Netflix Chairman and co-founder Reed Hastings will step down from the company’s board after his term expires in June, the streaming giant said Thursday, ending a nearly three-decade run at the direct-to-consumer pioneer. Netflix said Hastings has decided not stand for re-election to its board so he can focus on philanthropy and other pursuits. Hastings’s departure marks an end of an era for Netflix, which under his leadership transformed from a DVD-by-mail business to a juggernaut in subscription streaming that disrupted Hollywood by changing how people consume and make entertainment. Shares of Netflix fell more than 8% in after-hours trading, after the company reported disappointing guidance. The company’s full-year guidance was unchanged. Netflix forecast second-quarter operating margins would be lower year-over-year.

The Swiss stock market ended modestly lower on Thursday, after staying in negative territory for much of the trading session as investors largely refrained from making significant moves, looking ahead to further talks between U.S. and Iran to end the conflict in the Middle East. The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 46.41 points or 0.35% at 13,173.17, nearly 80 points down from the session's high of 13,252.12. Sandoz Group and Galderma Group ended down by 3.83% and 3.1%, respectively. Amrize ended nearly 2% down. VAT Group ended nearly 1.5% down. The group reported first quarter sales of 221 million Swiss francs, down 20% year on year, or down 9% on a constant currency basis. VAT confirmed the positive outlook provided at the full-year announcement in early March. Roche shed about 1%. The company said that it would start a late-stage study for a gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy to seek approval in the European Union after drug regulators in the bloc turned it down last year. Straumann Holding, Novartis, Geberit, UBS Group, Alcon and Lindt & Spruengli lost 0.6%-1.1%. Logitech International climbed more than 2.5%. SGS ended up by about 2.4%. Sika closed 1.3% up, while Kuehne + Nagel, Swiss Life Holding, Partners Group and Nestle posted modest gains. In economic news, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed Switzerland's producer and import prices increased for the first time in eleven months in March.

Europe
European stocks closed on a mixed note on Thursday with investors mostly making cautious moves, digesting corporate earnings updates and regional economic data, while continuing to focus on geopolitical news. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down by 0.05%. France's CAC 40 closed down 0.14%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX ended higher by 0.29% and 0.36%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI finished with a loss of 0.35%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Türkiye closed weak. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden ended higher. In the UK market, Intertek Group jumped 9% after Swedish private equity firm EQT confirmed it had made a takeover proposal to the inspection, product testing and certification company that was rejected. In a brief statement responding to recent press speculation, the company said: 'EQT confirms that, on 10 April 2026, it submitted an indicative proposal to Intertek regarding a possible cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Intertek. The possible offer was rejected by Intertek on 13 April 2026 and EQT is considering its options.' Entain climbed more than 6%. The sports betting and gambling company reported net gaming revenue growth of 3% for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, helped by the continued momentum and a strong volume growth of 8%. Tesco ended higher by 4.7% after reporting solid sales and profit growth, and announcing a £500 million buyback. The company reported preliminary fiscal year profit before tax, on a 53-week basis, from continuing operations basis, of 2.40 billion pounds compared to 2.21 billion pounds, up 8.5% from last year. Halma, The Sage Group, BP, RightMove, LSEG, Pearson, Experian, Relx, AutoTrader Group, Metlen Energy & Metals, DCC, Smiths Group, Standard Life and Diploma also ended with strong gains.

United States
Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday but largely maintained a positive bias before ending the day moderately higher. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 added to the strong gains posted over the few days, reaching new record closing highs. The major averages all finished the day in positive territory. The Nasdaq climbed 86.69 points or 0.4 percent to 24,102.70, the S&P 500 rose 18.33 points or 0.3 percent to 7,041.28 and the Dow increased 115.00 points or 0.2 percent to 48,578.72. Stocks continued to benefit from the upward momentum seen over the past few weeks, which has helped the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 more than offset the nosedive seen in the weeks after the start of the U.S. war with Iran. Traders also continued to express optimism about a second round of peace talks between the U.S. and Iran, although a new meeting has not been officially announced. Transportation stocks moved sharply higher on the day, driving the Dow Jones Transportation Average up by 4.1 percent to a record closing high. J.B. Hunt (JBHT) helped lead the sector higher, with the transportation and logistics company spiking by 6.3 percent after reporting better than expected first quarter results. Significant strength was also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 3.8 percent surge by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index. Networking, computer hardware, software and oil producer stocks also saw considerable strength, while airline stocks showed a notable move to the downside.

Asia
Following the sometimes sharp rises seen in the previous days, East Asian stock markets opened slightly lower on Friday – despite a mildly positive lead from Wall Street. In Tokyo, the Topix fell by 0.9 per cent, whilst in Seoul the Kospi dropped by 0.4 per cent. Both indices thus remain close to their record highs. The HSI in Hong Kong fell by 1.3 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite by 0.3 per cent. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX-200 market barometer fell by 0.3 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the pullback seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, increased 2.7 basis points to 4.309 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises ABN Amro to EUR 38.50 (37.30) – Buy
UBS raises ASML to EUR 1,600 (1,500) – Buy
BoA lowers Pirelli target to EUR 7.50 (8.10) – Buy

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