Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX is probing a potential hack and asked customers to stay off the FTX website, the company said. More than $370 million worth of crypto funds appears to be missing, according to crypto analytics firm Elliptic Enterprises Ltd. FTX and a bevy of affiliates said they had more than 100,000 creditors and tens of billions of dollars in assets and liabilities. It is the largest crypto-related bankruptcy ever, and a demise remarkable for its swiftness as well as its size. In January, FTX raised money from Silicon Valley’s most sophisticated investors, at a valuation of $32 billion. The increased sector instability caused cryptocurrencies to plunge, with bitcoin losing 5.75 percent to $16,784 on Friday around 1730 GMT, the lowest since November 2020.

On Friday, the Switzerland stock market ended the session with a small gain. The benchmark SMI, which rose to 11,252.16, closed the session at 11,127.15, up 6.66 points or 0.06%. The index touched a low of 11,087.91. Richemont shares soared nearly 11% after the luxury goods group struck an upbeat tone after reporting higher half-year sales. Partners Group climbed more than 7%. Logitech, Sika, Credit Suisse, Alcon and UBS Group gained 3 to 5%. Givaudan added nearly 3%. Geberit a2.7% and Swiss Re climbed 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively. Novartis drifted down 4% and Swisscom edged 2.7% lower. Zurich Insurance Group, Nestle and Roche Holding also declined. Zur Rose zoomed more than 14%. VAT Group gained nearly 6.5%, while Tecan Group, Straumann Holding, Schindler Ps, Bachem Holding, AMS, Swatch Group, Schindler Holding, Dufry and Julius Baer gained 3 to 5.2%. Galenica Sante slipped by 5.5%. Lindt & Spruengli, Swiss Prime Site and PSP Swiss Property ended lower by 1.3 to 1.7%

European stocks closed broadly higher on Friday although gains were just modest in most of the markets in the region. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.09%. Germany's DAX gained 0.56% and France's CAC 40 surged 0.58%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.78% down. In the UK market, Ocado Group soared nearly 14%. B&M European Value Retail, Prudential, Anglo American Plc and Antofagasta gained 5.5 to 8%. Schrodders, Rio Tinto, Hargreaves Lansdown, ICP, St. Jame's Place, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, Natwest Group, Kingfisher, Rolls-Royce Holdings, JD Sports Fashion and Harbour Energy advanced 3 to 5%. BAE Systems tumbled more than 8%. GSK, Relx, AstraZeneca, Compass Group, Imperial Brands, British American Tobacco, Rentokil Initial, Bunzl, Experian and Diageo lost 2.5 to 6%. In the French market, Atos climbed nearly 11%. Teleperformance surged 7.6% and Faurecia gained 6.6%. Unibail Rodamco, ArcelorMittal, Renault, Air France-KLM, Capgemini, Valeo, Dassault Systemes, LVMH, Accor, L'Oreal, Kering, Saint Gobain and Hermes International gained 2 to 6%. Thales ended more than 8% down. Sanofi ended lower by about 5.2%, while Veolia, Sodexo, Air Liquide, Carrefour and Safran lost 1 to 2.7%. In the German market, HelloFresh zoomed nearly 12.5%. Zalando surged more than 11%. Puma advanced nearly 8%, Sartorius and Adidas moved up more than 6%, and Covestro gained 5%. Deutsche Wohnen, BASF, Deutsche Post, Continental, Vonovia, Deutsche Bank, Daimler, HeidelbergCement and Fresenius Medical Care gained 2 to 4%.Shares of steel producer Salzgitter rallied more than 12% despite reporting lower Q3 profit. Deutsche Telekom, Bayer, Fresenius, RWE, Siemens Healthineers, MTU Aero Engines, E.ON and Infineon Technologies ended lower by 1 to 3%. On the economic front, EU harmonized inflation accelerated to 11.6%, in line with flash data, from 10.9% in the previous month.

Stocks and bonds capped a volatile week with the biggest gains in months, boosted by hopes that inflation in the U.S. is cooling. The benchmark S&P 500 added 36.56 points, or 0.9%, to 3992.93 Friday, a day after softer inflation data sent the benchmark index to its biggest one-day rise since April 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 32.49 points, or 0.1%, to 33747.86. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 209.18 points, or 1.9%, to 11323.33, capping its biggest two-day gain since November 2008. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq added 5.9% and 8.1% for the week, their best performance since June and March, respectively. The Dow added 4.1% for the week. Shares of big tech companies raced higher. Amazon.com’s stock added 4.3%, bringing gains for the week to almost 11%. Alphabet shares rose 2.6% and were also up about 11% for the week. Even more-speculative growth companies participated in the rally. The ARK Innovation Exchange-Traded Fund soared 15% for the week. Piper Sandler raised its target for Exxon (+3.2%) to $131 from $113. Chevron added 2.9%. JPMorgan took over coverage of Intel (+2.3% to $30.43) with an "underweight" recommendation and a target of $32. Berkshire Hathaway (+2.5%) lowered its stake in US Bancorp (+0.1%) from 8% to 3.5%. Elon Musk told Twitter employees in a meeting that he could not rule out the company filing for bankruptcy next year because of its loss-making accounts and current cash burn. The group has seen many forced as well as voluntary departures since its takeover by the Tesla boss (+2.8%) and has aroused the mistrust of some advertisers, while its business model is essentially based on advertising.

Asian stocks were mixed on Monday. China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite edged up 0.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gains 2.7 per cent - fuelled by the real estate sector. Country Garden Holdings and Longfor Group Holdings are soaring 38 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 falls 0.8 per cent - weighed down by a 13 per cent plunge in heavyweight Softbank and weak financial results from other companies as well. The Kospi recovers from initially higher losses edging 0.1 per cent lower.

On Friday, U.S. bond markets were closed for Veterans Day. On Thursday, yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes recorded their biggest one-day plunge in over a decade. The benchmark 10-year Treasury rate fell to about 3.8% on Thursday, but was up from a 1.3% low last December as the central bank aims to temper demand for goods and services by making borrowing costs more restrictive.

CS lowers Barry Callebaut to CHF 2.265 (2.390) - Outperform
Stifel cuts DKSH target to CHF 90 (95) - Buy
RBC raises Zurich Airport to CHF 160 (155) - Sectorperform

Produced by MBI Martin Brückner Infosource GmbH & Co. KG on behalf of Swissquote. All news is acquired with journalistic accuracy. No liability is assumed for delays or errors.