Roche Holding struck a deal with China’s Rona Therapeutics to license worldwide rights to an experimental therapy for obesity and metabolic diseases for up to $1.16 billion, moving to bolster its portfolio with a new weight-loss approach. Under the agreement, Shanghai-based Rona will get upfront and near-term payments of up to $100 million and be eligible to receive an extra $1.06 billion subject to reaching development, regulatory and commercial goals, as well as royalties on potential sales, Rona said Tuesday. Roche has sought to build and expand a portfolio of weight-loss drugs in recent years, joining a growing group of drugmakers vying to challenge Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. It completed in 2024 its $2.7 billion purchase of U.S. obesity drug developer Carmot Therapeutics and entered into an up to $5.3 billion licensing deal with Denmark’s Zealand Pharma to jointly develop a different kind of weight-loss medicine last year.

The Swiss market ended modestly higher on Tuesday after holding in positive territory throughout the trading session as lower oil prices and bond yields helped underpin sentiment. The benchmark SMI settled with a gain of 49.68 points or 0.4% at 13,928. The index touched a high of 14,066.86. Givaudan soared 9.5%. The Swiss manufacturer of flavors, fragrances, and cosmetic ingredients, reported higher sales in its third quarter on a reported and like-for-like basis. Further, the firm maintained its mid- and long-term targets. In the third quarter, Givaudan recorded sales of 2.092 billion Swiss francs, an increase of 11.3% from last year's 1.879 billion francs. On a like-for-Like or LFL basis, sales grew 8.6%, compared to 4.4% rise last year. In the first nine months of 2026, Givaudan's sales were 5.891 billion francs, an increase of 2.6% in francs and 5.2% on LFL basis. Logitech International climbed nearly 3%. Geberit, Zurich Insurance, Swiss RE, Straumann Holding, Nestle, Swiss Life Holding and Sika gained 1%-2%. Kuehne + Nagel, Sandoz Group, Swisscom, Hermes International, Helvetia Baloise Holding, Schindler Ps, Partners Group and SGS ended up by 0.5%-0.9%. VAT Group dropped 2.77%. Alcon ended nearly 2% down. Lonza Group, Amrize and Julius Baer closed lower by 1.32%, 1.28% and 1.09%, respectively.

Europe
The major European markets settled slightly down on Tuesday as oil's rebound from lower levels and weakness in the tech sector amid renewed uncertainty about returns on AI investments rendered the mood cautious past mid-afternoon. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.1%. The UK's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 settled marginally down despite spending much of the day's session in positive territory. Switzerland's SMI closed 0.36% up. Among other markets in Europe, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Türkiye posted notable gains. Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece and Sweden edged up marginally. Iceland, Netherlands and Spain closed weak, while Finland ended flat. Tech stocks were under pressure amid growing competition from China's CXMI and on renewed doubts over AI investment returns. In the UK market, WPP climbed 4.2%. BP moved up 3.75% despite flagging $3-4.5 billion of impairments in its third quarter results.

United States
It was a sluggish day for U.S. stock movements, as early bank earnings failed to quash broader concerns about inflation and Fed rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 180.45 points, or 0.35%, to 51670.10. The S&P 500 edged down 1.79 points, or 0.02%, to 7805.45. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 41.52 points, or 0.15%, to 27204.38. Chip stocks that have been booming thanks to high memory prices, including Micron Technology and Applied Materials, had a rough day. The VanEck and iShares Semiconductor ETFs have both fallen for six consecutive days, putting them on their longest losing streak since May 2025. Investors are worried about increasing competition after the Chinese memory company CMXT had a breakthrough earlier this week. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk warned via social media that Chinese companies could have the ability to scale memory products faster than the rest of the world. Johnson & Johnson's stock fell 5.7% to $248.61, weighing on the Dow Industrials. Its chief financial officer told The Wall Street Journal that the drug company is thinking more seriously about spinning out its hips-and-knees business. Sales within J&J's medical-device business came in below Wall Street estimates and executives said they weren't satisfied with the results. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all reported surging profits on Tuesday, but the results didn't do much to move stocks. While growth was strong across earnings, credit and margin outlooks, investors are still feeling nervous about the potential of a Fed rate hike and its impact on banks.

Asia
East Asian stock markets are showing little change midway through the week. Market participants cite caution ahead of key economic data and corporate results. By contrast, the technology-heavy Seoul stock exchange is seeing gains, with the Kospi rising by 1.3 per cent as it recovers following five consecutive trading days of losses.

Bonds
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note declined 0.03 percentage point to 5.216%. The yield on the 30-year bond fell 0.04 percentage point to 5.562%. While the yield on the two-year Treasury rose 0.002 percentage point to 4.791%.

Analysis
UBS raises its Kuehne + Nagel target to CHF 225 (205) – Neutral
UBS cuts its LVMH target to EUR 510 (525) – Buy
Bank of America raises its Thales target to EUR 315 (312) – 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.