At Holcim, revenue and operating profit grew significantly in the summer quarter. Overall, revenue increased by 15.5 percent to 4.66 billion Swiss francs from July through the end of September 2026, as Holcim announced on Friday. For the first time in a long while, the company benefited from the Swiss franc, which had depreciated in recent months. The franc’s weakening boosted revenue by 96 million. Acquisitions and divestitures of business units also contributed an additional 331 million to revenue. Organically—that is, through its own efforts—Holcim grew by 5.1 percent, the company added. Recurring operating profit (EBIT) jumped 16.8 percent to 976 billion Swiss francs. The bulk of the increase came from organic growth: organic growth totaled 12.2 percent. The acquisition and divestiture of business units contributed 20 million to EBIT, and the weakening of the Swiss franc accounted for 24 million. The corresponding operating margin inched up to 20.9 percent from 20.7 percent in the same quarter of the previous year. Overall, Holcim thus exceeded analysts’ expectations. The Group once again raised its targets for the full year 2026. Holcim now expects recurring operating profit to grow by 10 to 12 percent, having previously targeted an increase of around 10 percent. The corresponding margin is expected to grow further.

The Swiss stock market once again outperformed the broader European market on Thursday. The SMI closed unchanged at 14,548 points. Traders described Nestlé’s third-quarter earnings as “surprisingly strong.” The company achieved higher real organic growth than analysts had expected. The stock added 1.1 percent. Roche, on the other hand, remained flat. According to Jefferies, the pharmaceutical company revealed disappointing adjusted revenue trends, and its third-quarter results are likely to raise questions about its growth trajectory for next year. Novartis, however, was in demand as a defensive play in the weak market environment, rising 1.6 percent. Following weak financial results from competitor Hermes—particularly in China—Richemont dropped 1.8 percent in Switzerland. Amid mounting economic concerns, ABB plunged 4.1 percent. Galderma, meanwhile, soared 7.1 percent. According to Vontobel, the company raised its full-year revenue forecast more than expected, and quarterly revenue exceeded consensus estimates. Logitech (-0.4%) and other technology stocks in Switzerland suffered from the general weakness in the sector. Schindler climbed 8.5 percent following the release of its earnings report. Citi issued a positive assessment and raised its price target.

Europe
European stock markets closed sharply lower on Thursday. The Stoxx Europe 600 index ended down 1%, at 637.95 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 1.4% to 7,811.26 points, as did the SBF 120, which closed at 5,923.14 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 declined by more than 1%, while the FTSE 100 slipped 0.3% in London. HERMES (-4.9%): The luxury goods group reported third-quarter sales on Thursday that fell short of analysts’ expectations, driven by a slowdown in China and the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East. In the same sector, Kering dropped 2.8% and LVMH shed 1.6%. ID LOGISTICS (+8.9%): The logistics specialist reported on Wednesday evening a sharp increase in revenue on a like-for-like basis for the third quarter of the year, driven by a surge in revenue in North America. NEXANS (-5.8%): The cable manufacturer confirmed its financial targets for 2026 on Thursday, having reported revenue that exceeded analysts’ expectations for the first nine months of the fiscal year. THALES (-1.4%): The technology and defense group upgraded its organic revenue growth target for 2026 on Thursday, after posting strong revenue growth during the first nine months of the year thanks to robust performance in its defense segment.

United States
Overall, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite logged its worst day since June on Thursday, tumbling 2.6%. The S&P 500 declined by 1.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up less than 0.1%. Shares of Meta fell 7% Thursday, erasing $124 billion from the company’s market cap. All manner of other stocks tied to the historic data-center build-out also dropped, in many cases sharply, from so-called hyperscalers, like Alphabet GOOGL and Amazon.com, to manufacturers of cooling equipment, such as Vertiv Holdings. The PHLX semiconductor index, including the likes of Nvidia NVDA and Micron, plunged 6.7%. SpaceX SPCX, which on Tuesday reported a profitable quarter and said it might merge with Tesla TSLA, declined 9.1%. Tesla slipped 3.1% after the carmaker’s adjusted net income slid. The big moves came after Meta announced plans Wednesday to create a new class of nonvoting stock to raise the capital it needs for developing and serving AI models. Initial excitement over the company’s record third-quarter revenue quickly gave way to mounting anxiety over how the Facebook parent and its peers will secure enough capital to fund the AI race. Meta also disclosed an updated figure on its future spending commitments, which had risen to roughly $825 billion from nearly $700 billion in July. Stocks more removed from the AI trade generally performed well. Those included consumer staple companies like Clorox CLX, which rose 4.6%, and regional banks like M&T Bank MTB, which climbed 1.5%.

Asia
Asian indexes diverged for the Friday trading session. In Tokyo, the Topix is down 1.3 percent; in Seoul, the Kospi dropped 1.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite dipped 1.2 percent. In Hong Kong, the HSI ticked up 0.6 percent. Among individual stocks, SK Hynix in Seoul climbed about 3 percent after significant early losses. In light of the deteriorating market conditions, the semiconductor giant has shelved plans for a potential U.S. IPO of its flash memory division, Solidigm. Samsung Electronics is trading largely unchanged. Brent crude oil stands at $113.73 on Friday morning in Asia—a level last seen in May.

Bonds
Long-dated U.S. government debt yields lost ground on Thursday. The rally in bonds was particularly noteworthy, sending the yield on the 10-year Treasury note tumbling back below 5% in its largest one-day drop since March 2023, when markets were gripped by a regional banking crisis. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note settled at 4.952%, according to Tradeweb, down from 5.145% Wednesday.

Analysis
Lem price target: UBS raises to 640 (450) CHF - Neutral
ABB price target: Kepler Cheuvreux lowers to 74 (80) CHF - Hold
Forbo price target: Kepler Cheuvreux lowers to 910 (920) CHF - Hold

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.