Microsoft services such as Outlook and Teams are experiencing outages worldwide. A company spokesperson said Microsoft is working to resolve the issues affecting Microsoft 365 services, including the AI software Copilot, and to restore the services as quickly as possible. “We have no indication of a cyberattack,” the spokesperson added. However, initial efforts were not as successful as hoped. The company announced on X that changes made to improve operational readiness are not having the desired effect. It is exploring ways to increase capacity to enable a better flow of information while simultaneously working on a solution for the system. “We are seeing a partial recovery in the regions where we have made these adjustments,” Microsoft stated on X. “However, these measures are not leading to a sustained recovery, which is why we are exploring what additional steps we can take.”

The Swiss stock market closed on a firm note on Thursday after moving in a narrow range modestly above the flat line throught the session session. The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 15,200.17 a few minutes after the opening bell, ended the session with a gain of 95.57 points or 0.63% at 15,149.43. Zurich Insurance gained 1.4%. For the nine-month period to September 30, the company's Property & Casualty business reported gross written premiums of $42.138 billion, higher than $38.916 billion in the same period last year. Insurance revenue from the Property & Casualty business moved up to $38.630 billion from $35.801 billion in the previous year. Sandoz Group and Logitech International gained 2.1% and 1.9%, respectively. Alcon, Roche, Novartis and Swiss Re moved up 1%-1.4%. Swiss Life Holding, Swisscom, Amrize, Kuehne + Nagel, Lindt & Spruengli, Nestle, Geberit and Straumann gained 0.6%-1%. Partners Group shed 3.1%. VAT Group and Sonova ended lower by 1.75% and 1.7%, respectively. UBS Group ended 1.1% down. ABB, Julius Baer and Galderma Group also closed weak.

Europa
European markets pared early gains and despite slipping into negative territory a little past midafternoon recovered to close modestly higher on Thursday thanks to some brisk buying at several counters in the final hour. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.14%. The UK's FTSE ended higher by 0.26%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.41% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.34%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Russia and Spain ended weak. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Poland and Turkiye closed higher. Norway, Portugal and Sweden ended flat. In the UK market, miners declined sharply, contributing to market's weak close. Endeavour Mining tumbled 8.4%. Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Anglo American lost 3%, 2.8% and 2%, respectively. Rio Tinto shed nearly 1%. Babcock International drifted lower by 4.3%. ICG dropped 3.7%. Coca-Cola HBC, Spirax Group, Halma, IAG and Intercontinental Hotels Group also ended notably lower. BAE Systems lost about 1.1% despite the defense firm raising its free cash flow projection for the second time this year. Burberry Group soared 8%. The luxury fashion house reported a 225% jump in first half adjusted operating profit. Discount retailer B&M European Value Retail zoomed more than 17% after first-half sales, margins and profit beat forecasts. 3i Group surged nearly 6% after unveiling a new £750 million buyback programme and increasing its stake in its flagship investment. Rolls-Royce Holdings rallied 2%. Land Securities, United Utilities, Rentokil Initial, National Grid, BT Group, Croda International, Barratt Redrow, Pearson, Kingfisher, British American Tobacco, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Diageo, Smith & Nephew, Next, Marks & Spencer, Admiral Group and The Sage Group gained 1%-2.2%.

Stati Uniti
U.S. stocks slipped after the sudden ouster of one of the key architects of the artificial-intelligence boom sent shockwaves through the technology sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 189.40 points, or 0.36%, to 52297.09. The broad S&P 500 lost 26.98 points, or 0.35%, to 7592.40 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 100.10 points, or 0.39%, to 25366.09. Nvidia shares declined again sliding 4.3% to $166.19 and tumbled 31% from their all-time high closing price of $243.37 on Oct. 6. The maker of premium AI-enabling chips ousted Chief Executive Jensen Huang and replaced him with Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress on an interim basis. The change came after Huang admitted to two extramarital affairs: one with a suspected spy for China and the other with a company employee. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices, a major Nvidia competitor, rose 5.9% to $585.30. CoreWeave shares retreated 6.9% to $56.60. The cloud-computing firm works closely with Nvidia and uses the company's chips for the data centers it develops and leases to AI companies. Shares of CoreWeave rival Nebius tumbled 17% to $128.64 after it cut its full-year revenue growth projection, citing hitches with third-party capacity. Despite those delays, contracts with those companies are still in place, Nebius said. Meanwhile, SMIC, China's largest contract chip manufacturer, posted a surge in revenue, driven by AI demand. Similarly, Chinese electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology forecast strong demand for AI servers, although the company noted some uncertainty injected by the results of the U.S. midterm elections.

Asia
On the Asian stock markets, most bourses are trading lower in late trading on Friday. South Korea’s technology-heavy Kospi index is down 1.5 per cent, having opened more than 2 per cent higher.

Obbligazioni
The yield on the policy-sensitive two-year U.S. Treasury rose 0.137 percentage point to 4.862%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note added 0.114 percentage point to 5.102%, the highest since Oct. 21. The yield on the 30-year bond rose 0.084 percentage point to 5.433%, the largest two-day yield gain since April 9, 2025.

Analisi
Jefferies raises its Julius Bär’s target price to CHF 69 (56) – Hold
Jefferies raises its Henkel’s target price to EUR 85 (78) – Hold
Citi raises its Air France-KLM’s target price to EUR 14.60 (12.20) – Neutral