Wonder, a food-delivery startup led by former Walmart executive Marc Lore, agreed to buy Grubhub from Europe’s Just Eat Takeaway, in a deal that values the business at $650 million, including debt. Wonder will pay $150 million in cash and assume $500 million of debt, it said in a statement. Just Eat bought Grubhub in 2021 in a deal valued at over $7 billion. Grubhub had been in discussions to sell itself to Uber before it made a surprise move to join forces with Just Eat instead. But the deal drew criticism from Just Eat’s shareholders, some of whom argued it was a distraction. In 2022, Just Eat said it was considering selling Grubhub after its U.S. subsidiary reported a decline in orders following a sales boom during the pandemic. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that a deal was imminent. Wonder, launched in 2018, originally focused on operating mobile kitchens from a fleet of trucks that aimed to recreate meals from popular restaurants. Last year it switched strategies, closing the trucks and opening physical locations instead. It has a few dozen locations in the New York City area and aims to have 100 locations by the end of next year, Lore said in an interview last month.

The Switzerland market closed slightly down on Wednesday, after spending almost the entire duration of the day's session in the red. The benchmark SMI ended down 8.28 points or 0.07% at 11,703.81 after scaling a low of 11,616.57 and a high of 11,722.73 intraday. Adecco closed nearly 2% down. Givaudan, Partners Group and VAT Group ended lower by 1.3 to 1.6%. SIG Group, Sika, Geberit, Straumann Holding, Lindt & Spruengli, Julius Baer and Sonova lost 0.8 to 1.1%. Swiss Life Holding climbed 1.52%, and Sandoz Group gained 1.46%. Richemont and Zurich Insurance closed up 1.29% and 1.01%, respectively. Schindler Ps, Kuehne + Nagel, Swatch Group, ABB and Holcim also closed higher. Shares of SoftwareOne climbed nearly 8% after the company confirmed its revenue growth guidance for 2024 to be in the range of 2% to 5% in constant currency terms. Alcon edged up marginally after reporting a 6% (y-o-y) increase in third-quarter net sales to $2.43 billion.

Europe
European stocks closed lower on Wednesday amid concerns that Donald Trump's protectionist policies would put upward pressure on inflation and hamper global growth. Investors also digested regional economic data and earnings updates. The pan European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.13%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.16% and 0.14%, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.06%, while Switzerland's SMI settled lower by 0.07%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden closed weak. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Russia ended higher. In the UK market, Intermediate Capital Group closed down 7.2%. DCC ended down 3.79% and Convatec Group declined 3.03%. Smiths Group zoomed 10.5% after the engineering group resumed and increased its share buyback program. Flutter Entertainment, a leading operator in the online sports betting and iGaming industry, climbed nearly 7% after reporting robust third-quarter results. Babcock International gained 3.3% as the weapons maker reported a sharp jump in half-year profits and backed FY25 expectations. Vodafone Group gained 3% and Standard Chartered rallied 2.3%. Fresnillo, Diploma, Scottish Mortgage, AstraZeneca, Admiral Group, Ashtead Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Sage Group, Melrose Industries and HSBC Holdings gained 1 to 1.7%. In the German market, Infineon lost more than 4%. Bayer ended nearly 4% down, and Volkswagen drifted down almost 3%. Siemens Energy soared about 18% after the German utility sector supplier raised its mid-term targets and set a new record for its order book. RWE closed up nearly 7% after the company announced a €1.5 billion share buyback program. Brenntag gained about 2.3%.

United States
Stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line following the pullback seen in the previous session. The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 50.66 points or 0.3 percent to 19,230.74, the S&P 500 crept up 1.39 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,985.38 and the Dow inched up 47.21 points or 0.1 percent to 43,958.19. The choppy trading on Wall Street came following the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that came in line with economist estimates. The Labor Department said its consumer price index crept up by 0.2 percent in October, matching the upticks seen in each of the three previous months as well as expectations. The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth accelerated to 2.6 percent in October from 2.4 percent in September. The faster growth also came in line with economist estimates. Airline stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index plummeting by 7.3 percent. The index continued to give back ground after reaching its best closing level in over a year on Monday. A nosedive by shares of Spirit Airlines weigh on the sector, with the discount airline plunging by 59.3 percent after a report from the Wall Street Journal said Spirit is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection after merger talks with Frontier Airlines broke down. Significant weakness was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent slump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Asia
No uniform trend can be identified on the stock exchanges in East Asia and Australia on Thursday. While dissatisfaction with Beijing's measures to date to support the domestic economy and concerns about a possible deterioration in trade relations with the USA continue to weigh on the Chinese stock markets, the weaker yen is easing the selling pressure in Tokyo.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved modestly lower over the course of the session after seeing early strength. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, crept up 1.9 basis points to a four-month closing high of 4.451 percent after hitting a low of 4.359 percent.

Analysis
Bank of America raises Infineon target to 36 (34) EUR/buy – Trader
HSBC raises Endesa to Buy (Hold) – Target EUR 24.20 (21.60)
HSBC raises Enel target to EUR 8.20 (8) – Buy

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