Apple shares dropped 0.3% to $315.34 after recently appointed Chief Executive John Ternus revealed the gadget maker’s most consequential new product in decades.The headline is the first foldable iPhone, which will start at $1,999. An almost tablet-like device, the new iPhone Duo will fit comfortably in a pocket and allows people to use more than one app at a time. It comes in two colors: white and dark gray. The bad news for consumers was that Apple increased iPhone prices, though not as much as some analysts projected. The cost of memory and storage chips inside the smartphone has quintupled since last fall, prompting Apple to raise prices across its device lineup to protect its profit margins. The foldable and Pro model iPhones were the highlight, but Apple also released other devices, including new Apple Watch models, as well as updated AirPods. Apple said the price of iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will both jump $100, to $1,199 and $1,299, respectively, compared with last year’s 17 Pro. That is not as large a price jump as some feared, and suggests Apple could take a hit on its profit margins for the devices. The Pro and Pro Max models can be preordered Sept. 12 and the Duo Oct. 16. The Pro and Pro Max arrive on Sept. 18, while the Duo won’t arrive until Oct. 23.

On Wednesday, the Swiss stock market extended its losing streak with the SMI declining 1.8 percent to 13,805 points. The sell-off in Novartis shares triggered by the failure of two drug trials came to an end, with the stock closing 0.1 percent lower. Roche shed 0.8 percent—despite a positive assessment from RBC. Richemont dropped 4.7 percent, and Swatch lost 1.9 percent. Nestlé (-3.3%) was also sold off as a consumer stock. Avolta, in the consumer sector, dropped 1.3 percent, even though the travel goods retailer had announced the extension of long-term contracts at four Mexican airports. Holcim(-2.7%), deemed as cyclical, suffered—the building materials group is investing in optimizing concrete delivery. Docmorris climbed 6.6 percent—driven by heavy buying. The catalyst was the announcement of a new convertible bond worth approximately 100 million Swiss francs, which is intended to prepay an existing one. The high demand for the stock arose because the dilution effect from the new bond is expected to be less than that of the old one, according to traders.

Europe
European stock markets dropped sharply on Wednesday, as the continued rise in oil prices—against a backdrop of escalating hostilities between the United States and Iran—caused tensions in the fixed-income market. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 1.6% to 639.07 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 each slipped 1.9%. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 ended down 1.7%, while the FTSE 100 dipped 1.4% on the London Stock Exchange. INTERPARFUMS (+0.6%): The licensed perfume manufacturer reported better-than-expected results for the first half of the year on Wednesday, amid a tense environment due to the war in the Middle East. ORANGE (-1%): The telecommunications operator reported on Tuesday evening that it had successfully completed a four-tranche bond offering totaling 4.1 billion euros. Orange plans to use the proceeds to meet the company’s general needs. SANOFI (-0.6%): On Wednesday, RBC initiated coverage of the pharmaceutical company’s stock with a “in line with the sector” rating and a price target of 80 euros.

United States
U.S. stocks extended their recent decline as the war in the Middle East continued to escalate and drive up oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 405.41 points, or 0.77%, to 52380.66. The S&P 500 lost 37.16 points, or 0.48%, to 7636.36 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 168.07 points, or 0.64%, to 26253.34. Shares of Meta Platforms META rose 6.6% to $653.69 after it launched Muse, a personal AI agent designed to automate routine tasks such as booking appointments, filling out forms and monitoring home-security camera feeds. Jacob Coxon, a researcher who specializes in training new AI models, told The Wall Street Journal that he was leaving Anthropic out of concern the lab was racing to build bots and agents it would not be able to control. Coxon’s concerns reflect a wider debate on whether AI development should be slowed and brought under regulatory oversight—as nuclear power was in the 1950s—or allowed to grow unfettered—as the Internet was. The Justice Department requested additional information from television company Fox and set-top box maker Roku ROKU, as the companies work to complete a roughly $25 billion deal. Fox FOXA Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp NWSA share common ownership.

Asia
Stocks in Asia mostly fell on Thursday. Market participants are nervous and acting cautiously in light of oil prices above $100 per barrel, rising bond yields, and ahead of key inflation data from the U.S. Japan’s Topix is holding up best, down 0.1 percent. The Kospi in Seoul dipped 0.5 percent, and the HSI in Hong Kong slipped 1.3 percent. In Shanghai, the Composite Index gave up 0.4 percent.

Bonds
Long-dated U.S. government debt yields gained further ground on Wednesday. The yield on the policy-sensitive two-year Treasury added 0.030 percentage point to 4.425%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed 0.030 percentage point to 4.836%, another 23-month high. The yield on the 30-year bond increased 0.021 percentage point to 5.285%. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled plans to buy back $6 billion in bonds maturing in 10-20 years.

Analysis
Autoneum price target: UBS raises to 130 (120) CHF - Neutral
Bossard price target: Berenberg increases to 265 (250) CHF - Buy
Lindt & Sprüngli price target: UBS reduces to 125,000 (137,000) CHF - Buy
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