Nestle said it plans to reduce headcount by 16,000 as it increases cost-savings targets over the next two years, in its first earnings update since new CEO Philipp Navratil took the helm. The KitKat chocolate and Purina pet food maker on Thursday lifted its cost-savings target to 3.0 billion Swiss francs ($3.77 billion) by 2027, up from its previous target of 2.5 billion francs. Sales for the first nine months of 2025 came to 65.87 billion francs, with an acceleration in organic growth to 3.3%. Analysts had forecasted organic growth of 3.2% and 65.765 billion francs in sales, according to consensus compiled by the company. The company employs around 277,000 people, according to its website. It said 12,000 of the positions cut will be white-collar jobs.

On Wednesday, the SMI gained 0.8 percent to 12,530 points. Of the 20 SMI stocks, 14 gained ground and five lost ground, while Novartis shares closed unchanged. A total of 22.13 (previously: 19.86) million shares were traded. Shares in luxury goods group Richemont led the SMI by a wide margin. Richemont gained 6.3 percent after French competitor LVMH published strong sales figures. These figures raised hopes of a turnaround for the struggling industry. Swatch closed 8 percent higher. Index heavyweight Nestlé recovered from recent losses and advanced 1.5 percent. The food company will publish its sales figures for the first nine months of the year on Thursday. In contrast, the two pharmaceutical heavyweights Novartis (unchanged) and Roche (-0.7%) were once again not in demand. With the exception of Holcim (-1.2%) and Geberit (-1.1%), cyclical stocks also saw a strong influx of buyers. ABB increased by 1.7%, Amrize by 1.3% and Sika by 1.9%. ABB will present its third-quarter figures on Thursday. Another legal defeat pushed UBS's share price down by 1.5%.

Europe
European stock markets closed mixed on Wednesday as investors digested a flurry of quarterly results and monitored trade tensions between the United States and China. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.6% to 567.8 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 jumped 2% and 1.8%, respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 fell 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 lost 0.3% in London. LVMH (+12.2%): the world's leading luxury goods company reported slight organic growth in third-quarter sales on Tuesday, buoyed in particular by an improvement in Asian markets. In Paris, Kering and Hermès advanced 4.8% and 7.4%, respectively. In London, Burberry picked up 3.7%, while Richemont rallied 6.3% in Zurich. BOUYGUES (+7.4%), ORANGE (+3.3%): The indicative bid by Bouygues Telecom, Orange, and Free-Groupe iliad for SFR was “immediately rejected,” Arthur Dreyfuss, CEO of Altice France, said Wednesday in an internal memo seen by Agefi-Dow Jones. STELLANTIS (+3.2%): On Tuesday evening, the car manufacturer unveiled a $13 billion investment plan in the United States with the aim of increasing its production in the country by 50%. ASML (+3.1% in Amsterdam): The manufacturer of ultraviolet machines for chip production saw its orders double in the third quarter year-on-year to €5.40 billion, a sign that demand for sophisticated semiconductors to power artificial intelligence shows no signs of slowing down.

United States
Blockbuster earnings by America’s biggest banks tempered fears that the economy is headed for a slowdown, pushing stocks mostly higher Wednesday. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.7%, while the S&P 500 increased 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell a hair, losing 17 points. The country’s six largest banks raked in almost $41 billion in the past three months, up 19% from a year ago, thanks in part to booming business in dealmaking and trading. Morgan Stanley shares jumped 4.7% after better-than-expected results, while Bank of America similarly vaulted 4.4% higher. Similar to a Friday selloff sparked by trade-war fears, investors on Wednesday unloaded shares in regional banks that are more exposed to economic disruptions than their Wall Street counterparts. The KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index dropped 2.3%. Shares in Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services fell 3.9% after the firm disappointed analysts with a soft outlook for the rest of the year. Elsewhere in the stock market, chip shares revved up following the latest round of artificial-intelligence-linked deals. Chip designer Advanced Micro Devices this week partnered with Oracle to bring online a large data-center cluster that uses tens of thousands of AMD chips. The firm’s shares catapulted 9.4% Wednesday. Meantime, a BlackRock -led investor group said it would buy a big, privately held data-center operator for $40 billion including debt. At the same time, precious metals continued a record-breaking run driven in part by concerns for long-term inflation and the value of traditional currencies. Most-actively traded gold futures on Wednesday closed at $4201.60 a troy ounce, their 47th record of the year. Oil traders on Wednesday continued selling off crude, driving down prices to some of their lowest levels since the pandemic.

Asia
In Asia, major indexes broadly closed with gains on Thursday. In Tokyo, prices are up 0.8 percent. Meanwhile, Kospi in Seoul is the biggest winner among the individual stock exchanges, with mark-ups of 1.7 percent. Asian trading is awaiting the upcoming financial results from Taiwan Semiconductor. In Tokyo, Softbank shares are shooting up by more than 5 percent.

Bonds
In bond markets, a moderate selloff reversed the 10-year Treasury yield’s decline toward 4%, leaving it to settle at 4.04%. U.S. government debt yields and the Dollar remain weak as U.S.-China trade tensions linger.

Analysis
Target price for Bossard: UBS raises to CHF 162 (161) – Sell
Target price for Ypsomed: Barclays lowers to CHF 420 (450) – Equal Weight
Target price for Givaudan: UBS upgrades to CHF 3670 (3600) – Neutral

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