French luxury giant LVMH said sales growth slowed, putting the brakes on a long-awaited recovery in Europe’s struggling luxury-goods industry. The Paris-based group, owner of a stable of fashion, jewelry and champagne brands that constitutes a bellwether for the wider sector, made sales of 18.50 billion euros ($20.72 billion) between July and September, it said Monday. That marks organic growth of just 1% from the same period last year, slowing from the 3% increase the company booked over the second quarter. The result was in line with the expectations of analysts, according to those polled by Visible Alpha ahead of the print. Still, the group’s mainstay fashion division, home to heavyweight brands Louis Vuitton and Dior, booked a 5% drop in sales on year to €8.245 billion, below analysts’ forecasts. The division had returned to growth in the second quarter, but the fast drop back into the red suggests LVMH-and its peers-will have to work hard to secure a sustained recovery. A slowdown in Chinese demand weighed on performance in the fashion business, LVMH said, pointing to a “less buoyant” environment in the key market.

After opening on a firm note, Swiss stocks stayed firm in positive territory through the trading session on Monday, in line with markets across Europe, as slightly easing geopolitical tensions lifted investor sentiment. The benchmark SMI, which moved between 13,817.23 and 13,895.90, settled with a gain of 90.44 points or 0.66% at 13,877.84. The market had closed on a strong note on Friday like several other markets in Europe, as slightly easing geopolitical tensions and a drop in oil prices helped underpin sentiment. The SMI ended up 150.40 points or 1.1% that day. Straumann Holding, Galderma Group and Sandoz Group gained 1.8%-2%. Givaudan, Amrize, Julius Baer, Sonova and Holcim ended higher by 1.2%-1.4%. Logitech International, Swiss Life Holding, Richemont, Novartis, Swiss Re, Roche, SGS, Alcon, Sika, Schindler Ps, Zurich Insurance and ABB also closed on positive note. VAT Group ended 1.1% down, while Lindt & Spruengli and Swisscom closed lower by 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively.

Europe
European markets closed on a firm note on Monday, extending gains from previous session as lower bond yields and hopes of Russia-Ukraine 'energy ceasefire' helped underpin sentiment. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.65%. The UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.99%, Germany's DAX ended with a gain of 0.76% and France's CAC settled higher by 0.38%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed with sharp to moderate gains. Norway edged up marginally, while Iceland and Türkiye ended weak. In the UK market, bank stocks moved higher, contributing significantly to market's strong close. Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC Holdings both ended higher by about 2.35%. Standard Chartered, Barclays and Natwest Group gained 1.7%-1.9%. Convatec Group moved up nearly 5%. Lion Finance gained 2.75%. Diageo, Burberry Group, Smith & Nephew, Reckitt Benckiser, Haleon, Coca-Cola HBC, Aviva, National Grid, British Land, Pearson, Relx, Weir, Tesco, Smiths Group, JD Sports Fashion, Unilever, Autrader Group, Legal & General, Whitbread and Segro moved up 1.3%-2.1%. Shares of recruiter Hays Plc tanked 8% after the company reported a 3% drop in first quarter like-for-like net fees. Informa drifted down nearly 2.5%. WPP, IG Group Holdings, Vodafone Group and Polar Capital Technology Trust ended lower by 1.2%-2%. In the German market, Rheinmetall moved up nearly 3%. RWE gained about 2.3%. SAP, Fresenius, Hannover RE, Zalando, Beiersdorf, Siemens, Deutsche Post, Siemens Healthineers, Deutsche Bank, Scout24, Hochtief, Henkel, Deutsche Telekom, Symrise, Fresenius Medical Care, E.ON and Siemens Energy gained 1%-1.6%.

United States
Energy stocks and oil prices rose after continued attacks in both Ukraine and the Middle East complicated President Trump's recent efforts to lower fuel costs. Major indexes ended mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 195.60 points, or 0.38%, to 51850.55. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 slipped 4.30 points, or 0.06%, to 7807.24 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 120.27 points, or 0.44%, to 27245.90. Bumble shares soared roughly 50% after The Wall Street Journal reported the company was in advanced talks to go private at a valuation of around $1 billion. Some memory-chip stocks declined, as investors worried about news that China's ChangXin Memory Technologies hit a new milestone in the development of a chip that can store more data. Micron Technology, Sandisk and Seagate Technology all traded lower. Investors sold off IonQ after the quantum-computing company struck an all-stock deal to buy the cybersecurity firm Elisity for $1.3 billion. Shares of Salesforce advanced 2.1% after Bank of America upgraded its stock to buy from underperform. The analysts expressed confidence in Saleforce's strategy to maintain relevance despite AI threats to traditional software providers.

Asia
East Asian share markets are seeing sharp falls in some cases on Tuesday. The technology-heavy Seoul stock exchange is under particular pressure, with the Kospi down 6.3 per cent. The index is thus extending its losses from the previous day. Shares in the index heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have slumped by 8.0 and 9.0 per cent respectively.

Bonds
The U.S. bond markets were closed on Monday to mark Columbus Day.

Analysis
Jefferies raises its Roche target to 250 (230) CHF – Underperform
Jefferies lowers its Volvo Cars target to 15.20 (20) SEK – Hold
Bank of America raises its Tesco target to 570 (540) GBp – 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.