On Thursday, Swiss equities made a notable recovery, bolstered by recent earnings reports and economic data releases across Europe. The Swiss Market Index closed the trading session up by 0.68%. Among the companies that released their financial results were Swiss Re, a prominent reinsurance company, Swiss Life, a leading life insurer, and Orascom Development, an established real estate firm.
Swiss Re experienced a significant decline in its third-quarter group net income, dropping to $102 million from $1.02 billion in the previous year, with revenue also showing a downward trend. However, the group is optimistic, projecting that net income for the full year 2024 will surpass $3 billion, assuming typical loss activity for the remainder of the year.
At the close, Swiss Re's stock increased by 0.54%. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets commented, "Headline figures were as pre-announced and expected Hurricane Milton losses of <$300m appear to be contained within the updated FY target of >$3bn. SREN is in much better shape now and benefiting from the hard market, but at the same time it is still paying for prior mistakes in Casualty.
Floor levels within forward guidance signal confidence in keeping Casualty risks in check, and we patiently anticipate earnings delivery over the course of this year, which should help settle some nerves." On the pharmaceutical front, Curatis, a Swiss company, saw a significant stock increase of 9.93% after revealing its plan to apply for a biologic license for its innovative C-PTBE-01 drug in the US.
This drug is aimed at treating diffuse midline glioma, a particularly aggressive brain tumor that primarily impacts children. Shifting focus to the broader euro area, there was a 0.4% rise in seasonally adjusted gross domestic product in the third quarter, following a 0.2% increase in the second quarter.
Year-over-year, the GDP for the bloc grew by 0.9% in the third quarter..