Palo Alto Networks reported higher revenue in the third quarter and lifted its outlook as customers continued to beef up their cybersecurity in the face of heightened threats from artificial-intelligence models. Chief Executive Officer Nikesh Arora said the results should demonstrate that fears of a so-called “SaaS-Pocalypse,” in which AI-native firms will come to displace legacy software incumbents, are misplaced as applied to the cybersecurity industry. “Actually, the capabilities of these models, especially in the cyber space, are causing a renewed interest from our customers to go ahead and deploy much more modern solutions, acting more as a tailwind to the cybersecurity industry as opposed to the death of the cybersecurity industry,” Arora said in an interview. As advanced AI models enable cheaper and faster cyberattacks, Palo Alto has been betting that customers will want to unite fragmented cybersecurity measures into one unified platform, a process the company calls “platformization.” That strategy is paying off, Arora said, with the company notching more than 110 platformizations during the quarter. “The market was a bit skeptical, but we have steadily proven over the last two years that customers who platformize are spending more money with us and have a very high retention rate,” Arora said in an interview, adding that those customers also spend more when they renew.

The Swiss stocks market ended flat on Tuesday despite spending much of the day's trading session in positive territory. The benchmark SMI, which climbed to a high of 13,394.73, settled at 13,305.72, just above previous close of 13,305.40. VAT Group jumped nearly 5%. Logitech International rallied 3.7% and ABB gained 3.21%, while Kuehne + Nagel and Amrize both ended up by about 2.25%. Sika gained 1.61% and Julius Baer moved up 1.17%. Julius Baer, Geberit, Holcim and Richemont posted modest gains. Roche, Sandoz Group, SGS, Alcon and Swiss Re ended down by 1.4%-2.5%. Lindt & Spruengli and Novartis shed 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively. Data from the Federal Customs Administration showed Switzerland's trade surplus widened to CHF 3.2 billion in April from a downwardly revised and more-than-two-year low of CHF 2.6 billion in the previous month. Exports edged up 0.1% month-over-month to a three-month high of CHF 22.3 billion. Meanwhile, imports dropped 3.0% month-over-month to CHF 19.0 billion.

Europa
European stocks closed higher on Tuesday as reports about Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and reported discussions between Iran and the U.S. helped ease concerns about Middle East tensions. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.66%. The UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.33%, Germany's DAX closed higher by 0.48% and France's CAC 40 ended with a gain of 0.77%. Switzerland's SMI ended flat. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains. Greece edged up marginally. Belgium, Denmark and Iceland ended weak, while Norway and Portugal closed flat. In the UK market, mining stocks turned in a fine performance. Antofagasta climbed 6.5%, Glencore moved up 4.57% and Anglo American Plc gained 4.1%, while Rio Tinto jumped 3.2%. Barclays and Standard Chartered moved up 3.4% and 2.7%, respectively. Intercontinental Hotels Group, Marks & Spencer, Metlen Energy & Metals, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Kingfisher, IMI and Next gained 2%-3.4%. Airtel Africa, The Sage Group, Endeavour Mining, Experian, LSEG, Relx, United Utilities, British American Tobacco, SSE, Haleon, AstraZeneca and Tesco ended notably lower. In the German market, Infineon soared nearly 10%. Deutsche Post, Continental, Zalando, Fresenius, Daimler Truck Holding, Siemens, Scout24, Deutsche Bank and Adidas gained 2%-3%. SAP, Bayer, Deutsche Boerse, Fresenius Medical Care, Rheinmetall, Heidelberg Materials, E.ON, Gea Group and BMW lost 1%-3%. In the French market, STMicroelectronics zoomed nearly 15% after the chipmaker raised the revenue target for its data center business. The company cited strong demand for AI infrastructure to increase its revenue outlook. Danone gained about 4.5%. Schneider Electric climbed 4% and Kering moved up 2.7%. ArcelorMittal, BNP Paribas, Saint-Gobain, Michelin, Accor, Legrand and LVMH also posted strong gains. Capgemini dropped by about 7.6%. Dassault Systemes drifted down 4%, while Teleperformance, Carrefour, Bureau Veritas, Renault, Thales, Orange, Sanofi and EssilorLuxottica shed 1%-3%.

Stati Uniti
Wall Street was able to shake off early weakness and find modest gains on Tuesday, with each of the three major averages hitting record closing highs for the third day in a row. The Dow added 228.91 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 51,307.79, while the NASDAQ rose 7.09 points or 003 percent to close at 27,093.90 and the S&P 500 added 9.86 points or 0.13 percent to end at 7,609.82. Crude oil prices jumped on Tuesday as the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding has been delayed. Also, global energy watchdogs warn of accelerating crude oil inventory depletion. West Texas Intermediate crude for July was up $1.57 or 1.70 percent at $93.73 per barrel. While uncertainty about the situation in the Middle East has kept some traders on the sidelines, optimism about the AI trade continues to generate positive sentiment on Wall Street. Semiconductor stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index spiking by 4.5 percent to a record intraday high. GTLB is cutting 350 full-time employees, about 14% of its total workforce, as part of a restructuring it floated last month. The maker of software-development tools said weeks ago that layoffs were coming as it looked to remove layers of management from certain parts of its business and rework its research-and-development teams.

Asia
Strong gains in Tokyo and a significant fall in Hong Kong are shaping the market picture on Wednesday across East Asian stock markets. Elsewhere in the region, movements are more moderate, though gains are the dominant trend. The markets are being buoyed by the US indices hitting new records the previous day, although even modest gains were enough to drive this. The Topix in Tokyo is up 2.1 per cent, hitting another record high. The driver is the prospect of new government measures to support the economy. The cabinet has approved a draft supplementary budget worth the equivalent of $19.5 billion to tackle the high cost of living resulting from the war in Iran.

Obbligazioni
In the U.S, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.8 basis points at 4.447 percent.

Analisi
UBS raises SoftwareOne target to 9.40 (8.75) CHF – Buy
Vontobel raises Logitech target to 113 (101) CHF – Buy
Bank of America raises HSBC target to 1600 (1500) GBp – Buy

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