An OpenAI agent infiltrated a government-services website in Australia this summer, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday at the United Nations meeting in New York. It appears to be the first publicly disclosed incident of an artificial-intelligence agent gaining unauthorized access to a government service. Albanese said the incident began June 18. He said the agent gained access to both public and nonpublic files in the country’s public facing healthcare-statistics portal, which reports information such as spending. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed that the company this summer identified agent activity involving several Australian-government websites and services as its AI models attempted to look up answers during an evaluation. Earlier Wednesday, Altman and Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei addressed the U.N. Security Council to discuss what they view as a need for a global body to set standards on AI development. While many Western nation representatives supported the call at Wednesday’s meeting, White House Director of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios said the U.S. would reject any attempts to “construct a globalist scheme” to control AI.

The Swiss stock market closed slightly lower on Wednesday. The SMI fell 0.2 percent to 13,922 points. UBS dropped 1.7 percent after the Council of States voted in favor of a 90-percent capital requirement for foreign subsidiaries. The SMI was supported by heavyweight Novartis, whose share price rose 1 percent. Nestlé closed virtually unchanged. Roche (-0.3%) did not benefit from encouraging data from a Phase 3 trial. In the trial, the drug Sefaxersen demonstrated a positive effect on a specific kidney disease. Investors took profits on construction sector stocks that had performed well on Tuesday. Sika fell 2.1 percent, Amrize 1.3 percent, Holcim 0.5 percent, and Geberit 1.1 percent. Among smaller caps, Docmorris lost 5.9 percent. Market participants pointed to the lawsuit filed by Germany’s Competition Authority against the online pharmacy of the drugstore chain DM, which the Karlsruhe Regional Court has been hearing since today, Wednesday.

Europe
European stock markets ended the day on a negative note on Wednesday. According to MarketWatch data, the Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.4% to 639.9 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 also declined by 0.4% each. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt dropped 0.7%, while the FTSE 100 ended virtually unchanged in London. BNP PARIBAS (-1.1%): The banking group reported it is “on track” to achieve double-digit growth in earnings per share (EPS) between 2025 and 2028. The banking group presented this outlook Tuesday evening during a Bank of America conference, BNP Paribas said in a press release. TOTALENERGIES (+1.9%): The energy producer announced Wednesday that it had made, together with its Nigerian partner AMNI, the final investment decision to develop the Ima gas field off the coast of Nigeria. AIRBUS (+0.2%): The aerospace and defense group confirmed on Wednesday that it had won a 25-year cybersecurity contract with the French armed forces. The contract value was not disclosed.

United States
U.S. stocks lost ground on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite paced the day’s losses after hitting record highs in the previous two sessions, falling 308.24 points, or 1.13%, to 26936.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 352.10 points, or 0.68%, to 51511.59. The S&P 500 fell 58.61 points, or 0.75%, to 7706.03. IonQ IONQ gained 4.4% after the company said its latest quantum computer, Superion 256, will be the first system in Nvidia’s quantum research center. The new device will act as a specialized co-processor alongside an Nvidia GPU cluster. Shares of Nvidia NVDA fell 1.5%. Palantir Technologies PLTR rose 3.7% and was among the best performers in the S&P 500. The Federal Aviation Administration began using its artificial-intelligence tool for air-traffic control at three major Washington-area airports. McDonald’s MCD dropped 4.8%. The company laid out multiple long-term financial targets at its Investor Day on Wednesday, aiming to improve menu items and modernize restaurants with AI. Mining stocks Freeport-McMoRan FCX and Newmont NEM fell 2.4% and 2.9%, respectively, as the price of gold extended its recent slump. Higher interest rates tend to drag down bullion and other precious metals.

Asia
Asian and Australian markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday. In Tokyo, the Topix is virtually unchanged following a three-day holiday break, posting a minimal gain. The slightly narrower Nikkei 225, on the other hand, is down 1.4 percent. Trading is suspended in Seoul, South Korea. Chinese stock markets are also seeing losses. The Shanghai Composite dipped 0.9 percent, and the HSI in Hong Kong shed 0.5 percent. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX-200 gave up 0.8 percent. BHP declined by 1.9 percent after the mining giant suspended operations at Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine in Chile, following the death of a worker. The share price of rival Rio Tinto dropped 1.3 percent.

Bonds
U.S. government debt yields edged higher on Wednesday. The 10-year Treasury note yield jumped 0.147 percentage point to 5.113%, marking its highest level since July 2007. The 30-year Treasury note yield rose 0.099 percentage point to 5.401%, making its biggest one-day leap since May to reach its highest level since 2004. The 2-year Treasury note yield climbed 0.118 percentage point to 4.893%, its highest in more than two years. The bonds selloff comes despite efforts by the Treasury Department to cool down long-term yields by increasing its buying of long-term bonds. Odds of a rate hike next month rose near 70%, from under 50% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Analysis
Roche Price Target: Vontobel raises to 412 (410) CHF - Buy
VAT Price Target: Goldman Sachs increases to 782 (766) CHF - Buy
Sonova Price Target: Bernstein SG upgrades to 275 (255) CHF - Outperform

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