AT&T agreed to buy certain wireless spectrum licenses for about $23 billion in cash from EchoStar after pressure from federal regulators on the satellite-and-wireless company. Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission told EchoStar that it would investigate the company’s compliance with federal requirements to build a nationwide 5G network. EchoStar, which owns both the Dish Network pay-TV brand and Boost Mobile’s wireless service, said in June the probe had frozen its ability to make decisions regarding its Boost business, including continued network build-out. Shares of EchoStar surged 76% in premarket trading. EchoStar closed Monday trading with a market value around $8.6 billion. AT&T shares gained less than 1%. EchoStar plans to use the proceeds from the transaction to retire debt and fund its continued operations and growth initiatives, Chief Executive Hamid Akhavan said Tuesday. “We continue to evaluate strategic opportunities for our remaining spectrum portfolio in partnership with the U.S. government and wireless-industry participants,” Akhavan said.

After opening with a big negative gap Tuesday morning, the Swiss market gradually recovered some lost ground, and even managed a brief spell in positive territory midway through the session, but failed to sustain momentum and finally ended the day's session in the red. The benchmark SMI closed down by 45.47 points or 0.37% at 12,160.89, after scaling a low of 12,118.84 and a high of 12,237.39 intraday. Swatch Group ended down 3.2% and Adecco closed lower by about 3.1%. Swiss Life Holding lost nearly 2%. Partners Group, Zurich Insurance, Julius Baer, SGS, Sonova and Sandoz Group lost 1.2 to 1.9%. Straumann Holding, Sika, SIG Group, Richemont and Nestle also ended weak. Amrize, Lonza Group and Lindt & Spruengli gained 1.02%, 0.94% and 0.76%, respectively. VAT Group, Logitech International and ABB posted modest gains. Flughafen Zuerich gained about 2.5% on stronger than expected first-half earnings.

Europe
European stocks closed weak on Tuesday, weighed down by political uncertainty in France, and lingering concerns about tariffs and their impact on global economic growth. French bonds tumbled as Prime Minister Francois Bayrou called a confidence vote for Sept. 8 over his plans for sweeping budget cuts. Officials from France's main opposition parties said they would not back the government, raising the risk of French political instability. Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Donald Trump took the unprecedented action of removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, raising concerns over the Federal Reserve's independence. Investors also reacted to a report showing France's consumer confidence weakened to the lowest level in August 2025 since October 2023 largely due to the weaker outlook for standard of living and the fall in saving intentions. The pan European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.83%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.6% down, Germany's DAX drifted down 0.5%, and France's CAC 40 slid 1.7%, while Switzerland's SMI dropped 0.37%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended weak. Poland and Turkiye closed higher, while Russia settled flat. In the UK market, Kingfisher, Convatec Group, Associated British Foods and DCC lost 3.4 to 4.3%. Diageo, Berkeley Group Holdings, Compass Group, WPP, Prudential, Schroders, Segro, Persimmon, Whitbread and Coca-Cola HBC lost 2 to 3%. British American Tobacco closed nearly 2% down, as Chief Financial Officer Soraya Benchikh stepped down with immediate effect after about 15 months in the role.

United States
Stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading session on Tuesday but managed to end the day mostly higher. The major averages all moved back to the upside after ending the previous session in negative territory. The major averages finished the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq advanced 94.98 points or 0.4 percent to 21,544.27, the S&P 500 climbed 26.62 points or 0.4 percent to 6,465.94 and the Dow rose 135.60 points or 0.3 percent at 45,418.07. The choppy trading seen for most of the day came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA). The AI darling and market leader, which due to report its second quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday, ended the day up by 1.1 percent. The latest U.S. economic data is also likely to attract attention later this week, as the Commerce Department is due to release a report on Friday that includes the Fed's preferred readings on consumer price inflation. Stocks may have benefitted from a decrease by short-term treasury yields, which came as traders bet President Donald Trump's interference with the Federal Reserve will lead to lower interest rates in the near term. Airline stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 2.3 percent to a six-month closing high. Substantial strength was also visible among gold stocks, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surging by 2.2 percent to a twelve-year closing high amid a modest increase by the price of the precious metal. Networking stocks also turned in a strong performance on the day, as reflected by the 2.1 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Networking Index. Banking, pharmaceutical and brokerage stocks also saw notable strength, while oil service stocks moved to the downside amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil.

Asia
Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region are cautiously rising on Wednesday. The manufacturing sector in China is currently more stable than it has been recently. Profits of large industrial companies in China fell by 1.7 per cent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2025, according to official data released on Wednesday.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved mostly higher over the course of the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 1.7 basis points to 4.258 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises Geberit to CHF 595 (520) – Neutral
UBS lowers Alcon to CHF 95 (100) – Buy
JPMorgan raises Bouygues to Overweight (Neutral) – EUR 49 (38)