The Trump administration is in talks to take another stake in a company that wants a loan from the U.S. government. Lithium Americas, a Vancouver-based mining company, is in negotiations with the U.S. Energy Department and automaker General Motors over the terms of its $2.26 billion government loan for a large lithium mining project in Nevada. A deal is expected to be finalized in the coming days as the companies negotiate final details with the administration, according to a person close to the talks. A Trump administration official said the Energy Department is seeking to restructure the loan agreement to protect taxpayers. Lithium Americas has agreed to the terms, the official said. “We want the project to go forward, we support the project,” the official said. Talks concern what requirements must be met before the financing will be released, details of the loan itself, as well as new requests from the Energy Department that could add conditions or alter its terms, the company said. GM, a partner in the lithium project, is participating in the discussions.

Swiss stocks opened on a weak note Wednesday morning and stayed that way right through the day's trading session amid concerns that the nation's growth trajectory is slowing amid trade headwinds and weaker global demand. A report from UBS & CFA Society said the Swiss investors' sentiment index rose by 7.4 points to -46.4 in September, from -53.8 in August, although it is still far weaker than the -8.8 recorded a year earlier. The benchmark SMI closed down by 123.78 points or 1.02% at 11,978.83. The index touched a low of 11,960.52 and a high of 12,046.94 intraday. Swatch Group ended down nearly 4%. Partners Group, Lonza Group, Sika, Arise, Richemont and Roche Holding lost 2 to 2.7%. Logitech International, Julius Baer, Alcon, Sandoz Group, Givaudan, Zurich Insurance, UBS Group, SGS and Holcim also ended notably lower. Schindler Ps gained nearly 1%. Novartis, Galderma Group and Swisscom posted modest gains.

Europe
European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday with the mood remaining cautious for much of the day's trading session amid uncertainty about the outlook for Fed interest rate cuts and on concerns about near term trend following comments from Jerome Powell that equity prices are fairly highly valued by many measures. The pan European Stoxx 600 settled flat. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX gained 0.29% and 0.23%, respectively. France's CAC 40 closed down by 0.57%, while Switzerland's SMI closed 1.02% down. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Russia, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Czech Republic, Greece, Irelan, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain ended weak, while Austria and Netherlands closed flat. In the UK market, Antofagasta soared 9.3%. Anglo American Plc climbed 4.7%. Glencore moved up nearly 3%, and Rio Tinto gained about 1.3%. Babcock International surged 4.3%. BAE Systems, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, BP, Imperial Brands, Airtel Africa, Persimmon, Berkeley Group Holdings, Rio Tinto, Shell, Rentokil Initial and National Grid gained 1 to 2.2%. Ashtead Group, IMI, Convatec Group, Fresnillo, Burberry Group, The Sage Group, Metlen Energy & Metals, 3i Group and RightMove lost 1 to 2.3%. In the German market, Covestro, Commerzbank, Rheinmetall, Zalando and Siemens Energy gained 2.3 to 5%. BMW, RWE, Mercedes-Benz also closed with strong gains. Merck closed down by about 2.7%. Daimler Truck Holding, Symrise, Siemens Healthineers, Beiersdorf, Siemens and Qiagen lost 1 to 2%. In the French market, Thales, Carrefour and TotalEnergies gained 2 to 2.5%. Kering, Schneider Electric, Legrand and Societe Generale also closed with notable gains. Shares of multinational technology service and consulting company Atos SE are up 4.7% after the company secured a major European Commission cybersecurity contract for technical operation services.

United States
After coming under pressure over the course of the previous session, stocks saw further downside during trading on Wednesday. The major averages showed a lack of direction early in the session but slid more firmly into negative territory as the day progressed. The major averages finished the day off their worst levels but still moderately lower. The Dow slid 171.50 points or 0.4 percent at 46,121.28, the Nasdaq fell 75.62 points or 0.3 percent to 22,497.86 and the S&P 500 dipped 18.95 points or 0.3 percent to 6,637.97. The extended pullback on Wall Street may partly have reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the artificial intelligence trade following yesterday's weakness. AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) slid by 0.9 percent after tumbling by 2.8 percent on Tuesday, while fellow AI player Oracle (ORCL) slumped by 1.7 percent. Concerns about valuations may also have continued to weigh on the markets after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggesting he believes stocks may be overvalued. During comments at an event in Rhode Island on Tuesday, Powell described equity prices as 'fairly highly valued' following the recent run to record highs. Computer hardware stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index tumbling by 2.3 percent after ending Tuesday's trading at a record closing high. Significant weakness also emerged among gold stocks amid a pullback by the price of the precious metal, resulting in a 2.2 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Airline stocks also came under pressure as the day progressed, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 1.6 percent.

Asia
Asian stock markets are showing moderate gains on Thursday. Overall, however, there is increased caution in Asia ahead of important inflation data from the US on Friday. The stock markets in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong are up by up to 0.4 per cent. The Kospi in Seoul is little changed.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved back to the downside following the strength seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 2.7 basis points to a nearly three-week closing high of 4.147 percent.

Analysis
Bank of America downgrades Assa-Abloy to Underperform (buy) – Target 300 (373) SEK
Morgan Stanley upgrades Bouygues to Equalweight (Underweight) – Target 44 (36) EUR
Morgan Stanley raises the Orange target to 14 (13.50) EUR – Equalweight

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.