Former McDonald's Corp. Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook agreed to return compensation now valued at more than $105 million to resolve a legal dispute related to his dismissal as head of the burger chain, the company said Thursday. The settlement, which allows McDonald's to move past a scandal that has weighed on it for more than two years, also includes an apology from Mr. Easterbrook. The former CEO has returned company stock and cash currently valued at more than $105 million that was allotted to him after he was dismissed in November 2019 when he acknowledged having a consensual relationship with an unnamed employee, McDonald's said. Less than a year later, the company sought to recoup the severance through legal action. The settlement avoids a trial against the former top executive that was slated to begin in Delaware Court of Chancery in May. Mr. Easterbrook said in a statement: "McDonald's and its Board of Directors value doing the right thing and putting customers and people first. During my tenure as CEO, I failed at times to uphold McDonald's values and fulfill certain of my responsibilities as a leader of the company." "I apologize to my former co-workers, the Board, and the company's franchisees and suppliers for doing so," he said.

The Swiss stock market ended trading on Thursday with significant gains. The Swiss National Bank's (SNB) decision to maintain its loose monetary policy drove the SMI to a record high. The SMI gained 2.1 per cent to 12,791 points amid brisk turnover. The index reached its highest level to date at 12,823 points during the course of the day. Of the 20 SMI stocks, 19 posted price gains. The only loser was the Richemont share. 42.15 (previously: 28.26) million shares were traded. The highest price gain by far was recorded by the Novartis share with 4.7 per cent. The pharmaceutical company had announced a share buyback to the tune of 15 billion US dollars. Novartis is using part of the proceeds from the sale of its stake in Roche for this purpose. The Richemont share (-0.5%) lagged behind the market. Otherwise, however, investors were all over the place. Shares of banks and insurance companies were in demand as beneficiaries of higher interest rates. Credit Suisse and UBS improved by 2.1 and 1.9 per cent respectively. In the case of UBS, there was also the fact that Vontobel is buying the financial advisory services for the bank's US clients. Swiss Life, Swiss Re and Zurich posted gains of between 1.0 and 1.6 per cent.

European equity markets ended sharply higher on Thursday as investors welcomed the measures announced by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Fed to curb soaring inflation. The ECB will end its Emergency Pandemic Purchasing Programme (EPPP) in March, as expected. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 1.2% to 476.6 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 gained 1.1% and 1% respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 gained 1% and the FTSE 100 in London advanced 1.3%. Europe’s foremost central banks took diverging policy paths a day after the Federal Reserve set the stage for rate rises in 2022, differing approaches that underscore the challenges for policy makers as they balance surging inflation and renewed risks to growth from the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The Bank of England became the first of the world’s major central banks to raise its benchmark interest rate since the pandemic began, while the European Central Bank said it would phase out an emergency bond-buying program while ramping up other stimulus measures to keep the 19-nation eurozone’s recovery on track. Australia’s biggest airline, Qantas Airways Ltd., said it plans to order dozens of new jets from Airbus SE over the next decade, though the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has hurt demand for international flights in the near term. Qantas said it had selected the Airbus A320neo and A220 planes to renew the airline’s existing domestic narrowbody fleet. It said the jets would arrive starting in the first half of fiscal 2024 and would be spread over the following 10-plus years, replacing aging Boeing 737s and 717s. The airline said it anticipates putting in an Airbus order consisting of 40 firm commitments and 94 purchase right options.

A sharp fall in shares of technology companies pushed major U.S. stock indexes lower, continuing a turbulent stretch for some of the biggest companies in the market. The S&P 500 fell around 0.9%, with losses accelerating in the late afternoon. The Nasdaq Composite shed roughly 2.5% as tech stocks lagged behind the broader market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 0.1%. Some analysts said that the prospect of higher interest rates has made growth stocks less attractive. Adobe stock tumbled Thursday after the company’s fiscal 2022 outlook disappointed investors. Adobe projected revenue of around $17.9 billion and adjusted profit of about $13.70 a share for fiscal 2022. Wall Street expects revenue of $18.2 billion and earnings of $14.26. The company said it expects next year’s first-quarter earnings per share to clock in at around $3.35 on revenue of $4.23 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet are expecting profits of $3.39 a share on sales of $4.33 billion. Xerox Holdings Corp. on Thursday announced a multiyear deal with Oracle Corp. , which will provide cloud-computing infrastructure and software for use by ventures developed in Xerox’s business incubator. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The East Asian stock markets fell across the board on Friday. Losses widened in many cases during the course of trading, especially in Tokyo. There, the Nikkei index is now down 1.6 per cent at 28,609 points after the Japanese central bank (BoJ) announced that it would end its pandemic bond purchases in March as planned, similar to the ECB. Headwinds are also coming from the currency side.

Treasury yields edged lower still in Asia, extending Thursday's falls. The two-year Treasury rate saw its biggest drop in almost three weeks on Thursday as investors focused on the impact of Omicron and questioned whether the U.S. can handle higher interest rates projected by the Federal Reserve.

JP Morgan lowers Kuehne + Nagel target to CHF 293 (305.60) – Neutral
UBS lifts Salzgitter to Neutral (Sell) – Target EUR 33
IR lowers Inditex target to EUR 29 (30) – Hold

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