Walmart announced solid growth in third-quarter revenue and adjusted operating income, prompting the company to raise its fiscal year 2026 outlook. Consolidated net income attributable to the company totaled $6.143 billion, or $0.77 a share, compared to $4.577 billion, or $0.57 a share, last year. On adjusted basis, profit stood at $0.62 per share compared to $0.58 per share in the prior year. Analysts, on average, estimated earnings of $0.6 per share for the same quarter. Total revenues grew 5.8 percent, to $179.5 billion from $169.6 billion a year earlier. Adjusted operating income increased to $7.263 billion from $6.708 billion in the previous year. Looking ahead, the multinational retail company expects adjusted earnings of $2.58 to $2.63, including $0.01 to $0.02 headwind from currency, for the full year 2026, instead of previously announced $2.52 to $2.62, including $0.02 to $0.03 headwind from currency.

The Swiss market failed to hold early gains and settled just marginally up on Thursday as the mood turned cautious midway through the day's trading session. The benchmark SMI, which climbed to 12,640.19 in early trades, very nearly slipped below the flat line around early afternoon, and despite a modest recovery thereafter, ended the session with a marginal gain of 12.44 points or 0.1% at 12,543.06. VAT Group climbed about 4.25%. ABB and Richemont, both closed 2.17%. Amrize and Logitech International gained 1.85% and 1.75%, respectively. Galderma Group, Julius Baer, Swiss Life Holding, Partners Group, Schindler Ps and Alcon posted moderate gains. Novartis ended down by 1.76%. Sandoz Group and Kuehne + Nagel closed lower by about 1.05%. UBS Group, Straumann Holding and Givaudan ended modestly lower. In economic news, Switzerland's foreign trade surplus decreased in October as exports fell amid an increase in imports, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed. The trade surplus decreased to CHF 2.62 billion in October from CHF 2.74 billion in September.

Europe
The major European markets snapped a five-day losing streak on Thursday as stronger than expected third-quarter earnings and fourth-quarter guidance from U.S. chipmaker Nvidia helped ease concerns about tech valuations and prompted investors to pick up stocks. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.4%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.21%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed up by 0.5% and 0.34%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.1%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Czech Republic, Ireland and Russia ended weak, while Iceland and Poland closed flat. In the UK market, Games Workshop jumped 13.5% after the company said it expects a rise in earnings and revenue for the first half. For the six-month period to November 30, the Group anticipates a pre-tax income of GBP 135 million, higher than the GBP 126.8 million reported for the same period last year. The company projects core revenue of GBP 310 million, compared with GBP 269.4 million a year ago. The company, however, expects licensing revenue of GBP 16 million, less than GBP 30.1 million last year. Halma zoomed more than 9%. The health and safety device maker raised its full-year guidance after posting record first-half results. Airtel Africa gained about 3.4%. Diploma, Polar Capital Technology Trust, BAE Systems, Melrose Industries, Tesco, Prudential, Informa, M&G, IAG, Severn Trent, Rolls-Royce Holdings and Haleon gained 1 to 2.2%. WPP ended down by 4.5%. JD Sports Fashion closed nearly 4% down, after lowering its earnings outlook. Fresnillo ended loewr by 3%. Vodafone Group, DCC, Burberry Group, Land Securities, Berkeley Group Holdings, National Grid, Marks & Spencer and Barratt Redrow lost 1 to 2.2%. In the German market, Qiagen, Siemens Energy, RWE, Rheinmetall, Siemens, Gea Group, Allianz and Infineon gained 1 to 3.7%. Symrise, Henkel, Volkswagen, Beiersdorf and Daimler Truck Holding ended notably lower. In the French market, BNP Paribas climbed nearly 5%. LVMH, Legrand, Societe Generale, Thales, Airbus, Credit Agricole and EssilorLuxottica gained 0.8 to 1.5%.

United States
After moving sharply higher early in the session, stocks showed a substantial downturn over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages pulled back well off their early highs and tumbled firmly into negative territory. The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq plummeted 486.18 points or 2.2 percent to 22,078.05, the S&P 500 plunged 103.40 points or 1.6 percent to 6,538.76 and the Dow slumped 386.51 points or 0.8 percent to 45,752.26, Early in the session, the tech-heavy Nasdaq had surged by as much as 2.6 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow had jumped by as much as 1.9 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. With the stunning reversal, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 dropped to their lowest closing levels in over two months and the Dow fell to a new one-month low. The early rally on Wall Street came amid a positive reaction to highly anticipated earnings news from market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA). Shares of Nvidia spiked by as much as 5.1 percent but pulled back sharply before closing down by 3.0 percent despite reporting better than expected third quarter results and providing upbeat guidance. The subsequent downturn by the broader markets may have reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of the Labor Department's long-delayed report on employment in the month of September. While the report showed an unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate, job growth in September far exceeded economist estimates. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 119,000 jobs in September after a revised dip of 4,000 jobs in August. Economists had expected employment to rise by 50,000 jobs compared to the addition of 22,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Asia
The rally on the previous day in the wake of strong Nvidia earnings figures proved unsustainable on the Asian stock markets on Friday. In Asia, as previously on the US stock markets, technology stocks were among the biggest losers – technology-heavy indices such as South Korea's Kospi were therefore particularly hard hit by the downward trend.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries have moved higher in reaction to the unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 2.7 basis points to 4.106 percent.

Analysis
Citi raises Novartis target to CHF 188 (180) – Buy
UBS lowers Sensirion to CHF 86 (90) – Buy
JPMorgan raises Nvidia to USD 250 (215) – Overweight

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