Twitter users said Elon Musk should sell 10% of his Tesla Inc. stock, a stake valued at about $21 billion, after the chief executive polled them and pledged to abide by the outcome of the vote. Voters backed the share sale by a wide margin, with roughly 58% in favor of a sale and 42% opposed, according to the polling data posted on Twitter. More than 3.5 million votes were cast. “I was prepared to accept either outcome,” Mr. Musk tweeted after the poll closed. Mr. Musk on Saturday put the potential share sale up for popular vote on the social-media platform as he waded back into the debate over how some of the wealthiest Americans should be taxed. “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock,” he tweeted as he launched the poll, adding, “I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes.”

A surprisingly positive US labour market report did not support the Swiss stock market on Friday. The SMI lost 0.7 per cent to 12,322 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 14 price losers and six price gainers. A total of 35.54 (previously: 45.28) million shares were traded. Pharmaceutical stocks were among the laggards in Europe. Study results of the US company Pfizer on a Covid drug with very high efficacy had a negative impact. Suppliers and other shares from the vaccine universe were then under pressure to sell. This was also felt by Lonza (-7.5%), which cooperates with Moderna in the production of the Corona vaccine. Roche and Novartis fell 1.6 and 0.3 per cent respectively. Novartis was also hit by a downgrade by UBS. Nestle (-0.1%) took profits after hitting a new all-time high. Richemont, on the other hand, rose 3.3 per cent. Credit Suisse lost 0.3 per cent.

European equity markets closed at new highs on Friday, buoyed by a rebound in U.S. job creation in October and optimism about a Covid-19 treatment developed by Pfizer. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.1% to 483.4 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 closed above the 7,000-point mark for the first time in its history, at 7,041 points, after rising 0.8%. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 rose 0.2% and in London the FTSE 100 gained 0.3%. Airbus SE’s aircraft deliveries dipped again in October as hiccups in its supply chain disrupted the manufacturer’s ambitions to rapidly return to pre-pandemic production levels. The European plane maker said Friday it had delivered 36 commercial aircraft last month, down from 40 in both September and August, and the lowest monthly tally since February. That leaves it needing to hand over another 140 aircraft in the final two months of the year to meet its full-year target of 600 deliveries. Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury flagged at the company’s quarterly earnings last month that snags in its supply chain would again have an impact in October as suppliers come out of a “15-month hibernation. CaixaBank SA said Friday that it has sold its entire 9.92% stake in Austria’s Erste Group Bank AG for 1.5 billion euros ($1.73 billion). The Spanish bank said the disposal will have a positive gross profit and loss impact of EUR54 million, while its common equity Tier 1 ratio--a measure of capital strength--will increase by 16 basis points. The company said a 5.42% stake was sold at EUR38 a share via a share placing, while the other 4.5%, roughly 19.3 million Erste Group shares, was offloaded through the settlement of equity swaps.

U.S. stocks rose to records on Friday after Labor Department data showed job growth rebounded in October following a summer slowdown. The S&P 500 ticked up 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2%. All three indices posted weekly gains and notched fresh closing records. The jobs report showed the labor market is solid enough for the Fed to justify tapering its monthly asset purchases, said Jay Pestrichelli, CEO of investment firm ZEGA Financial. The U.S. labor market sprang back to life in October after a summer slowdown, with employers briskly adding jobs and nearly 200,000 women joining the labor force. The economy churned out 531,000 new jobs last month, the biggest gain in three months, the Labor Department said Friday. Restaurants, consulting firms and factories all boosted hiring, suggesting broad strength across the economy. Pfizer Inc. said a preliminary look at study results found that its experimental pill was highly effective at preventing people at high risk of severe Covid-19 from needing hospitalization or dying, the latest encouraging performance for an early virus treatment. The company’s drug cut the risk of hospitalization or death in study subjects with mild to moderate Covid-19 by about 89% if they took the pill within three days of diagnosis, Pfizer said Friday. The drug, called Paxlovid, was also found to be generally safe and well-tolerated in the early look at ongoing study results, the company said. Security-software company McAfee Corp. is nearing a deal to sell itself to a group including private-equity firms Advent International Corp. and Permira for more than $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. A deal, which would value the cybersecurity company at around $25 a share, could be announced by Monday, some of the people said, adding that the talks are ongoing and could still fall apart.

The stock markets in East Asia and Australia started the week with slightly negative signs. The Chinese stock exchanges show a mixed trend. While the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1 per cent, the Hang Seng Index is down another 0.6 per cent.

Treasury yields nudged higher in Asia but the 10-year note yield remained below 1.50% after it hit a one-month low on Friday.

UBS lowers Solvay target to 107 (109) EUR – Neutral
Citi rises Airbus target to 138 (135) EUR – Buy
IR rises Deutsche Post target to 62 (58) EUR – Buy

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.