Swiss building materials firm Holcim Group reported that its third-quarter recurring EBIT reached 1.55 billion Swiss francs, up 1.2 percent from last year's 1.53 billion francs. Recurring EBIT grew 7.7 percent on a like-for-like basis. Net sales were 8.05 billion francs, up 10.4 percent from 7.29 billion francs a year ago. Net sales increased 16.3 percent on a LFL basis. For fiscal 2022, Holcim upgraded its net sales and Recurring EBIT guidance. Net sales growth is now expected to be at least 12 percent like-for-like, compared to previously expected at least 10 percent like-for-like, with net sales reaching 29 billion francs. Double-digit net sales growth in Solutions & Products has been upgraded to achieve net sales of above 5.5 billion francs. Holcim said it is well-positioned to reach 25 percent of Group net sales in Solutions & Products for 2022 on a pro forma basis, on target to deliver 30 percent by 2025. Furthermore, the company announced a share buyback up to 2 billion francs.

The Switzerland stock market ended notably lower on Thursday as weak quarterly results from Credit Suisse triggered heavy selling at the counter and rendered the mood a bit bearish. The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 110.59 points or 1.02% at 10,706.62, slightly off the session's low of 10,702.49. The index stayed in negative territory right through the day's session. Credit Suisse plunged more than 18% after the lender unveiled restructuring plans, which include a capital rise, jobs cuts, and shifting focus towards its rich clients from investment banking. The bank reported a loss of about CHF 4 billion, mostly due to a CHF 3.7 billion impairment of deferred tax assets that is related to the revamp. Sonova and Lonza Group ended lower by 3.5% and 3.25%, respectively. Richemont ended nearly 2% down, while Roche Holding, Sika, Alcon and Geberit lost 1 to 1.6%. UBS Group, Nestle and ABB ended nearly 1% down. Swisscom shares rallied 4.85%. Swiss Re gained nearly 1%, while Zurich Insurance Group, Swiss Life Holding and Holcim posted modest gains. In the Swiss Mid Price Index, Straumann Holding tumbled 6.4%. Tecan Group and Bachem Holding lost 4.85% and 4.25%, respectively. Clariant, Lindt & Spruengli, VAT Group, Belimo Holding and Kuehne & Nagel also ended sharply lower. Baloise Holding climbed more than 1%. Helvetia, PSP Swiss Property, Zur Rose, Julius Baer and Dufry gained 0.5 to 0.9%.

European stocks recovered from early losses and ended on a mixed note on Thursday as investors digested the European Central Bank's interest rate decision, in addition to reacting to a slew of economic data and earnings updates from the region. The European Central Bank today raised its interest rate by 75 basis points, the third consecutive increase this year. The bank also announced that it was changing the terms and conditions of its targeted longer-term refinancing operations, or TLTROs - a tool that provides European banks with attractive borrowing conditions, designed to incentivise lending to the real economy. Following today's hike, ECB's main refinancing rate now stands at 2%, the deposit facility rate at 1.5%, and the marginal lending facility rate at 2.25%. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.03%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.25% and Germany's DAX gained 0.12%, while France's CAC 40 dropped 0.51%. In the UK market, Shell climbed nearly 5.5% after the company reported a profit in the third quarter. BP gained about 3.5%, while Harbour Energy, Melrose Industries, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Entain, Unite Group, Standard Chartered, Land Securities, Segro, Admiral Group and United Utilities gained 1.5 to 3%. Airtel Africa tanked 15.1%. Rio Tinto, Coca-Cola HBC, Glencore, Intertek Group, Reckitt Benckiser and Anglo-American Plc ended lower by 2 to 4%. In Germany, Deutsche Bank and Vonovia both gained about 5%. Deutsche Wohnen, Continental, HeidelbergCement, Allianz, BASF, Eon, and Munich RE gained 1 to 2.3%. HelloFresh plunged more than 6%. Infineon Technologies drifted down 3.5%, while Adidas, Puma, Zalando, Symrise, Qiagen and Merck lost 1.6 to 2.7%. In the French market, Faurecia rallied nearly 4%. Carrefour gained about 3% on strong qurterly earnings, and Michelin advanced nearly 2.5%. Air France-KLM, Unibail Rodamco, Valeo and Accor gained 1.6 to 2%. STMicroElectronics tumbled nearly 7%. Schneider Electric, Dassault Systemes, WorldLine, Essilor, Atos and Saint Gobail lost 2 to 3.4%.

U.S. stocks ended the day mixed after data showed the U.S. economy returned to growth in the third quarter, and investors digested more earnings from big tech companies The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 194.17 points, or 0.6%, to 32033.28. A jump in Caterpillar shares helped push the blue-chip index to its fifth day of gains. It is up 5.6% over that period, its largest five-day gain since May. The S&P 500, meanwhile, fell 23.30 points, or 0.6%, to 3807.30. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 178.32 points, or 1.6%, to 10792.67. Both suffered their second straight day of losses. On Thursday, the latest gross domestic product data showed that the U.S. economy grew at a 2.6% annual rate last quarter, a sign that the economy is stronger than many have feared throughout the year. Facebook parent Meta Platforms posted its second revenue decline in a row after markets closed Wednesday. The social-media company is battling a host of challenges, including a tough macroeconomic climate, growing competition and the fallout from Apple’s ad-tracking changes, all of which have taken a toll on its advertising business. The shares plunged 25%, falling $31.88 to $97.94. It was one of the biggest one-day declines since the company went public about a decade ago. Google-parent Alphabet reported its fifth consecutive quarter of slowing sales growth earlier this week, with its YouTube video platform posting a drop in advertising revenue for the first time since the company began reporting the unit’s performance. The company’s shares fell $2.71, or about 2.9%, to $92.22, bringing losses for the week to 8.8%. The volatility hasn’t been limited to tech. Shopify shares, for example, jumped 17% on Thursday. Shares of Honeywell International gained 3.3% after the conglomerate housing aerospace, materials and other businesses raised its full-year profit forecast. Caterpillar posted a big increase in third-quarter sales, with demand for its construction and other heavy equipment holding up even as it raised prices. Shares rose 7.7%. After months of back and forth, high-tech billionaire Elon Musk has completed his acquisition of short message service Twitter and immediately fired company executives.

Stocks in Asia mostly fell on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 0.5% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong down 2.3%. China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.8%. The Bank of Japan's (BoJ) decision to stick to its low interest rate policy comes as no surprise. The Kospi in Seoul declines by 0.5 per cent. Here, the losses of the two technology heavyweights Samsung Electronics (-2.5%) and SK Hynix (-5.3%) weighed. Both companies had presented weak financial results this week. LG Display shares fell by 4.2 per cent.

Most U.S. government debt yields slipped on Thursday, while rates on 3- and 6-month Treasury bills swung in both directions, as traders considered the possibility that central banks may be approaching the limit of their abilities to keep aggressively hiking interest rates. The 10-year Treasury note was yielding 3.954%, down 5 basis points while the 2-year Treasury note lost 8 basis points to 4.342%.

Deutsche Bank reduces Logitech target to 60 (66) CHF - Buy
Stifel cuts target Bucher Industries to 385 (400) CHF - Hold
JP Morgan raises target Kuehne + Nagel to 310 (279) CHF - Neutral

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