Stock market listing would give UMG firepower to compete with rivals Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Shares in Vivendi surged 19,6% on Monday after the French media group said that it may spin out Universal Music Group business in Amsterdam and distribute 60% of the capital to investors by year end, as it looks to cash in on the rising value of music assets. The listing would give UMG, which is the world's biggest music company and is home to singers including Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Kanye West, the financial firepower to compete with rivals Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony Music Entertainment, amid a boom in music streaming services. Vivendi , which is controlled by billionaire Vincent Bollore, announced the plan on Saturday after it completed the sale of a 10% stake in UMG to a consortium led by Tencent Holdings , which valued UMG at EUR30 billion ($36.4 billion). The Tencent-led group now owns 20% of the unit.

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Buoyant sentiment sent the SMI up 0.6 percent to 10,941 points Monday. Hopes of conquering the Covid-19 pandemic with the ongoing vaccine campaigns, along with stimulus packages like the trillion-dollar US measures, continued to fire expectations of an economic recovery this year. However, rising yields could be a danger to the stock markets, although financial stocks profit from them. International leads were few, with US and Chinese markets closed for public holidays. The steeper yield curve saw UBS rise 1.8 percent and Credit Suisse 2.9 percent. Insurers like Zurich Insurance and Swiss Re also surged. The pharmaceutical heavyweights had mixed fortunes. Roche closed unchanged; Novartis rose 0.5 percent. Heavyweight Nestle lagged the market, gaining only 0.1 percent. Luxury goods stocks Swatch (+0.5 percent) and Richemont (+1.3 percent) continued to profit from the strong economy of their key market, China. Cyclical stocks ABB rose 0.6 percent, while Lafargeholcim surged 1.8 percent.

European stocks rise as optimism about a potential re-opening of economies boosts oil, mining, banking and travel-related shares. The Stoxx Europe 600 is up 1.3%, the FTSE 100 increases 2.5% and the DAX and CAC-40 gain 1.4% and 0.4% respectively. Among the biggest pan-European risers are BP, BHP Group, Glencore, Anglo American, ING Groep, Societe Generale, TUI and International Consolidated Airlines Group. Shares in Lanxess AG jumped on Monday after the German chemicals company agreed to acquire Emerald Kalama Chemical BV for around $1.04 billion from private-equity firm American Securities LLC. Lanxess said Sunday that it expects to close the deal to buy the Netherlands-based chemical company, which has an enterprise value of $1.08 billion, in the second half of 2021. Akasol AG said Monday that U.S. auto supplier BorgWarner Inc. will launch a voluntary public takeover offer for all of the German battery maker's outstanding shares after entering in a strategic partnership. BorgWarner Inc.'s subsidiary Blitz F21-842 AG will make an offer of 120 euros ($145.43) a share in cash, which represents a premium of 23.4% to the three-month average share price prior to the announcement.

U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

The upward trend on the East Asian stock exchanges continued on Tuesday. Hong Kong, where business had been suspended since Thursday due to the New Year's celebrations, is now back in the mix. The HSI rises strongly by 1.5 per cent. In Shanghai, trading resumes on Thursday. The Nikkei index in Tokyo rose another 2.1 per cent to 30,626 points. Only the previous day it had broken the 30,000 mark for the first time since 1990. In Seoul and Sydney, the gains are somewhat smaller at up to 0.7 per cent.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were last at 1.24%, as the global bond selloff continued on Tuesday.

UBS lowers the ING target to 10 (10,80) EUR – Buy
Dt. Bank rises the Credit Agricole target to 13,70 (13) EUR – Buy
UBS lowers the Dürr target to 36 (27,50) EUR – Neutral

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