Airbnb raised its forecast for the year, citing an expansion in global demand as it uses artificial intelligence to improve its platform. The short-term-rental company said Thursday it now expects revenue to increase by at least a mid-teens rate this year, up from its prior projection for growth in the low- to mid-teens. The updated guidance factors in strong demand on Airbnb’s platform across all regions, the company said. In the latest quarter, year-over-year growth in nights booked accelerated in Airbnb’s new markets as well as its largest core markets, including a ramp up from travelers from the U.S., France, the U.K. and Australia. Airbnb said those trends show that efforts to improve its product—with the help of AI—are working. The company has been able to build and iterate faster with the technology, allowing it to ship more new features and improvements compared to a year ago. In the second quarter, for example, Airbnb rolled out updates that allow guests to see more relevant recommendations on its home page and in search results, and redesigned its sign-up, login and checkout processes. Those changes have gotten more users to follow through on bookings, the company said.

Despite spending much of the day's trading in positive territory, the Swiss stock market ended modestly lower on Thursday due to selling at a few counters in the final hour. In addition to digesting corporate earnings updates, investors also followed the developments on the geopolitical front. The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 14,646.26 in early trades, ended the day with a loss of 32.81 points or 0.23% at 14,518.75. Zurich Insurance ended down by 3%. Straumann Holding and Sika closed lower by 2.7% and 2.1%, respectively. Amrize eased by about 1.7%. SGS lost about 1%. UBS Group, Kuehne + Nagel, Alcon, Givaudan and Richemont lost 0.4%-0.7%. Swisscom climbed nearly 4.5%. The telecom group confirmed its 2026 revenue guidance after reporting solid second-quarter results.. Sandoz Group and Schindler Ps gained 1.5% and 1.15%, respectively. Lonza Group, Swiss Life Holding, Lindt & Spruengli, VAT Group, Swiss Re and Novartis gained 0.5%-1%. Staffing company Adecco shed 3.25% after posting disappointing gross margin and cash flow from operations in its second-quarter results.

Europe
European stocks failed to hold early gains and ended on a mixed note on Thursday as investors reacted to earnings announcements and regional economic data in addition to assessing the Middle East situation. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended higher by 0.16%. The UK's FTSE 100 dropped 0.19%, Germany's DAX edged up 0.05% and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.35%, while Switzerland's SMI finished lower by 0.23%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Türkiye closed higher. Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Russia and Sweden ended weak. In the UK market, WPP shares skyrocketed 29% after the world's largest advertising group posted better-than-expected first-half profits and margins. Diageo climbed 5.6% after the company announced a plan to save $1 billion over three years after operating profit fell 27.2% in the first half. Persimmon moved up nearly 3%. The company said it expects annual home deliveries to be at the top of its prior forecast range. Admiral Group jumped 5.3%. Vodafone Group rallied 4.3% and Metlen Energy & Metals gained nearly 3.5%. Outsourcing firm Serco soared nearly 7% after reporting higher first-half underlying profit and increasing the size of its share buyback program. BAE Systems, Airtel Africa, Computacenter, IMI, Centrica, Barratt Redrow, SSE, The Sage Group, LSEG, Convatec Group, Haleon, Aviva, Lion Finance and Endeavour Mining also closed notably higher. Tritax Big Box REIT, Relx, IG Group Holdings, Melrose Industries, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Compass Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Coca-Cola HBC, Antofagasta, Reckitt Benckiser, 3i Group, Polar Capital Technology Trust, St. James's Place, AutoTrader Group and AstraZeneca ended notably lower. In the German market, Deutsche Telekom surged nearly 6.5% after the company's profit from operations for the second-quarter came in at Euro 6.863 billion as against prior year's EUR 6.642 billion. Henkel climbed about 4% despite the company's net income dropping by 11% to 988 million euros in the first half. Zalando moved up 2.7%. Brenntag, RWE, Siemens Energy, Munich RE, Fresenius Medical Care, Fresenius, Hannover RE, BASF, Adidas and SAP gained 1%-2.5%.

United States
U.S. stocks fell in a jittery session amid doubts about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 464.02 points, or 0.85%, to 53885.10. The broad S&P 500 lost 13.59 points, or 0.18%, to 7709.96 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 15.09 points, or 0.06%, to 26348.35. Concerns about major tech companies' aggressive data-center investment lingered. Google parent Alphabet fell 1% to $356.62 after it circulated plans to raise as much as $25 billion in a new bond offering, according to Bloomberg News. Another recurring market fear - the "SaaSpocalypse" - loomed large. In this scenario, investors fear that versatile AI agents and chatbots would undercut subscription-based software-as-a-service companies in a broad range of specialized applications. Shares of HubSpot, which makes customer-relationship management software, tumbled 19% after it cut its full-year revenue projection. Similarly, Datadog, which makes tracking and cybersecurity software, plunged after its third-quarter growth forecasts lagged lofty investor expectations. The prolonged housing slump has taken its toll on home lenders. Wholesale mortgage firm UWM Holdings plummeted 35% to $1.20 after it suspended its dividend in connection with a capital injection. Wall Street investment firm Apollo Global Management agreed to buy British budget airline easyJet for the equivalent of roughly $7.7 billion, prevailing in a weekslong bidding war. Houston oil major ConocoPhillips rose 1.5% to $116.76 after posting second-quarter adjusted earnings ahead of the mean analyst estimate. Conoco also promoted its finance chief, Andy O'Brien, to chief executive officer.

Asia
There is no clear trend across Asian stock markets as the week draws to a close. The stock markets in Tokyo and Seoul are trading lower, with renewed losses in technology shares weighing on sentiment. By contrast, Chinese stock markets are edging up slightly following positive economic data.

Bonds
U.S. treasury yields and the U.S. dollar rose ahead of July jobs data. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note gained 0.054 percentage point to 4.670% . The yield on the policy-sensitive two-year Treasury rose 0.064 percentage point to 4.242%.

Analysis
Analysis
Bank of America lowers its Glencore target to 630 (640) GBp – Buy
Bank of America raises its Heineken target to 95 (90) EUR – Buy
Bank of America lowers its Hermes target to 2,000 (2,250) EUR – Buy

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