Credit Agricole SA said Thursday that third-quarter profit and revenue fell on year amid market volatility. The French bank said net profit in the three months to the end of September was 2.00 billion euros ($2.00 billion), down from EUR2.22 billion in the same period last year. Revenue fell 0.5% to EUR8.93 billion. In terms of the bank’s operations within the group, Credit Agricole reported net income of EUR1.35 billion, above consensus expectations of EUR1.27 billion, according to analysts’ estimates provided by FactSet. The Paris-based company said it had strong double-digit rise in revenue at its corporate loans, consumer finance and leasing businesses. But the group’s common equity Tier 1 ratio, a measure of financial strength, fell to 17.2% at the end of September from 17.5% in June, hit by adverse market effects, the company said.

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The Switzerland stock market ended on a buoyant note on Thursday, despite languishing in negative territory till about an hour past noon. Data showing a smaller than expected rise in U.S. consumer prices in the month of October helped rise optimism the Federal Reserve will be less aggressive with regard to interest rate hikes in the coming months. The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 216.16 points or 1.98% at 11,120.49, after scaling a high of 11,147.68. The index dropped to a low of 10,846.41 around mid morning. Geberit climbed 8.15%, topping the list of gainers. Sika and Partners Group both gained nearly 8%, and Givaudan surged 6.9%. Sonova, Logitech and Lonza Group gained 5.5%, 5.4% and 4.7%, respectively. UBS Group, Richemont, Alcon, Swiss Re, ABB, Credit Suisse and Holcim gained 2.1 to 3.3%. Zurich Insurance Group, down 1%, was the lone stock from the SMI to end in negative territory. In the Mid Price Index, VAT Group soared more than 14%. Straumann Holding surged 11.7% and AMS rallied 10.6%. Bachem Holding gained 7.6%, Kuehne & Nagel climbed 6.7% and SIG Combibloc gained nearly 6.5%. Ems Chemie Holding, Belimo Holding, Temenos Group, Schindler Ps, Georg Fischer and Adecco gained 4.5 to 5.6%.

After struggling for direction till around mid afternoon, European stocks flared up in the final hour of the session on Thursday after data showing a smaller than expected rise in U.S. consumer prices helped raise optimism the Fed will slow the pace of interest rate hike as early as next month. The early weakness was due to inconclusive U.S. midterm election results and tightening Covid-19 curbs in China, and caution ahead of U.S. inflation data. The data from the Labor Department showed the consumer price index rose by 0.4% in October, less than expected increase of 0.6%. The annual rate of growth in consumer prices also slowed to 7.7% in October from 8.2% in September. The annual rate of growth in core prices slowed to 6.3% in October from 6.6% in September, coming in below the expected 6.5% growth. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 2.75%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.08%, Germany's DAX surged 3.51% and France's CAC 40 advanced 1.96%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 1.98%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains.

U.S. stocks jumped to their biggest gains in more than two years, after softer-than-expected inflation data reignited bets that the Federal Reserve would slow the pace of its interest-rate increases. Thursday's rally was a stark reminder of how much weight investors have been putting on the path of inflation this year. For much of 2022, the economy has stayed hotter than many investors anticipated. That has forced the Fed to raise interest rates at the fastest pace in decades -- causing bond yields to soar and putting the stock market on track for its worst pullback since the global financial crisis. Markets raced higher right out of the gate Thursday and kept building on those gains over the following hours. The S&P 500 added 207.80 points, or 5.5%, to 3956.37, while the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite soared 760.97 points, or 7.4%, to 11114.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,201.43 points, or 3.7%, to 33715.37. All three benchmarks scored their steepest one-day percentage gains since the depths of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Shares of manufacturers, which are sensitive to changes in the economic outlook, jumped. Boeing rose $8.84, or 5.2%, to $177.58 and 3M, the producer of goods such as Scotch tape and safety equipment, added $5.32, or 4.3%, to $129.15. United Airlines Holdings Inc. is giving pilots a 5% pay raise months ahead of schedule as the airline and its pilots union have struggled to come to terms on a new contract. United had promised during the Covid-19 pandemic that it would boost pilots’ pay once the airline started earning consistent profits again—a provision that was included in a broader agreement between the airline and its pilots union, aimed at preventing furloughs at a time when travel demand was still languishing and the airline was losing money.

Hopes of more cautious interest rate hikes in the USA caused a price fireworks on the East Asian stock markets on Friday, as they had done earlier in Europe and the USA. The stock markets in East Asia are going steeply upwards. With a plus of 1.4 per cent, Shanghai is still bringing up the rear. Hong Kong is clearly in the lead with a plus of 5.7 per cent, after the strongest decline on the previous days. The Nikkei index in Tokyo is up 2.9 per cent to 28,242 points and Seoul is also up by the same amount. Sydney has already closed with a plus of 2.7 per cent.

U.S. bonds rallied as well. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 3.828% from 4.149% Wednesday, logging its biggest one-day pullback since March 2009,. Bond yields fall as prices rise.

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