The reinsurer Swiss Re increased its profit in the first nine months of the year. Consolidated net income from January through September 2026 totaled $4.17 billion, representing a 3 percent increase compared with the previous year. The group’s insurance premium income, however, declined by 3 percent to $31.2 billion. In its most significant business segment, property and casualty reinsurance (P&C Re), Swiss Re benefited from lower-than-expected losses from natural disasters as well as a “solid investment result.” In life reinsurance (L&H Re), profit soared 43 percent to $1.53 billion, after the financial group had made significant impairment charges in that segment the previous year. With this result, the reinsurer clearly exceeded analysts’ forecasts for consolidated profit. Analysts had forecast an average profit of $3.97 billion for the first nine months. They had expected L&H Re’s net profit to be $1.47 billion. With these results, Swiss Re is well on track to achieve its annual targets. For 2026, the group has set a profit target of “at least $4.5 billion.”

The Swiss stock market closed Wednesday’s trading session with a significant gain. The SMI rose 1.9 percent to 15,023 points. Logitech led the SMI, surging 8.7 percent for no apparent reason, though its shares had recently been under heavy pressure. Alcon took second place among the top performers with a 5.8 percent increase. UBS shares followed in third place, jumping 4.6 percent. This was driven by a report from the Bloomberg news agency stating that a new compromise proposal in the Swiss Parliament aims to ease the higher capital requirements for the bank demanded by the government. Richemont (+3.6%) and Givaudan (+3.1%) also posted strong gains. Holcim advanced 3 percent. ABB shares came under pressure, falling 2.8 percent. Traders cited concerns that the expansion of AI in the U.S. could be slowed under a Democratic majority in Congress. ABB is a supplier to AI data centers. Among smaller caps, Barry Callebaut gained 8.6 percent after the chocolate manufacturer reported strong results.

Europe
European stock markets advanced significantly on Wednesday, as investors welcomed a sweeping victory for the Democrats in the midterm elections. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 1.8% to 657.40 points. In Paris, CAC 40 and SBF 120 added 2% and 1.9%, respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 climbed to 2.2%, and the FTSE 100 increased by 1.8% in London. NOVO NORDISK (+5.6%): The Danish pharmaceutical group upgraded its forecast for this year after noting an improvement in the outlook for its leading obesity and diabetes drugs, particularly in markets outside the United States. M6 (+12.1%): The media group reported on Tuesday evening an increase in its third-quarter operating income, driven by growth in its business and “careful” cost management. SOLVAY (+3.7%): The chemical company confirmed on Wednesday its financial targets for 2026—which had been lowered last month—as its financial performance continued to be impacted by the conflict in the Middle East during the third quarter. VIRIDIEN (+3.4%): The oilfield services group reiterated its cash flow target for 2026 on Tuesday evening, having posted a loss and reduced its debt in the third quarter.

United States
U.S. stocks surged as oil prices tumbled and traders bet a divided government would be good for business, offsetting unease about artificial-intelligence bets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1569.40 points, or 3.03%, to 53356.12, its biggest gain since April 9, 2025. The S&P 500 rose 119.70 points, or 1.58%, to 7688.62 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 364.50 points, or 1.44%, to 25736.51. CoreWeave CRWV was off by 9.9% to $48.42, and shares are now down by 32% year to date. Hut 8 shares slid 23% to $48.94 after the Miami data-center developer posted a $277.4 million operating loss for the third quarter. Shares of monitoring and cybersecurity software maker Datadog DDOG slid 14% to $188.72 after it said their largest customer—an undisclosed AI company—cut back on usage. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices AMD ticked up 1% to $488.78 after reporting a jump in demand for its AI-enabling GPU chips. Consumer-facing tech companies also advanced with shares of Amazon AMZN up 6.1% to $266.03 on hopes that lower fuel prices would spur holiday-season spending. Apple added 5.3% to $349.51. Uber Technologies’ UBER shares rose 4.9% to $69.87 after the company said as part of its third-quarter earnings release that higher fuel prices hampered its ability to meet demand in markets such as India and Brazil. In another positive sign for economic activity, W.W. Grainger’s GWW shares soared 6.5% to $1489.39 after the Chicago distributor of tools, plumbing gear and other equipment posted robust revenue growth and boosted its growth projection for the year. McDonald’s MCD shares jumped 6.5% to $280.22 after the biggest restaurant chain in the country logged quarterly earnings growth, as strong international demand offset sluggish U.S. sales

Asia
Asian stock markets continued to display a mixed performance on Thursday. South Korea’s KOSPI plunged 5.8 percent. South Korean industry heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix tumbled 7.8 and 9.6 percent, respectively. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 2.1 percent to 60,917 points. Advantest shares plunged nearly 14 percent, Tokyo Electron shares dropped 9.6 percent, and SoftBank Group shares slipped 6.8 percent. Toyota Motor soared 14 percent following the release of its earnings report. Meanwhile, the broader Topix index posted gains. The Shanghai Composite was down slightly by 0.3 percent, while the HSI in Hong Kong added 3.3 percent—led by Chinese chip stocks. Meituan surged 8.6 percent.

Bonds
On Wednesday, the yield on the policy-sensitive two-year Treasury fell 0.033 percentage point to 4.579%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped 0.060 percentage point to 4.891%. The yield on the 30-year bond shed 0.043 percentage point to 5.280%.

Analysis
Morgan Stanley upgrades Rolls-Royce to Overweight (Equalweight)/118 (132) GBp - Trader
Goldman Sachs launches Thales with Buy/target EUR 146 - Trader
Bernstein lifts Orange to Outperform (Marketperform)/EUR 13 (10.10) - Trader

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