Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Monday that it has decided to proceed with simplifying its share structure, shifting its tax residence to the U.K., and it will change its name to Shell PLC in January. The energy company said it expects to change its name in the week beginning Jan. 24. Shareholders in the company approved the amendment of the group's articles of association on Dec. 10, after Shell proposed in November to collapse its current dual-share class and move its tax residency to the U.K. from the Netherlands. Since its unification in 2005, the oil-and-gas company has been incorporated in the U.K. with Dutch tax residence and an A/B dual share structure. "The board believes that the simplification will strengthen Shell's competitiveness and accelerate both shareholder distributions and delivery of its strategy to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society," Chairman Andrew Mackenzie said previously.

The Swiss stock market suffered losses at the start of the trading week. The SMI lost 1.0 per cent to 12,590 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 16 price losers and 4 price winners. 39.75 (previously: 80.99) million shares were traded. Above all, shares sensitive to the economy were sold off. Among the financial stocks, Swiss Life (-2.7%) and Swiss Re (-2.9%) slid sharply. Among the banks, Credit Suisse lost 3.0 per cent and UBS 2.2 per cent. Pharmaceutical company Novartis signed an option, collaboration and licensing agreement with Chinese drugmaker Beigene Ltd to develop an immunotherapeutic cancer drug worth up to $1 billion. Meanwhile, the stock was down 1.5 per cent in the weak overall environment. The share of competitor Roche lost 1.1 per cent. The share of the index heavyweight Nestle, which is considered defensive, fell only moderately by 0.1 per cent.

European equity markets closed sharply lower on Monday as investors worried about the economic impact of new measures to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 1.4% to 467.4 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 lost 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 was down 1.9%, while the FTSE 100 in London was down 1%.Novavax Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine was recommended for use by the European Medicines Agency, marking the first endorsement by a major regulator of a shot that uses an established technology. A scientific committee said the Novavax shot, dubbed Nuvaxovid, was safe and effective. The European Commission almost immediately granted conditional marketing authorization in the European Union. The approval applies to adults only. Novavax shares jumped more than 10% after the EMA made its recommendation, before falling. They were down over 2% by late morning in New York. Telecom Italia SpA said late Friday that former Chief Executive Officer Luigi Gubitosi stepped down from the board of directors, with effective immediately. Mr. Gubitosi has reached an agreement with the company regarding his departure that includes a severance package of roughly 6.9 million euros ($7.8 million), it said. Mr. Gubitosi had resigned from his position as the head of the Italian telecommunications company at the end of November, while staying on the board. The company is currently looking for a new chief executive.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 600 points before recovering a bit as investors worried that a rise in Omicron Covid-19 cases would stall economic growth and add pressure to inflation. The DJIA wrapped up trading with losses of about 1.2%. The decline was the index's third straight and followed a 1.5% drop on Friday. The S&P 500 slid 1.1%, while the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 1.2%. "We're really seeing Omicron spread like wildfire, and it's weighing on sentiment," said Esty Dwek, chief investment officer at FlowBank. "You're seeing lockdowns instigated in Europe. You're seeing more and more restrictions and the number of cases is going up so much that even if it's less severe it could lead to more hospitalizations." Oracle Corp. on Monday announced its largest deal ever, a roughly $28.3 billion purchase of electronic-medical-records company Cerner Corp. that vaults the business-software giant deeper into healthcare technology. The deal extends Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s longstanding willingness to buy his way into new markets. Mr. Ellison built Oracle into a major power in business software in part through a long list of acquisitions over the decades. Last year Oracle and a group of other companies tried to buy the U.S. operations of video-sharing app TikTok, which would have given Oracle’s cloud business a foothold in social media. Biogen Inc. is slashing in half the price of its controversial new Alzheimer’s disease treatment, Aduhelm, in a bid to revive a product launch that has stalled in part because of a backlash over the drug’s cost. The price cut will reduce the average annual cost of treatment to $28,200 a patient from the $56,000 the company set when the drug was approved in June, Biogen said Monday. Biogen, whose shares have been hurt by Aduhelm’s poor performance, also said it planned to cut costs by about $500 million, though it is working out the details of the cuts.

After the sharp setback triggered by Omikron concerns the day before, the stock markets in East Asia and Australia are moving up again on Tuesday. Tokyo was the outlier on the rise. The Nikkei index jumped 1.9 per cent to 28,479 points.

Bank of America says investment-grade ESG bonds priced better, on average, than traditional IGs over the last four years. "The increasing cost savings when issuing ESG debt should continue to support rapid market growth next year after issuance increased 73% YoY to $84bn in 2021," BofA said.

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