Facebook Inc. lost a bid to block a European Union privacy decision that could suspend its ability to send information about European users to U.S. computer servers, opening a pathway toward a precedent-setting interruption of its data flows. Ireland's High Court dismissed Friday all of Facebook's procedural complaints about a preliminary decision on data flows that it received in August from the country's Data Protection Commission. It rejected Facebook's claims that the privacy regulator had given it too little time to respond or issued a judgment prematurely.
The preliminary decision, which the court stayed in September pending its decision, could, if finalized, force the social-media company to suspend sending personal information about EU users to Facebook's servers in the U.S. While Friday's court decision is a procedural one, the underlying questions are central to trans-Atlantic trade and the digital economy. Legal experts say the logic in Ireland's provisional order could apply to other large tech companies that are subject to U.S. surveillance laws, such as cloud services and email providers -- potentially leading to widespread disruption of trans-Atlantic data flows. In the balance are potentially billions of dollars of business in the cloud-computing, social-media and advertising industries.

For more analysis and market information, subscribe to the Themes Trading newsletter. The Themes Trading "Pharma Opportunity" is now online: https://www.swissquote.ch/investment-themes-webapp/IThemeDetail.action?…

The Swiss stock exchange closed in positive territory for the second trading day in a row. After the holiday break, the market followed up on Wednesday's gains. Thus, the market recovered in line with the other European stock exchanges and Wall Street, where it went up again after the inflation scare. Progress in the vaccination campaign also buoyed sentiment. For example, the cantons of Geneva, Zug and Valais have opened up vaccination to everyone over the age of 16. The SMI gained 0.8 percent to 11121 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 19 price gainers and one loser. Turnover was 33.94 (previously: 36.91) million shares. Cyclicals and financials were among the favorites. ABB, for example, led the SMI with a gain of 2.6 percent. Among financials, Swiss Re (+1%) and Credit Suisse (+0.9%) led the way. In contrast, the premiums among the index giants remained more moderate. Nestle rose 0.4 percent, Novartis 0.6 percent and Roche 0.8 percent. Swatch shares, which performed well, were the only loser in the SMI, down 0.7 percent. The stock is up 20 percent since the beginning of the year, while the SMI is only up 3 percent.

European equities rose on Friday, as the rebound continues from a selloff caused by inflation fears, with mining stocks being the major drag on stock-market indexes in Europe after a slight fall in commodity prices. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 1.2%, while in London the FTSE 100 gained 1.2%. The CAC 40 in Paris was 1.5% higher and Frankfurt's DAX climbed 1.4%. The London-listed mining giants added drag to the FTSE 100, with nonenergy minerals the weakest sector in the CAC 40 as well. Shares in Rio Tinto, Glencore, Anglo American, BHP, and Antofagasta fell. Shares in U.K. enterprise software group Sage rose 3%, after it posted half-year results with earnings-per-share ahead of analyst expectations. The group also guided that its margins would trend upward beyond 2021. Sportswear giant Adidas was a standout in Germany, with the stock up 1.3%. Shares in Sanne, a U.K. asset management services group and constituent of the midcap FTSE 250 index, soared 26% higher after its board rejected a GBP1.35 billion buyout proposal from private-equity group Cinven. European food-delivery group Delivery Hero saw its stock slide -1.8%, days after announcing that it would re-enter its competitive home market of Germany in June. Delivery Hero sold its German operations to rival Just Eat Takeaway two years ago. Shares in French foods group Danone slipped -0.3%, after investment bank Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to sell.

U.S. stocks staged a powerful rebound following their steepest selloff since October, but recorded losses for the week. The S&P 500 rose 61.35 points, or 1.5%, to 4173.85 on Friday, with gains accelerating in the afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 360.68 points, or 1.1%, to 34382.13. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 304.99 points, or 2.3%, to 13429.98. Still, stocks ended the week with losses. The S&P 500 and Dow each lost at least 1.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was the hardest hit, losing 2.3% for the week and logging its fourth consecutive week of declines, the longest such stretch since August 2019. In corporate news, Walt Disney shares fell $4.64, or 2.6%, to $173.70 after the company said late Thursday that its flagship streaming service added fewer users than Wall Street had expected in its fiscal second quarter after months of torrential growth. While the Covid-19 streaming boom is slowing for now, other pandemic trends appear to be stickier. DoorDash gained $25.58, or around 22%, to $141.07 after saying revenue tripled in the first quarter, showing sustained demand for food-delivery services even as coronavirus vaccinations picked up. Some of individual investors’ favorite stocks were among other bright spots in the market this week, continuing a string of wild moves for meme stocks. Reddit-favorite AMC Entertainment climbed 36% this week. Hertz Global Holdings shares have almost doubled this week as prospects brightened for stockholders in the company, which is set to emerge from bankruptcy.

Significant losses in Tokyo and Seoul and moderate gains elsewhere in the region characterize the picture at the start of the week on the East Asian stock markets. In the course of trading, the Nikkei index shows a minus of 1.3 percent to 27,708 points, the Kospi in Seoul gives up almost 1 percent. The biggest winner is Hong Kong with a plus of about 1 percent.

The government bond market didn’t offer a hedge to investors looking to shield themselves from the volatility of the stock market, as investors also sold Treasurys on worries about inflation. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to 1.639%, up from 1.576% last week. Yields rise when bond prices fall and rising inflation chips away at the purchasing power of the bonds’ fixed payments.

UBS lowers Moeller-Maersk to Neutral/16,100 (16,600) DKK - Trader
Dt. Bank raises Fortum target to EUR 19.50 (18.50) - Hold
Berenberg lowers Corestate target to EUR 15 (23) - Hold

Produced by MBI Martin Brückner Infosource GmbH & Co. KG on behalf of Swissquote. All news is acquired with journalistic accuracy. No liability is assumed for delays or errors.