According to an agency report, the software company Microsoft wants to strengthen itself with a billion-dollar purchase in the field of video games. As Bloomberg reports with reference to unnamed sources, Microsoft is currently negotiating the acquisition of the video game chat platform Discord for over 10 billion US dollars. However, according to Bloomberg, one of the sources said Discord preferred an IPO rather than selling itself. Discord has been in talks with Epic Games and Amazon in the past, according to other sources.

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The stock market in Switzerland showed its friendly side on Monday. The Wall Street was positive, although technology stocks were particularly sought after there. The Swiss market was also driven by corporate news. The SMI gained 0.7 per cent to 11,049 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 13 gainers and seven losers. 45.14 (previously: 127.77) million shares were traded. The shares of Richemont were conspicuously firm, gaining 3 per cent. In contrast, the shares of competitor Swatch were little changed. Analysts at UBS referred to a report in the respected luxury industry blog "Miss Tweed", according to which Richemont had rejected an informal offer from Kering in January. The cash and stock offer for the merger was said to have been made by Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault directly to Richemont chairman and major shareholder Johann Rupert. This caught the imagination of investors. Pharmaceutical company Roche has achieved the most important goal in a clinical trial with the antibody Tecentriq for a certain form of lung cancer. Treated patients were statistically significantly more likely to stay alive after surgery and chemotherapy than untreated patients, the company said. Tecentriq is already used in five indications for various forms of lung cancer worldwide. The share gained 2.1 per cent. Banking stocks bucked the trend and trended lower. Bond yields in the USA fell slightly on the reporting day. Credit Suisse fell by 0.4 per cent and UBS by 0.2 per cent.

The main European equity indices ended mixed on Monday, against the backdrop of new restrictions adopted in France and expected in Germany to contain the spread of the coronavirus and the difficulties encountered by vaccination campaigns in Europe. Investors also saw the Turkish stock market and the Turkish lira fall after the Turkish central bank governor was sacked. The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed up 0.2% at 424.2 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 lost 0.5% and 0.4% respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 gained 0.3%, as did London's FTSE 100. British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (+3.3% in London) announced on Monday that a study carried out in the United States on more than 32,000 people had shown that its vaccine against Covid-19 was safe and 79% effective in preventing the symptoms of the disease. Richemont shares were remarkably firm, up 3%. Developments in Turkey again weighed on Spanish bank BBVA (-7.7%). Citi analyst Benjie Creelan-Sandford estimates that BBVA's profit share in Turkey is over 10% thanks to its 49.9% stake in Garanti Bank. Car stocks continued to rally. VW shares rose by 7.3 per cent and common shares by 14.7 per cent. Most recently, analysts at Deutsche Bank had significantly raised their price targets for VW. The analysts questioned whether the electric vehicle strategy would pave the way for the VW share price to reach the 400 euro mark.

The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Monday, as easing bond yields helped the technology sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed up 0.3% at 32,731.15 points and the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.7% to 3,940.55 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index gained 1.2% to 13,377.54 points. Technology giants such as Apple (2.8%) and Microsoft (2.5%) rose as bond yields fell. Canadian Pacific Railway (-5.8%) reached an agreement to acquire Kansas City Southern (+11%) for about $25bn. Private equity firm Blackstone (unchanged) submitted a $6bn bid for Australian casino operator Crown Resorts (+21% at Sydney close). Logistics services group Synnex (+6.7%) announced an agreement to merge with Tech Data in a deal worth $7.2bn including debt. Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials (+3.9%) announced a new $7.5bn share buyback plan. Bank of America's (-2.2%) earnings should "substantially increase" as interest rates rise, as the bank deploys deposits into higher-yielding loans and other assets, while keeping expenses in check, CEO Brian Moynihan said in an interview with Barron's magazine.

The East Asian stock exchanges are down on Tuesday. The Chinese indices in particular are under pressure. The Shanghai Composite fell by 1.1 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.3 per cent. The Nikkei-225 is down 0.4 per cent at 29,067 points, after being up around 1 per cent in early trading. The Kospi in Seoul (-0.9 per cent) also gave up initial gains.

After a seventh consecutive weekly rise, bond yields paused at the start of the week. The yield on the ten-year US Treasury note, the market's benchmark security, fell by 5 basis points to 1.684%, compared with 1.726% on Friday.

Dt. Bank raises VW target (StA. and Vz) to EUR 270 (185) - BUY
CS raises Infineon to Outperform (Underperform)/42.50 EUR
Jefferies raises Bechtle target to EUR 172 (159) - HOLD

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