Beijing and Washington are discussing a trade deal that could include fresh orders totaling hundreds of Boeing jets, people familiar with the matter said. The purchase is envisioned as a component of a more expansive trade deal if the world’s two largest economies can reach an agreement in the next few months, they said. The purchase discussions were earlier reported by Bloomberg News, which said China could buy as many as 500 jets from the American plane maker. U.S. passenger-jet orders are becoming a favored concession for countries looking to improve tariff terms from American authorities. Qatar’s state-owned airline in May agreed to buy up to 210 wide-body 787 and 777X jets from Boeing as part of a broader bilateral agreement. Announced trade deals with the U.K., Japan and Indonesia have also tacked on pledges to buy a certain number of the American airplanes. Talks between the two superpowers are significantly more complex. The two sides are at odds over a range of trade and national-security considerations that cover everything from the supply of precious minerals to the delivery of artificial-intelligence chips.

The Swiss market ended modestly lower on Thursday after languishing in negative territory right through the day's trading session, as the mood remained cautious with investors looking ahead to speeches from central bank chiefs at Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Symposium. The benchmark SMI closed down by 34.59 points or 0.28% at 12,241.67, after scaling a low of 12,186.82 and a high of 12,261.22 intraday. Alcon ended down by 2.56%. Straumann Holding, Kuehne + Nagel, Geberit, SGS, Givaudan and Adecca lost 1.3 to 2%. Sika, Schindler Ps, Lonza Group, Sonova, Partners Group, Richemont, VAT Group, Swiss Re, SIG Group and Lindt & Spruengli closed lower by 0.5 to 1.1%. Sandoz Group climbed about 1%. Logitech International and Novartis gained about 0.65% and 0.5%, respectively. Julius Baer, Swisscom and Amrize edged up marginally. In economic news, Switzerland's foreign trade surplus increased slightly in July, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed. The trade surplus rose to CHF 4.33 billion in July from CHF 4.18 billion in June. In nominal terms, exports were 2.7% lower, while imports showed a decrease of 4.2%. In real terms, exports and imports declined by 2.7% and 0.3%, respectively. Shipments of chemical-pharmaceutical products decreased by 7.9% over the month, while those of jewelry items climbed by 7.9%.

Europe
European stocks turned in another mixed performance as investors stayed a bit cautious on Thursday, looking ahead to Federal Reserve's symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and largely shrugging off trade concerns. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended flat. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.23%, and Germany's DAX edged down 0.07%, while France's CAC 40 closed down 0.4%. Switzerland's SMI drifted down 0.28%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Turkiye ended higher. Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia and Sweden closed weak, while Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland and Spain settled flat. In the UK market, Endeavour Mining climbed 2.35%. BAE Systems, Babcock International, Natwest Group, Prudential, Fresnillo, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Anglo American Plc, Whitbread, Tesco and British American Tobacco gained 1 to 2%. Legal & General Group shares closed down 2.4%. Schroders, Persimmon, Croda International, Barratt Redrow, St. James's Place, Rentokil Initial, Mondi and Coca-Cola HBC also ended notably lower. In the German market, Rheinmetall rallied about 3.5%. Commerzbank gained nearly 3%, while Siemens Energy advanced 1.35%. Deutsche Bank, RWE, Fresenius and Qiagen also ended with impressive gains. Sartorius, Beiersdorf, Deutsche Post, Daimler Truck Holding, BASF, Heidelberg Materials, Brenntag, Merck and Symrise lost 1 to 2.7%. In the French market, Safran climbed about 1.2%. Airbus, STMicroElectronics, Thales, Societe Generale, TotalEnergies and Sanofi gained 0.5 to 1%. ArcelorMittal closed down by about 2.5%. Pernod Ricard, LVMH, Hermes International, Stellantis, Kering and L'Oreal also ended with notable losses. In economic news, Germany's private sector grew the most in five months in August driven by the upturn in manufacturing output, purchasing managers' survey data from S&P Global showed.

United States
Stocks fluctuated early in the session on Thursday before mostly lower over the course of the trading day. The major averages all moved to the downside on the day, with the S&P 500 closing lower for the fifth consecutive session. The major averages finished the day off their worst levels but still in negative territory. The S&P 500 slid 25.61 points or 0.4 percent to 6,370.17, the Nasdaq fell 75.55 points or 0.3 percent to21,100.31 and the Dow declined 152.81 points or 0.3 percent to 44,785.50. The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday. Powell's remarks could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting in September. 'Powell is likely to keep his cards close to his vest, emphasize that the Fed cares very much about their dual mandate and explain that they are data dependent and will need to see the jobs report (9/5) and the two inflation reports (9/10-9/11) before they can make a determination whether or not to cut interest rates on September 17th,' said Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Northlight Asset Management. On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by much more than expected in the week ended August 16th. The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 235,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 224,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 225,000. Retail stocks saw significant weakness amid the steep drop by Walmart, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index down by 1.2 percent. Notable weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.0 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Asia
At the end of the week, stock markets in East Asia are showing mixed trends. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is down slightly, with the Nikkei 225 falling by 0.1 per cent. Although consumer inflation cooled slightly in July, it remained well above the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) target of 2.0 per cent, reinforcing expectations of an imminent interest rate hike.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved to the downside as traders look ahead to Powell's speech. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 3.4 basis points to 4.330 percent.

Analysis
Bank of America lowers Alcon target to CHF 80 (89) – Buy
UBS lowers Docmorris target to CHF 5.90 (8) – Sell
Berenberg lowers Sensirion to Hold (Buy) – Target CHF 81 (85)