PepsiCo Chief Executive Ramon Laguarta said the Iran war had a meaningful impact on business during the latest quarter, resulting in a slowdown in the conversion of traffic to purchases. "Will it change in the coming months? It all depends on the price of gas," he said on a call with analysts Thursday. Still, the food-and-beverage company said revenue climbed 6.4% to $24.18 billion in the fiscal second quarter, topping Wall Street forecasts. On an organic basis, revenue was up 2.4%. Growth stemmed primarily from PepsiCo's international business, where sales accelerated across developing and emerging markets. The increase helped offset continued weakness across its North American business. PepsiCo has spent much of the past year attempting to win back cost-conscious shoppers, cutting prices on some of its chips and snacks, as well as restaging several of its largest brands to lean into current trends such as protein and the removal of artificial colors and flavors.

The Swiss stock market closed modestly higher on Thursday thanks to some brisk buying at select counters in the final hour of the session. The benchmark SMI settled with a gain of 40.95 points or 0.29% at 14,215.30, after scaling a low of 14,136.94 and a high of 14,238.17 intraday. VAT Group climbed 4.2%. Logitech International moved up nearly 4%. ABB ended 2.82% up. UBS Group, Partners Group, Richemont and Lonza Group gained 1.7%-2%. Swiss Life Holding and Straumann Holding moved up by about 1.1% and 1%, respectively. Sonova, Geberit, Helvetia Baloise Holding and SGS posted modest gains. Lindt & Spruengli shed 2.5%. Novartis and Swiss Re closed lower by 1.27% and 1.13%, respectively. Nestle, Sandoz Group, Sika, Swisscom, Julius Baer and Schindler Ps drifted down by 0.4%-1%.

Europe
European stocks closed mostly higher on Thursday even as the UK market underperformed and ended slightly weak despite a fine performance by mining and financial sectors. Shares from financial, mining, luxury and technology sectors were among the major gainers. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.78%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed up by 0.89% and 0.9%, respectively. The UK's FTSE 100 settled 0.16% down, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.29%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden ended notably higher. Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Poland and Portugal posted modest gains, while Norway, Russia and Türkiye closed weak. In the UK market, miners Anglo American Plc, Antofagasta, Glencore and Endeavour Mining gained 4.1%-6%. Rio Tinto moved up 2.85% and Fresnillo closed with a gain of 2.8%. Standard Chartered climbed 3.4%. HSBC Holdings gained nearly 2.5% and Barclays advanced 2%. Natwest Group and Lloyds Banking Group gained 1.8% and 1.1%, respectively. Computacenter surged 7.3%. Persimmon, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Smiths Group, Barratt Redrow, Rolls-Royce Holdings, IAG, Tritax Big Box REIT, IMI, 3i Group and Standard Life gained 2%-4%. Kingfisher, Entain, M&G, Burberry Group, Lion Finance, Weir Group, LondonMetric Property and Halma also ended with strong gains. AstraZeneca shed more than 6% after the group said its nerve disease drug Wainua failed to meet its target in a late-stage trial to reduce cardiovascular-related deaths. BAE Systems closed 4.4% down. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, British American Tobacco, Babcock International, BP, Unilever, Croda International, National Grid, Reckitt Benckiser, Experian, Shell, LSEG and IG Group Holdings also ended notably lower. In the German market, Qiagen zoomed more than 10%. Infineon gained nearly 4.5%, while Zalando, Siemens, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Post and Bayer gained 2.1%-3.4%. Continental, MTU Aero Engines, Vonovia, Adidas, Commerzbank, Symrise and Allianz also posted strong gains. Rheinmetall tumbled 5%. Deutsche Boerse, Daimler Truck Holding, Volkswagen, Munich RE, Henkel and Brenntag lost 1%-1.4%.

United States
U.S. stocks rose as fears about a return to full-blown war in Iran subsided, bringing down oil prices and quelling inflation expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 139.02, or 0.27%, to 52487.41. The broad S&P 500 rose 60.93 points or 0.81% today to 7543.64 . The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 336.24, or 1.3%, to 26206.89. The war-related spike in gasoline prices took a toll on PepsiCo's earnings. Chief Executive Ramon Laguarta said the Iran war had a meaningful impact on sales of the company's snacks and beverages during the latest quarter as consumers were forced to cut back on discretionary spending. Shares of Pepsi fell $4.63, or 3.25%, to $137.86. In one sign that investors were taking on more risk, semiconductor stocks were rising again. Broadcom added to gains related to a new supply deal with Apple. Fears that a bubble was bursting in chip stocks were alleviated by reports of robust demand for SK Hynix's new American depositary receipts. The South Korean chip maker's sale of shares for a U.S. stock-market listing was oversubscribed sevenfold. A selloff in chip stocks earlier this week was triggered by another South Korean firm, Samsung Electronics. Samsung's earnings failed to live up to sky-high expectations. Meanwhile, existing-home sales rose 2.8% in June from a year earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million homes sold, the National Association of Realtors said. In healthcare, shares of British drug maker AstraZeneca and partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals plunged after their jointly developed Wainua product failed to significantly improve patient outcomes in a late-stage clinical trial for heart disease. AstraZeneca fell $10.83, or 5.7%, to $178.49.

Asia
Asian stock markets are rising, in some cases quite sharply. The recovery is being led by technology and semiconductor shares. It is reported that the recent escalation in the Middle East is largely being ignored, particularly as the situation there appears to have calmed down somewhat.

Bonds
The yield on the U.S. 10-Treasury year note fell 0.030 percentage point to 4.539%. The yield on the two-year Treasury declined 0.039 percentage point to 4.162%.

Analysis
JPMorgan lowers its Air Liquide target to EUR 160 (175) – Neutral
Bank of America raises its HSBC target to 1,650 (1,600) GBp – Buy
Bank of America raises its Barclays target to 615 (600) GBp – Buy

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.