Roche aims to make a pill developed by the Swiss pharmaceutical company a standard treatment for an advanced form of lung cancer. It marks the company’s first foray into an emerging field within the oncology market. Roche is working on several drugs that target a cancer driver that has long eluded the industry. A breakthrough in pancreatic cancer by the U.S. biotech company Revolution Medicines brought the field to investors’ attention, and Roche aims to enter this space with the lung cancer drug Divarasib. In study results presented Sunday at the annual congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Madrid, Roche stated that its drug reduced the risk of death by 44 percent compared with available treatments from Amgen and Bristol Myers Squibb.

After edging up a bit at the start, the Swiss market retreated and stayed in negative territory throughout the session on Friday, as investors reacted to corporate earnings announcements and continued to follow geopolitical news. The benchmark SMI settled with a loss of 85.61 points or 0.59% at 14,462.36, off the day's low of 14,408.96. Richemont ended nearly 6.5% down. Helvetia Baloise Holding ended 2.76% down. Sika drifted lower by 2.3%. VAT Group and ABB dropped by about 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively. Julius Baer, Nestle, Novartis, Zurich Insurance and Swiss Life Holding ended down 0.4%-0.1%. Holcim moved up 5%. The building materials firm's EBIT reached 976 million Swiss francs in the third quarter, up 16.8% from 836 million francs in the prior year quarter, with organic growth of 12.2%. The recurring EBIT margin expanded to 20.9% from 20.7% a year ago. Net sales totaled 4.662 billion francs, up 15.5% from 4.036 billion francs in the same quarter last year, representing organic growth of 5.1%. Galderma Group, Partners Group, Sandoz Group, Schindler Ps, Straumann Holding and SGS gained 1.8%-2.4%.

Europe
The major European markets closed lower on Friday as largely weak regional PMI data, and concerns about inflation and monetary tightening amid continued rise in oil prices hurt sentiment. France's debt woes and uncertainty about returns on AI-related investments weighed as well. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.31%. The UK's FTSE 100 settled lower by 0.32%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.75% and 0.36%, respectively. Among other markets in Europe, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Poland and Türkiye closed notably lower. Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended on firm note. Austria and Portugal edged up marginally. In the UK market, Rolls-Royce Holdings dropped 7.6% on reports the company neared a deal for up to £200 million in UK government subsidies to develop a new short-haul aircraft engine. Fresnillo tumbled 6%. Diploma, Computacenter, Melrose Industries, Burberry, Games Workshop, IAG, Metlen Energy & Metals, IG Group Holdings, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Informa, Airtel Africa and Endeavour Mining lost 2%-5%. Energy stocks BP, Ithaca Energy and Shell climbed 4.4%, 4% and 3.7%, respectively, on higher crude oil prices. Barratt Redrow, Compass Group, Smith & Nephew, Bunzl, Weir, Anglo American Plc and Convatec Group also closed notably higher. In the German market, MTU Aero Engines ended nearly 5% down. Deutsche Telekom closed 3.1% down. Siemens Energy, Infineon, RWE, Merck, Porsche Automobil Holding and Mercedes-Benz also declined sharply. Fresenius Medical Care drifted down 3.2%. Beiersdorf, Zalando, Fresenius and Heidelberg Materials gained 1.6%-2.5%. Commerzbank and E.On also ended with solid gains. In the French market, Kering tanked nearly 17% to a more than 52-week low after third-quarter revenue came in flat year-on-year and down about 1% on a like-for-like basis.

United States
Wall Street is continuing its move toward less risky investments, as oil prices climbed to their highest level in five months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 652.82 points, or 1.23%, to 52215.16. The S&P 500 lost 39.75 points, or 0.52%, to 7623.68 and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 53.52 points, or 0.21%, to 25955.34. Investors are continuing their move to less volatile stocks. So far this month, the consumer staples sector has climbed 9.6%, putting it on pace for its best month in 26 years. Other safe-haven sectors, including utilities and health care, are leading S&P 500 gains this month. French protests have escalated, revolving around dissatisfaction with the cost of living and a widening budget deficit, while the government tries to pass a new fiscal budget. The energy conglomerate SLB closed up 7.1% after quarterly revenue rose, thanks to some recovery in the company's Middle East business. Expansion in North America, as well as growth in SLB's data-center business, also helped drive sales. Deckers Outdoor, which makes Hoka and Ugg shoes, cut its sales outlook Thursday night, saying shoppers were getting more cautious. Waning demand for casual shoes is starting to bleed into the performance running sector. Deckers shares declined 4.9% and dragged down shares of rival sneaker companies, including On Holding and Nike.

Asia
Price movements on the stock markets and in East Asia are mostly within narrow ranges. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index is down 0.1 per cent. The broader Topix, by contrast, is up 0.4 per cent. In Seoul, the Kospi is down 0.7 per cent. On the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Composite Index is up 0.2 per cent, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index is up 0.7 per cent.

Bonds
The yield on the two-year U.S. Treasury gained 0.044 percentage point to 4.680%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 0.110 percentage point to 4.987% and the yield on the 30-year bond added 0.028 percentage point to 5.314%.

Analysis
Bank of America raises its Galderma target price to CHF 210 (200) – Buy
Bank of America raises its L’Oréal target price to EUR 460 (440) – Buy
Bank of America lowers its Nokia target price to EUR 13.50 (16) – Buy

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