Netflix Inc. has reached a multiyear agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment for domestic streaming rights to the studio's theatrical movies, the companies said Thursday. The deal will start with Sony Pictures' 2022 movie slate. Among the releases that will land on Netflix after their theatrical runs are future "Spider-Man" movies and other films based on Marvel characters that Sony has the rights to, including Morbius and Venom. Netflix's need for acquired content is growing as it faces greater competition from newer streaming services including Disney+, AT&T Inc.'s HBO Max and NBCUniversal's Peacock. Once big sellers of their content to Netflix, those companies are now keeping more of their movies and TV shows in-house to feed their own streaming platforms. As part of the Sony agreement, Netflix will have new movies in their first "window" after theatrical release. After a time, the movies will leave Netflix and run on other platforms, before eventually returning to the streaming service. This is the second major content deal Netflix has struck with Sony. In 2019, it bought U.S. and international subscription streaming rights for reruns of the hit 90s comedy "Seinfeld." That move helped Netflix fill a void after losing rights for "The Office" to Peacock and "Friends" to HBO Max.

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After Wednesday's setback, Swiss equities regained ground on Thursday. Tailwind came from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The SMI gained 0.7 percent to 11,207 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 13 gainers and six losers, with one share closing unchanged. A total of 40.37 (previously: 44.37) million shares were traded. The prospect of a recovery made investors reach for cyclicals such as ABB (+0.7%) or SGS (+1.1%) and Sika (+0.5%). However, defensive stocks such as heavyweight Nestle (+1.2%) or the shares of fragrance and flavor manufacturer Givaudan (+1.7%) were also sought after. Pharmaceutical stocks were also on investors' buy lists. Roche (+1.6%) benefited from an analyst comment. Citigroup reiterated its buy recommendation on the stock and raised earnings estimates. Novartis gained 0.4 percent, Alcon 1.6 percent and Lonza 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, lower bond yields weighed on financials. Credit Suisse and UBS slipped 0.6 and 0.4 percent, respectively. Insurers Swiss Life and Zurich posted price losses of 0.9 and 0.8 percent. Swiss Re closed little changed.

European stocks gain as investors cheer the Federal Reserve's commitment to maintain its easy policies despite an improving economic outlook. The Stoxx Europe 600 rises 0.6%, the FTSE 100 advances 0.8%, the CAC-40 climbs 0.6% and the DAX edges up 0.2%. Pharmaceutical stocks are among the top risers. Shares in Dutch telecom Royal KPN rise 2.5% on fresh takeover speculation. Anglo American's South African thermal coal business has a net present value of $1.6 billion, Citi estimates after the mining giant said it plans to demerge it into a separate entity. Gucci should recover, if only partially, from last year's fourth quarter in which it seriously lagged major luxury-rival peers, but momentum will pick up later in the year, Jefferies analysts say ahead of parent company Kering's 1Q sales update this month. For the French conglomerate, halting Gucci's market-share loss is enough for now, with an expected 20% revenue increase in the quarter that will still see it well below 1Q 2019's levels, Jefferies says. Online fashion retailer ASOS's revenue growth throughout the coronavirus pandemic has remained below the levels seen by peers Zalando and Boohoo, Liberum says. While ASOS has progressed on cost reduction and has benefited from customers returning less items, it is unclear how much will stick after the pandemic, Liberum says.

The record chase on Wall Street continued on Thursday. The S&P-500 marked a new all-time high at 4,098 points. Overall, however, the market showed a mixed trend. While the standard stocks rose rather cautiously, technology stocks led the market by a wide margin. The Dow Jones index closed 0.2 percent higher at 33,504 points. The S&P-500, on the other hand, advanced 0.4 percent. The Nasdaq composite climbed as much as 1.0 percent. Here supported the further calming in the bond market, it was said. The 2,033 (Wednesday: 1,407) price gainers were offset by 1,257 (1,884) -losers, while 118 (133) stocks closed unchanged. Corporate news was again rare. General Motors (GM) lost 1.2 percent. The automaker must temporarily shut down more plants because of the chip shortage. Apple (+1.9%), meanwhile, was unimpressed by a report in the Japanese newspaper "Nikkei", according to which an insufficient supply of components such as chips or screens delays the production of MacBooks and iPads. However, iPhone production was not affected by this. With a plus of 1.1 percent, the shares of KKR closed trading. The investment company had announced that it would acquire a majority stake in Therapy Brands, a software provider in the healthcare sector. Shares in Landec, a manufacturer of natural food products, were down 8.5 percent. The quarterly figures were not well received, missing expectations on the net profit side. In addition, Landec lowered the outlook.

The indices on the East Asian stock exchanges mostly decline on Friday. The Nikkei index in Tokyo, which moved little in the previous days, makes an exception and shows a plus of 0.4 percent to 29,826 points.The HSI in Hong Kong and the Shanghai Composite come back a little stronger by 0.7 percent. The Kospi closes virtually unchanged with -0.1 percent.

U.S. Treasury yields edged lower on Thursday, consolidating a bond-market rally that has pulled yields for long-dated government bonds down again after a rise to pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter this year. The 10-year Treasury note yield was down 2.1 basis points to 1.632%, its lowest since March 25, while the 2-year note was down 0.2 basis point to 0.149%. The 30-year bond yield fell 1.4 basis points to 2.322%.

Dt. Bank lowers Morphosys target to EUR 116 (129) - Buy
Berenberg raises Fraport target to EUR 59 (55) - Buy
Jefferies lowers Vodafone target to 160 (170) p - Buy

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