0.4 per cent in Hong Kong) acquire stakes of 14.09 and 16.25 per cent, respectively, in Kadokawa subsidiary Fromsoftware (FS). FS develops video games.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose by 7 basis points to 3.178%. The 2-year Treasury note, which is more sensitive to changes in the Fed's short-term policy, added 2 basis points to 3.485%.

Deutsche Bank reduces Geberit target to CHF 495 (650) - Hold

Citi raises Partners Group target to 1,040 (1,000) CHF - Buy

Deutsche Bank cuts Credit Suisse target to CHF 6 (7) - Hold

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