Novavax Inc. shares were recently down 12% to $141.40 after hours as the company said it delayed plans to seek regulatory approvals for its Covid-19 vaccine.Novavax pushed back its timetable for seeking approval in the U.S., the U.K. and other European countries, as well as when it expects to reach its full production output of about 150 million doses a month. The company also reported a first-quarter loss of $3.05 a share and revenue of $447.2 million, better than analysts' estimates.

Profit-taking dragged the Swiss stock market down on Monday. However, confidence has by no means disappeared from the market, as good corporate figures, strong economic data and hopes for a continued loose monetary policy as well as for a containment of the Corona pandemic continue to be supporting factors. The SMI lost 0.4 percent to 11,124 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, 13 price losers and 5 winners faced each other, unchanged closed 2 shares. A total of 35.98 (previously: 40.15) million shares were traded. The Alcon share continued its steep downward movement, which it had started with quarterly figures. It lost a further 3.4 percent. However, with a gain of 9 percent since the start of the year, it still outperforms the SMI benchmark index. Lonza shares lost 2.4 percent, or 13.80 francs. Only a small part was due to the dividend payment, which stood at 3 francs. Investor reticence was also evident in the sale of banking stocks and other cyclically sensitive shares. For example, ABB lost 0.8 percent, Holcim 0.3 percent, UBS 0.4 percent and Credit Suisse 0.8 percent. In contrast, defensive heavyweights Nestle (-0.1 percent) and Novartis (-0.1 percent) still held up quite well. Only Roche (-0.5 percent) performed weaker than the overall market. The strongest stock in the SMI was Swatch with a plus of 0.8 percent, while the shares of competitor Richemont were down 0.2 percent.

European equity markets closed mixed on Monday as investors paused after a string of record highs in Europe and the United States. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.1% to 445.4 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 finished at the balance, as did the DAX 30 in Frankfurt. In London, the FTSE 100 gave up 0.1%. Renewable energy stocks, which had risen strongly last week, suffered profit taking. In Paris, Neoen and McPhy Energy fell by 3.5% and 3.3%, respectively, while Siemens-Gamesa lost 4.9% in Madrid. Semiconductor manufacturers fell back in the wake of US technology stocks. STMicroelectronics lost 2.6% in Paris, while Infineon dropped 2.9% in Frankfurt. Societe Generale (+2.9%) unveiled new targets for its retail bank on Monday. Solutions 30 has asked Euronext to suspend the listing of its stock as of today, pending a statement. German truck maker Traton (+5.9% in Frankfurt), a subsidiary of Volkswagen (+0.6%), announced on Saturday that it was willing to pay 70.68 euros per share to buy out minority shareholders in truck and bus maker MAN (+29% to 71.60 euros). Traton holds 94.36% of MAN's capital and the merger agreement is due to be concluded on May 14.

After the record chase at the end of the week, Wall Street was split in two on Monday. While the Dow Jones index exceeded the mark of 35,000 points for the first time, technology stocks were sold off massively - as has been the case more often recently. However, even the Dow could not hold the gains and turned slightly negative in late trading. It fell by 0.1 percent to 34,743 points, the S&P-500 retreated 1 percent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 2.6 percent. For every 1,185 (Friday: 2,467) gainers on the Nyse, there were 2,187 (899) losers. Unchanged 110 (91) stocks went out of trading. Among the giants of the sector, Apple lost 2.6 percent, Alphabet 2.6 percent, Amazon 3.1 percent or Facebook 4.1 percent. Among individual stocks, Biontech stood out with a price jump of just over 10 percent. The company presented convincing business figures for the first quarter. In addition, the Pfizer partner announced the construction of a production facility for mRNA vaccines in Singapore. Pfizer shares trended 0.7 percent higher. Defensive consumer stocks were bought. In the Dow, Procter & Gamble gained 1.9 percent and Coca-Cola gained 0.7 percent. Marriott International shares fell 4.1 percent as the hotel chain posted a first-quarter loss.

A combination of inflation concerns and the corona crisis drove share prices in Asia down across the board. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 plunged by more than 3 percent - weighed down above all by technology stocks. While Shanghai is doing well with a somewhat lighter trend, the HSI in Hong Kong rushes down by over 2 percent. In South Korea, too, technology stocks are on the sales list. The heavyweight Samsung Electronics loses 1.8 percent, the semiconductor stocks SK Hynix 4.2 percent.

U.S. Treasury yields climbed on Monday as markets for government debt wrestled with the outlook for the economy inside and outside the U.S. after last week ended with an April jobs reading that came in well below forecasts. The 10-year Treasury note yield was at 1.602%, up 2.6 basis points.

Citigroup lifts target Hugo Boss to EUR 45 (26) - Neutral
BoA raises Fresenius target to EUR 43 (36) - Neutral
DZ upgrades Aurubis target to EUR 90 (83) - Buy
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