South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix plans to distribute a total of $75 billion to its shareholders this year. The company is benefiting massively from booming demand for hardware used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The world’s second-largest memory chip manufacturer reported another blockbuster set of results on Wednesday. Net income more than tripled in the third quarter. Both revenue and operating profit reached record highs for the sixth consecutive quarter. To strengthen its valuation and investor confidence, SK Hynix says it plans to return a total of 100 trillion won—equivalent to $75.39 billion—to shareholders. This is expected to include more than 30 trillion won in dividends and an additional 20 trillion won in share buybacks. This is in addition to the 40 trillion won buyback program, announced in August, which has already been completed. The move comes as the South Korean company—a supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products to AI giant Nvidia—has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI investment boom.

After swinging between gains and losses till a little past mid-morning on Tuesday, Swiss stocks climbed higher but suffered a mild setback around mid-afternoon but recovered well to eventually end the day's session on a firm note. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 14,502.84 about an hour after the opening bell, touched a high of 14,609.29 around late afternoon before settling at 14,597.63, gaining 58.68 points or 0.4%. VAT Group climbed 3.5%. ABB gained 2.61% and Amrize moved up 2%. Holcim ended 1.75% up. Geberit, Helvetia Baloise Holding and Novartis ended up by 1%-1.3%. Novartis moved up after raising its full-year core operating income guidance and reaffirmed sales growth view. The drugmaker's third-quarter net income fell 70% to $1.196 billion from $3.930 billion a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share declined to $0.63 from $2.04. Operating income dropped 59% to $1.843 billion, reflecting higher research and development expenses, including a $1.9 billion partial impairment of the del-desiran asset, and higher other expenses.

Europe
European stocks closed broadly higher on Tuesday as investors reacted to earnings updates and looked ahead to the monetary policy announcements from major central banks, including the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.5%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended higher by 0.78% and 0.66%, respectively. The UK's benchmark FTSE 100 ended down 0.75%, weighed down by some disappointing earnings updates. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed higher. Finland ended weak, while Norway and Türkiye closed flat. In the UK market, HSBC Holdings ended lower by nearly 6% after pre-tax profit for the third quarter came in at $9.63 million, less than analysts' expectations of $9.7 billion. The lender had posted a pre-tax profit of $7.30 billion in the year-ago quarter. Profit after tax increased 38 percent to $7.57 billion from $5.50 billion a year ago. Earnings per share were $0.41, up from $0.28 last year. The lender also said it intends to initiate a share buy-back of up to $1 billion, which is expected to be completed by 2026 full-year results announcement. Reckitt Benckiser dropped by almost 5%. The consumer goods group cut its sales guidance for the year after third-quarter sales missed expectations due to an unexpected slowdown in the United States. Pearson ended 3.2% down. BP drifted lower by 2.9%, while Intercontinental Hotels Group, Sainsbury (J), Relx, Admiral Group, Associated British Foods, Shell, Burberry Group, Convatec Group, Ithaca Energy, Natwest Group, Marks & Spencer and Melrose Industries shed 1%-2.2%.

United States
U.S. stocks rose for the second straight session amid growing optimism about upcoming earnings reports from so-called artificial intelligence hyperscalers. The broad S&P 500 rose 45.83 points, or 0.60%, to 7722.60 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 308.43 points, or 1.18%, to 26477.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 15.99 points, or 0.03%, to 52377.57. Economic data was generally better than anticipated. New home sales fell a modest 0.6% in September. Durable goods orders, or orders for manufactured products designed to last three years or more like refrigerators and cars, rose 1.8% last month. The latest reading of consumer confidence from the Conference Board showed an improvement in mood in October. In another good sign for economic activity, shares of UPS rallied, rising 5.9% to $106.09, after the package-delivery giant forecast 2026 earnings ahead of Wall Street estimates. Economically sensitive cruise lines rose after a surprisingly strong earnings report and indications of positive booking trends from Royal Caribbean. Among major tech companies reporting earnings in the coming days, Google parent Alphabet rose 0.8% to $316.83. Microsoft slipped 0.2% to $531.44. Amazon rose 1.6% to $253.10. Chip maker Broadcom and AI model maker Anthropic finalized a $63 billion debt deal to finance AI infrastructure. Corning shares fell 1.1% to $126.30. The maker of fiber-optic materials projected continued growth in demand from data centers, which drove a 58% jump in third-quarter net income.

Asia
Stock markets in East Asia and Australia showed no clear trend. Surprisingly strong financial results from SK Hynix have allayed fears of an AI bubble and given a boost to chip stocks in the region. The South Korean stock market is leading the region’s stock markets. There, the Kospi has jumped by 6.7 per cent, buoyed by strong gains from the two chip giants and index heavyweights SK Hynix (+9.5 per cent) and Samsung Electronics (+8.5 per cent).

Bonds
Treasury yields rose as traders awaited the Federal Reserve's policy decision Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to hold rates steady, but hotter-than-anticipated readings of inflation in recent weeks suggest an increase remains possible. The yield on the policy-sensitive two-year Treasury rose 0.026 percentage point to 4.735%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note added 0.004 percentage point to 4.992% and the yield on the 30-year bond rose 0.004 percentage point to 5.304%.

Analysis
Bank of America cuts Volvo Group target to SEK 350 (380) – Buy
Bank of America cuts HSBC target to 1,685 (1,720) GBp – Buy
Citi cuts Kering target to EUR 201 (243) – Neutral


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