Lonza said it will focus on its core business including drug development, with restructuring and a divestment planned to boost growth. As part of the review, the Swiss life-science company said it will exit the capsules and health-ingredients business and outline next steps in the coming year. It will keep its CDMO division providing drug development and manufacturing to other pharmaceutical companies, but simplify its setup. The new structure is set to be operational from the second quarter of next year, it said Thursday. The exit of the capsules business in due course will remove a drag on the group’s growth and strengthen the balance sheet, RBC Capital Markets analyst Charles Weston said in a research note. It will also provide firepower for a more dynamic mergers-and-acquisitions strategy, he said. The reorganization shows that the new Chief Executive Wolfgang Wienand is stamping his mark on the group, the analyst said. The update sent shares 6.6% higher at 557 Swiss francs in European morning trading.

The Switzerland market exhibited some weakness early on in the session on Thursday, and despite a smart recovery, failed to sustain momentum but still managed to end the day on a positive note thanks to some brisk buying at a few top counters. The Swiss National Bank announced a bigger than expected 50-basis point cut in interest rate today. At the first policy meeting of Martin Schlegel as chairman, the policy rate was lowered to 0.5% from 1%. The new rate takes effect on December 13. The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 11,783.78 around mid morning from an early low of 11,652.49, ended the session with a gain of 33.98 points or 0.29% at 11,715.95. Richemont gained about 1.5%, while UBS Group and Holcim closed higher by 1.13% and 1.08%, respectively. Lindt & Spruengli, Alcon and Swatch Group posted modest gains. Adecco closed 3.4% down. Kuehne + Nagel ended down 2.8%, and VAT Group closed with a loss of 1.42%. Partners Group closed nearly 1% down. while Swiss Life Insurance, Schindler Ps, Sika, Sandoz Group and Julius Baer lost 0.5 to 0.9%. Amid easing inflationary pressures, the Swiss National Bank reduced its benchmark rate by a sharper-than-expected 50 basis points to curb the strength of the Swiss franc.

Europe
European stocks closed on a mixed note on Thursday with investors digesting the European Central Bank's decision to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, and weighing the prospects of another cut in the first quarter of 2025. The pan European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.14%. France's CAC 40 edged down 0.03%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX gained 0.12% and 0.13%, respectively. Switzeland's SMI gained 0.29%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland and Portugal closed higher. Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended weak, while Norway and Turkiye closed flat. The ECB lowered its key interest rate by 25 basis points again, in line with economists' expectations, as policymakers assessed that the disinflation process is on track though growth concerns remain. The Governing Council, led by ECB President Christine Lagarde, cut the key policy rate - the deposit rate - by a quarter-basis point to 3% on Thursday. The previous change was a reduction by the same volume in October following a similar cut in September. The main refinancing rate or the refi was reduced to 3.15% and the marginal lending facility rate to 3.4%. '[The Governing Council] will follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance,' the ECB said. ECB policymakers will base their interest rate decisions on the 'assessment of the inflation outlook in light of the incoming economic and financial data, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission', the bank added. 'The Governing Council is not pre-committing to a particular rate path.'

United States
Stocks recovered from an early pullback during trading on Thursday but moved back to the downside over the course of the session. With the downward move, the Dow closed lower for the sixth consecutive session. The major averages fell to new lows for the session going into the close of trading. The Dow slid 234.44 points or 0.5 percent to 43,914.12, the Nasdaq declined 132.05 points or 0.7 percent to 19,902.84 and the S&P 500 fell 32.94 points or 0.5 percent to 6,051.25. The weakness on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on the strong performance seen on Wednesday, when the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed above 20,000 for the first time ever. Some negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of November. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.4 percent in November after rising by an upwardly revised 0.3 percent in October. Significant weakness was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.7 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. Airline stocks also came under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.5 percent. Energy stocks also saw considerable weakness amid a decrease by the price of crude oil, while networking stocks showed a notable move to the upside on the day. Adobe stock was falling after the maker of Photoshop provided disappointing revenue guidance. Adobe said it expects first-quarter revenue to be between $5.63 billion and $5.68 billion, which was below the FactSet consensus of $5.72 billion. The company also said it expects fiscal 2025 revenue to be between $23.3 billion and $23.6 billion, which is below estimates of $23.8 billion.

Asia
The East Asian stock exchanges fell on the last trading day of the week. Market participants are pointing to the weak conditions on Wall Street. The Chinese stock markets fell particularly sharply. There is disappointment that no concrete large-scale stimuli for the Chinese economy were announced at the Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC). The Shanghai Composite lost 1.3 per cent and the Hang Seng Index fell by 1.5 per cent. The losses on the other trading centres were somewhat lower. The Nikkei-225 in Tokyo fell by 1.0 per cent and the Sydney Stock Exchange lost 0.4 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the pullback seen over the past few sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 5.3 basis points to 4.324 percent.

Analysis
UBS lowers the Emmi target to CHF 715 (855) – Sell
BoA lowers the Inditex target to EUR 59 (61) – Buy
UBS lowers the Carlsberg target to DKK 800 (870) – Neutral

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