Swiss Market Index Retreats; Novartis Shares Decline

11:50 AM EDT, 10/08/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Swiss equities slipped into the red on Thursday following a fresh sell-off in global bond markets amid a quiet day of local economic news. At the end of the trading session, the Swiss Market Index was down 1.24%. Swiss federal pension fund Publica confirmed a data leak after one of its external software suppliers suffered a cyberattack at the end of September, noting that it is currently working with federal authorities to determine the extent of the data affected. An investigation into the matter has also been launched by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland. In corporate news, Novartis (NOVN.SW) secured approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the use of its Rhapsido drug in treating adults with symptomatic dermographism insufficiently controlled by H1 antihistamines. The Swiss drugmaker's stock shed 1.92% at closing. "With the FDA approval in SD, Rhapsido is now the only treatment indicated for the two most common forms of chronic hives: [chronic spontaneous urticaria] and [symptomatic dermographism]. Beyond SD, the RemIND study also evaluated remibrutinib in additional forms of [chronic inducible urticaria], including cold urticaria (ColdU) and cholinergic urticaria (CholU). The company plans to submit the full RemIND dataset to health authorities globally, where appropriate," Novartis said. Meanwhile, Addex Therapeutics' (ADXN.SW) spin-out company Neurosterix plans to advance its NTX-253 treatment for schizophrenia into phase 2 clinical development after completing phase 1 studies. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company's shares closed the session 9.65% in the red. Outside Switzerland and on the geopolitical front, US President Donald Trump said at a campaign rally that a deal with Iran "isn't really something that I want to do," CNBC reported. The statement follows an NBC News report that Trump and his national security team are looking at potentially restarting large-scale US military operations in Iran ahead of the US midterm elections.