Novavax said a late-stage trial of its coronavirus vaccine found it was effective, an encouraging sign that there would be further doses of a medication to fight the pandemic. Novavax said its Phase 3 trial of nearly 30,000 patients in the U.S. and Mexico found the vaccine was 90.4% effective overall and was 100% effective in protecting against moderate and severe disease. The company said it intends to file for regulatory approval in the third quarter, and that it is on track to reach manufacturing capacity of 100 million doses by the end of the third quarter. In early June, Novavax said the trial results would be announced before the end of the month. Novavax Chief Executive Stanley Erck told the Associated Press that many of its first doses will go to low- and middle-income countries. While more than half of the U.S. population has received at least one COVID-10 vaccine dose, less than 1% of people in the developing world have, the AP report said.

The Swiss stock market ended the first trading day of the new week with a slight gain. This continued the positive development of Friday. Nevertheless, investors are already looking ahead to the US Federal Reserve's meeting on Wednesday. Until then, caution is likely to dominate the market, it was said. The SMI improved by 0.2 per cent to 11,866 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 14 gainers and five losers, with Nestle shares closing unchanged. In the process, 24.01 (previously: 29.68) million shares were traded. There was no clear trend among the individual stocks. The shares of Novartis, for example, rose by 0.6 per cent, while the shares of Roche (-0.1%) fell slightly. The Alcon share continued its upward trend from Friday and gained a further 0.8 per cent. Clariant shares, on the other hand, were down 1.0 per cent. The Swatch share was the daily loser in the SMI with a minus of 1.2 per cent to 322.50 francs.

European equity markets closed in the green on Monday, continuing the upward trend that began late last week as investors await the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.2% to 458.3 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 gained 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. The DAX 30 in Frankfurt gave up 0.1 percent, while the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.2 percent. Electricite de France SA on Monday said that it is in contact with state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corp. to discuss data related to the presence of certain noble gases at one of the nuclear plant reactors owned by their joint venture in the Guangdong province in China. The French utility said it has been informed that the concentration of these gases increased in the primary circuit of reactor number one, which is owned and operated by Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co. "EDF has requested the holding of an extraordinary TNPJVC board of directors meeting for management to present all the data and the necessary decisions," the company said. Serco Group PLC said Monday that its joint venture with France's Engie S.A. has won defense infrastructure contracts with the U.K. government with a base value of 900 million pounds ($1.27 billion), and raised its 2021 guidance.

U.S. stocks rose into Monday's closing bell, pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to fresh records. The broad S&P 500 index turned higher in the final hour of trading as investors accelerated their rotation into technology and other growth stocks. Investors' interest in growth stocks picked up last week and carried over into Monday's session. The move up in yields didn't seem to faze investors. On Monday, the S&P 500 added 7.71 points, or 0.2%, to 4255.15, notching its 29th record of the year. The Nasdaq rose 104.72 points, or 0.7%, to 14174.14, its highest closing level ever. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, slid 85.85 points, or 0.2%, to 34393.75, as the benchmark suffered from its more cyclical bent. An explosion and fire rocked an Illinois plant owned by a unit of Berkshire Hathaway's Lubrizol unit and could burn for days, according to local media reports. Roughly 70 employees of lubricants maker Chemtool safely escaped the plant, but residents and businesses within a one-mile radius of the plant in Rockton were being urged to evacuate due to the possibility of dangerous chemicals being released by the fire, according to the reports. Warren Buffett's Berkshire bought chemical maker Lubrizol for $9B in 2011. Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners agree to buy Ellucian, a provider of software and services for higher-education institutions, from fellow private-equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green. Terms aren't disclosed, but Blackstone and Vista say they will invest in Ellucian through their long-term strategies, which hold investments for longer periods than traditional private equity. TPG Capital and Leonard Green bought Ellucian in 2015 from Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity in a deal said to be valued north of $3B.

The stock market landscape in East Asia and Australia is divided on Tuesday. While Tokyo and Sydney are following the positive lead of Wall Street, including new closing records for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong are down by up to 0.9 per cent after the extended weekend there. Meanwhile, the Nikkei index in Tokyo rises by 1.0 per cent to 29,456 points, while in Sydney – also after a public holiday on Monday – it goes up by 1.1 per cent even more.

Treasury yields edged lower in Asia after they recovered some of last week's losses on Monday ahead of this week's monetary policy meeting, with fixed-income investors closely watching the central bank's views on inflation.

UBS rises the Vinci target to 105 (100) EUR – Buy
IR rises the BAT target to 2.800 (2.500) p – Hold
Deutsche Bank rises Grifols to Buy (Hold) – Target 30 (25) EUR

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