Ryanair Holdings PLC said that it swung to a net profit for the first half of fiscal 2023 as traffic recovered strongly in the period, but that recovery for the rest of the year remained fragile. The Irish low-cost carrier said the recovery could still be hurt by new Covid-19 variants or by Russia’s war in Ukraine. For the period ended Sept. 30, net profit was 1.37 billion euros ($1.36 billion) compared with a net loss of EUR48 million for the first half of fiscal 2022, the airline said. Revenue for the period soared to EUR6.62 billion from EUR2.15 billion, while operating costs were EUR4.98 billion compared with EUR2.20 billion. Traffic in the period rose to 95.1 million customers from 39.1 million, with a load factor - a measure of how full a plane is - at 94%, up from 79% in the year ago. Ryanair said forward bookings - both traffic and fares - remained strong over October mid-terms and into the Christmas period.

The Swiss stock market ticked lower again on Monday, continuing to be rangebound and alternating between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 120 points or 1.2 percent. For the day, the index slipped 37.38 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 10,750.39 after trading between 10,712.88 and 10,806.62. Among the actives, Credit Suisse tumbled 2.77 percent, while Julius Bar Gruppe climbed 1.32 percent, Swiss Re slipped 1.12 percent, The Swath Group advanced 0.90 percent, Roche Holding skidded 0.72 percent, Novartis sank 0.70 percent, Sika added 0.49 percent, UBS Group gained 0.46 percent, Zurich Insurance collected 0.42 percent, Swiss Life fell 0.37 percent and Geberit perked 0.07 percent. In economic news, Switzerland's unemployment rate held steady in October after falling in the previous month, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said on Monday. The unadjusted unemployment rate came in at 1.9 percent in October, the same rate as in September and shy of expectations for 2.0 percent. In October 2021, the jobless rate was 2.5 percent.

The major European stock markets were mostly higher on Monday, even as a cautious undertone prevailed ahead of mid-term elections in the United States and the latest U.S. consumer inflation report due this week. The markets also shook off concerns of an economic slowdown despite the uncertainty of the outlook for interest rates. Germany's DAX advanced 73.67 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 13,533.52, while London's FTSE fell 34.85 points or 0.48 percent to close at 7,299.99 and the CAC 40 in France was basically flat, adding 0.17 points to 6,416.61. In Germany, Covestro surged 3.20 percent, while Volkswagen jumped 2.46 percent, Deutsche Borse rallied 1.86 percent, Siemens Energy advanced 1.39 percent, Deutsche Post climbed 0.84 percent, Heidelberg Cement improved 0.77 percent, Deutsche Bank collected 0.41 percent and Deutsche Telekom rose 0.19 percent.

U.S. stocks rose Monday ahead of a crowded week of corporate earnings, inflation data and midterm elections that could see a shift to Republican control of one or both chambers of Congress. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 423.78 points, or 1.3%, to 32827. The S&P 500 advanced 36.25 points, or 1%, to 3806.80, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 89.27 points, or 0.9%, to 10564.52. Stocks finished last week with losses, with the S&P posting a weekly decline of more than 3% for the 10th time this year. The slide came after the Federal Reserve disappointed investors by signaling that officials might raise borrowing costs next year more than they had projected. Friday's jobs data, which showed that the labor market remains strong, further squelched some investors' hopes that the Fed might slow its pace of interest-rate increases. This week, traders are focused on Tuesday's midterm elections and Thursday's inflation data for October. The closely watched report is expected to show consumer prices increasing at an annual rate of 7.9%, down from 8.2% the month before. Corporate earnings are also due from such companies as Walt Disney, Occidental Petroleum and Adidas. Among individual stocks, Meta Platforms shares jumped $5.93, or 6.5%, to $96.72 after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Facebook parent was planning to begin large-scale layoffs this week. Palantir Technologies shares fell 91 cents, or 11%, to $7.02 after the data-mining company reported earnings that fell short of expectations and forecast slower sales growth in the current quarter.

In the wake of the continued recovery on Wall Street, the indices on the stock exchanges in East Asia mostly move upwards on Tuesday. However, the Chinese stock exchanges lag behind. Hong Kong is down 0.7 per cent. After a veritable price fireworks display the day before, profit-taking is likely to play a role. In addition, there is new bad news from the property market. The Shanghai composite is down 0.8 per cent. The fact that China, contrary to the hopes of many market participants, made clear at the weekend that it intends to stick to its strict zero-covid policy for the time being, is having a braking effect.

In U.S. bond markets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.212%, from 4.157% Friday. Yields and bond prices move inversely.

JP Morgan cuts Société Générale to EUR 33 (34) – Overweight
JP Morgan raises Gea to EUR 33.40 (31) – Underweight
JP Morgan cuts Thales to Neutral (Overweight) – EUR 160

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