Volkswagen’s supervisory board has approved a plan to double job losses at the automaker to 100,000 and halve its model portfolio as it contends with President Trump’s tariffs and intensifying competition from Chinese automakers. In a surprise move, the company’s often-fractious supervisory board unanimously approved Chief Executive Oliver Blume’s radical restructuring package, called Future Plan 2030. The company called it the “most strategically profound transformation program in the Volkswagen Group’s history.” By 2035, the automaker aims to cut the number of model variants it offers by around 75%. Volkswagen also plans to reduce its workforce by 50,000 positions, including management roles, on top of roughly 50,000 already agreed to over the past two years. “Given intensifying global competition, shifting demand and technological change in the automotive industry, a consistent alignment of workforce capacity with economic reality is essential,” Volkswagen said.

The Swiss market's benchmark index SMI closed modestly higher on Thursday after a choppy ride as stocks swung between gains and losses with investors digesting the latest batch of economic data and continuing to assess the Middle East situation and its potential impact on growth. The SMI ended up by 31.80 points or 0.22% at 14,394.77 after moving between 14,321.44 and 14,446.74. Logitech International climbed 3.3%. Givaudan gained 2.4%, Sandoz Group ended 2.2% up, and Roche moved up 2.1%. Swiss Life Holding, Partners Group, Zurich Insurance, Holcim and Helvetia Baloise Holding gained 1.5%-2%. Swiss Re, Schindler Ps and Sika climbed nearly 1%. Richemont tumbled 3.1%. Alcon closed down by 2.3%, while VAT Group and Galderma Group ended lower by 1.9%. Lindt & Spruengli, Straumann Holding and Nestle lost 1%-1.4%. In economic news, Switzerland's economy expanded at the fastest pace in nearly five years in the second quarter, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO said. Gross domestic product logged a quarterly growth of 1.5%, matching the preliminary estimate released in August and following a growth of 0.5% in the first quarter. Unadjusted GDP growth more than doubled to 1.9% in the second quarter from 0.6% in the preceding period.

Europe
European stocks closed on a positive note on Thursday thanks to fairly encouraging regional PMI data and firm precious metals prices. Bond yields and oil prices stabilized even as worries about Middle East tensions continued to weigh on sentiment. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.49%. The UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.7% and Germany's DAX moved up 0.63%, while France's CAC 40 edged up 0.07% and Switzerland's SMI closed with a gain of 0.22%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended higher. Türkiye closed weak, while Finland, Norway and Portugal ended flat. In the UK market, Metlen Energy & Metal, Informa, LSEG, Endeavour Mining, Prudential, Relx, Fresnillo, 3i Group, Vodafone Group, Scottish Mortgage, M&G, Experian, Melrose Industries, Antofagasta, AutoTrader Group, Aberdeen Group, Airtel Africa, Barclays and Burberry Group gained 2%-4%. Shares of food packing company Hilton Food soared more than 15% after the group lifted its full-year adjusted profit guidance. Reckitt Benckiser, Convatec Group, Admiral Group, Haleon, Diageo, Bunzl, Pearson, Unilever, Aviva and Smith & Nephew closed notably lower. In the German market, Volkswagen, Hochtief, Porsche Automobil Holding, Vonovia, Commerzbank, Siemens Energy, SAP and Scout24 climbed 2%-3.7%. Deutsche Boerse, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Continental, Hannover RE, Daimler Truck Holding and Munich RE also ended notably higher. Rheinmetall, Fresenius Medical Care, Qiagen, Siemens Healthineers, Merck, Siemens, Zalando, Fresenius and Brenntag declined sharply. The French market underperformed as the nation's services sector activity showed continued contraction.

United States
U.S. stocks rose after comments from a Federal Reserve official took the sting out of rising oil prices by suppressing Treasury yields. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 624.16 points, or 1.18%, to 53686.11. The S&P 500 gained 81.11, or 1.06%, to close at 7747.71, within 0.7% of its record closing high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 366.23, or 1.4%, to 26584.06. With rate fears easing, investors piled back into artificial-intelligence bets. Nvidia agreed to buy New York AI startup Hugging Face in a deal worth roughly $13 billion, the latest acquisition by the chip giant at the center of the AI boom. Nvidia shares rose 1.8% to $228.45. Shares of Snowflake jumped 17% to $356.47 after the software maker said an AI-powered computer-coding agent bolstered quarterly sales growth. Tesla shares rose 5.4% to $376.37 after the electric-car maker scheduled an event related to its Cybercab, which investors construed as the likely commercial launch of the long-awaited robotaxi. Meatpacker Tyson Foods declined 7.3% to $51.76 after the company warned revenue would grow by less than previously expected this year, citing pressure from volatile cattle prices. Food processor Campbell's swung to a loss and logged lower sales in its latest quarter, hurt by higher costs that weighed on margins as well as softer demand. Shares of Campbell's fell 7% to $22.12.

Asia
On the Asian stock markets, the major indices rose on Friday, led by technology shares. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose by 1.3 per cent to 64,938 points, whilst the broader Topix index rose by 0.2 per cent.

Bonds
The yield on the policy-sensitive two-year U.S. Treasury declined 0.051 percentage point to 4.332%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 0.032 percentage point to 4.761%. The yield on the 30-year bond slipped 0.023 percentage point to 5.243%.

Analysis
Bank of America lowers its Ryanair target to 27.50 (30) EUR – Buy
Citi raises its AB Foods target to 15.50 (13.30) GBP – Sell
Citi raises its BASF target to 60 (58) EUR – 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.