General Motors took another step toward vertically integrating its supply chain for electric vehicles, disclosing a plan to work with POSCO Chemical to build a North American factory to manufacture materials for battery cathodes. It's a big step for GM, the car business. The U.S. Shares of GM (ticker: GM) gained on the news, rising 0.9%. General Motors has big plans for EVs: It wants to sell only electric vehicles by 2035. GM plans to build battery factories with LG Chem (051910. Korea), but batteries need materials too. The plant will be operational around 2024. GM said the new facility will supply the Ultium Cells LLC facilities it is building in Ohio and Tennessee with LG Energy Solution. Two more U.S.-based Ultium cell plants are planned by the middle of the decade, GM added.

Midweek, the SMI improved by 0.9 percent to 12,266 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 16 price gainers and four price losers. A total of 32.80 (Tuesday: 95.93) million shares were traded. The day's winner was Swatch with a premium of 2.4 percent. The watchmaker's sales should accelerate in the second half of the year, compared with 2019, Bryan Garnier said. Richemont rose 1.6 percent in the wake. Banking stocks Credit Suisse and UBS added 0.9 and 1.4 percent, respectively. UBS poached manager Sarah Youngwood from rival JP Morgan. Youngwood will join UBS' Group Executive Board in early March and succeed Kirt Gardner as Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in May. Dufry shares (+2.9%) recovered almost all of their previous day's losses reflecting the assumption that tough travel restrictions could be absent, which would also benefit the duty-free store operator.

European stocks rebounded Wednesday, with markets clawing back some losses sparked by worries over the Omicron variant and the unwinding of Federal Reserve stimulus. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 1.7% to 470.9 points, led higher by shares of travel, leisure and basic-resource companies, which would all be exposed to an economic downturn in the event of renewed restrictions. Strong performers included budget airline Wizz Air, up 7% and Lufthansa, up 5.1%. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 gained 2.4% and 2.2% respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 gained 2.5%, while the FTSE 100 in London rose 1.6%. Oil and oil-related stocks recovered mirroring the price increase of the black gold. CGG rose 1.2%, TechnipFMC increased by 3.5%, TotalEnergies gained 3.3%, as did Technip Energies. In London, BP climbed 2.3% and Shell took 1.9%. In Milan, Eni advanced 2.3% and Saipem took 2%. In Madrid, Repsol gained 2.3%. On the other hand, healthcare stocks linked to Covid-19 suffered profit taking after their recent surge. Eurofins lost 5.8%, Sartorius Stedim Biotech fell 3.8% and bioMérieux gave up 2.9%, while Valneva stabilized (-0.2%). Soitec (+3.7%) reported better-than-expected results for the first half of its 2021-2022 fiscal year. Air Liquide (+1.4%) announced that its board of directors intends to appoint François Jackow as CEO as of June 1, 2022. Sanofi (+2.4%) confirmed, ahead of an investor conference, that it was targeting average annual growth of between 5% and 10% in vaccines. Winners from the stay-at-home trade fell. German food-delivery firm HelloFresh lost 3.5% and U.K.-listed takeout company Deliveroo shed 3.0%.

U.S. stocks fell in a volatile trading session Wednesday, dragged down by news that the first known case of the Omicron variant was identified in the U.S. All three major U.S. indexes finished lower in a stark turnaround from earlier in the day. Losses accelerated near the end of the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 461.68 points, erasing an intraday rally of nearly 521 points. The blue-chip index finished down 1.3% to close at 34022.04. The S&P 500 fell by 53.96 points, or 1.2%, to finish at 4513.04. Its 3.1% loss for Tuesday and Wednesday is the benchmark index’s largest two-day percentage decline in more than a year. The Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, fell by 283.64 points, or 1.8%, to 15254.05. Travel stocks were punished. Cruise company Carnival fell by $1.24, or 7%, to finish at $16.38. United Airlines Holdings lost $3.20, or 7.6%, to end at $39.06. Wynn Resorts sank by $4.95, or 6.1%, to end at $76.06. Vaccine-maker Moderna also tumbled, losing $41.82, or 11.9%, to close at $310.61. That marked the worst performance in the S&P 500 on a percentage basis.

In Asia, major indexes closed mixed. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.2%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.5%. China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.2% unchanged.

Treasury yields fell, reversing gains from earlier in the day, as investors sought safety in government bonds. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell 1 basis point to 1.434% from 1.450% on Tuesday night.

Deutsche Bank lowers Philips target to EUR 36 (42) - Hold
Deutsche Bank lifts UBS target to CHF 20 (19) – Buy
Jefferies increases Kone to Buy (Underp.) - Target EUR 70 (53)

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