Corporate results:

  • Alphabet's share price declined by 6.9% before the opening, while Microsoft's gained 3.2% after both  companies posted their results. 
  • ASM International exceeded its sales target thanks to its activities in China.
  • Banco Santander reported better-than-expected results.
  • Beiersdorf raised its sales forecast for 2023 thanks to solid results for the first nine months of the year.
  • Deutsche Bank does better than expected in Q3.
  • Heineken confirmed its forecasts, with lower volumes offset by higher prices.
  • Porsche AG confirmed its annual forecasts.
  • Reckitt Benckiser planed a £1 billion share buyback following lower sales.
  • Snap jumped 24% after its results.
  • Symrise misses third-quarter sales estimates.
  • Texas Instruments falls 4.6% after its quarterly results.
  • Uniper refined its outlook for 2023.
  • Visa is stable after its fourth-quarter earnings beat estimates on Tuesday,
  • Texas Instruments reported fourth-quarter sales below Wall Street estimates.
  • Snap expects fourth-quarter sales of between $1.32 billion and $1.38 billion, following higher-than-expected sales and user growth in the third quarter. 
  • Hilton Worldwide raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast.
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific - The medical equipment manufacturer cut its annual profit forecast.
  • CME Group reported a rise in third-quarter earnings as traders used its products to hedge against market volatility.

In other news:

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) said Wednesday it would launch a sovereign cloud solution in Europe for governments and customers in highly regulated industries.
  • General Electric - In an interview, CEO Larry Culp said GE was targeting a 20% to 25% year-on-year increase in deliveries of LEAP jet engines used on medium-haul aircraft for 2024, up from 40% to 45% this year. The company had previously forecast 50% growth in 2023.
  • Qualcomm gave details on Tuesday of a chip designed for Microsoft’s notebooks and available from next year. The chip has been redesigned to better handle artificial intelligence tasks, and is said to be faster than some of Apple's competitors' chips.
  • General Motors - Honda Motor is abandoning plans to develop low-cost electric vehicles with the US automaker due to the changing business environment, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
  • Sunpower - The solar company falls 9.5% before the open, after declaring that its unaudited financial reports for the first and second quarters of 2023, as well as its audited annual report for the period ending January 1, 2023, should no longer be used.
  • The Federal Reserve is expected to propose on Wednesday a review of the fees banks can charge retailers for card transactions, which generated around $24.31 billion for the sector in 2019, according to the Fed's most recent data.
  • Apple organizes a special "Scary Fast" event on October 31 (rumor has it, to present new Macs).
  • On the eve of the publication of its results, Meta Platforms is rocked by the complaint filed by dozens of US states for endangering the mental health of young people.
  • Infineon completes acquisition of GaN Systems for $830 million.
  • VF Corp, already under pressure to make changes from Engaged Capital, faces further pressure from a second activist investor, Legion Partners Asset Management.
  • Nvidia and Lenovo collaborate on hybrid AI solutions for enterprises.
  • Enel sells stake in Chile for €525m.

Today's main earnings reports: Air Liquide, Boeing, IBM, Heineken, Automatic Data Processing, General Dynamics Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Moody's Corporation, Banco Santander, Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, CME Group, Meta Platforms, ServiceNow, Equinix, T-Mobile US, Atlas Copco, LG Energy Solution,... The full earnings calendar is here.