Netflix shares rose about 4% afterhours as the streaming giant reported that revenue and operating margins continued to improve even as subscriber growth slowed, a sign the company is having success in pivoting toward profitability over growth. Netflix added 5.07 million subscribers in the third quarter, compared with 8.76 million net new subscribers during the period a year earlier. The company ended the quarter with 282.7 million global subscribers, up from 247.15 million subscribers a year ago. Revenue of $9.83 billion was up 15% from a year earlier and beat its projections of $9.73 billion. Net income rose 41% from the same period a year ago to $2.36 billion, although a drop in the fourth quarter to $1.85 billion was forecast.

The Swiss market ended on a bright note on Monday with stocks holding early gains thanks to sustained buying right through the day's session. Investors digested the nation's producer price inflation data and looked ahead to the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement. The SMI closed up 105.04 points or 0.86% at 12,259.23, after scaling a low of 12,176.38 and a high of 12,266.58 intraday. VAT Group gained a little over 3% and Lonza Group ended almost 3% up. Logitech International climbed 2.62% and UBS Group ended up 2.05%. Givaudan ended higher by 1.67%, while Swiss Re, ABB and Sandoz Group gained 1.3 to 1.5%. SGS, Partners Group, Holcim, Kuehne + Nagel, Sonova, Alcon and Novartis ended up 0.8 to 1.2%. Sika, Swiss Life Holding, Swisscom, Schindler Ps, Julius Baer, Straumann Holding, Zurich Insurance Group and Geberit also closed on a firm note. Swatch Group ended nearly 2.5% down. SIG Group closed down 0.93% and Richemont ended 0.42% down. Shares of industrial fastening and assembly technology company Bossard plunged more than 8% following a year-over-year drop in third-quarter group net sales to 240.4 million francs from 249.8 million francs. The company also anticipates sales in the fourth quarter to remain subdued.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Thursday with investors cheering the European Central Bank's rate cut announcement, and digesting a slew of corporate earnings updates and regional and U.S. economic data. The ECB cut key interest rates by 25 basis points, as expected, as policymakers assessed that the disinflation process is on track, although they are increasingly concerned over the health of the euro area economy following some soft data released since the September policy session. The Governing Council, led by ECB President Christine Lagarde, lowered the deposit facility rate by a quarter basis point to 3.25% following the rate-setting session held in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.83%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.67%, Germany's DAX closed higher by 0.77% and France's CAC 40 ended with a gain of 1.22%, while Switzerland's SMI settled 0.91% up. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher. Austria and Iceland edged up marginally. Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain ended weak. In the UK market, Rentokil Initial climbed 8.75%, riding on strong performance in North America in the latest quarter. Melrose Industries, Informa, Anglo American Plc and Barclays Group gained 3.5 to 4%. Entain, 3i Group, Diageo, ICG, Fresenillo, Natwest Group, Tesco, WPP, Scottish Mortgage, Endeavour Mining, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Pershing Square Holdings, Sage Group and Intertek Group gained 1.5 to 3%. Mondi tumbled nearly 7.5%. United Utilities Group, Rio Tinto, Persimmon, Smiths Group, Croda International, Vodafone Group, Prudential, Land Securities Group and Smith (DS) lost 1 to 2%.

United States
Stocks saw modest strength for much of the session on Thursday before giving back ground late in the trading day to close roughly flat. The Dow still managed to reach a new record closing high. The Dow ended the day up 161.35 points or 0.4 percent at 43,239.05, while the Nasdaq crept up 6.53 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 18,373.61 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.00 point or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,841.47. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.4 percent in September after edging up by 0.1 percent in August. Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.3 percent. Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales climbed by 0.5 percent in September after rising by 0.2 percent in August. Ex-auto sales were expected to inch up by 0.1 percent.Shares of Blackstone traded higher after the world’s largest private-markets money manager easily beat quarterly profit estimates. Blackstone stock rose 5% to $167.70, on track for an all-time high, according to Dow Jones Market Data, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3%. For its third quarter, the company reported distributable earnings—profit the firm can return to shareholders—of $1.01 per share, beating Wall Street’s call for 91 cents, according to FactSet. Lucid stock fell sharply Thursday after the electric-vehicle manufacturer said it planned a substantial public offering and projected wider-than-expected losses for the third quarter. Shares plummeted 18% to $2.69 in Thursday trading. The S&P 500 was flat and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%. The public offering will involve 262 million shares, the company said late Wednesday. Proceeds will be used for capital expenditures, working capital, and other things, Lucid said.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia and Australia did not show a uniform trend on Friday. While the Chinese stock exchanges recorded gains, the stock markets in South Korea and Australia fell. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index rose slightly by 0.1 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries gave back ground after trending higher over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 7.7 basis points at 4.093 percent.

Analysis
Citi lowers Givaudan to Neutral (Buy) – Target CHF 4,650 (4,750)
BoA lowers Totalenergies target to EUR 72 (73) – Buy
Deutsche Bank lowers Stellantis target to EUR 14 (23) – Hold

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