U.S. health regulators cleared use of a Covid-19 pill from Pfizer Inc. (+1.0%), the first drug that newly infected patients can now take at home to stay out of the hospital. The authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday permits doctors to prescribe the medicine to high-risk patients aged 12 and older early in the course of disease, shortly after they develop symptoms. The FDA said the drug, named Paxlovid, worked safely and would be an important tool in reducing hospital admissions and death. The pill arrives as the Omicron variant spreads across the U.S. Researchers expect antivirals like Paxlovid would be effective against the new strain because of the way they work but are waiting for studies to confirm their suspicion. Paxlovid is expected to be available at pharmacies and hospitals in the coming days. Initial supplies will be limited, until Pfizer can ramp up production. Pfizer will ship tens of thousands of treatment courses in the U.S. before the end of this year, and hundreds of thousands at the start of 2022, a spokeswoman said. The U.S. government has agreed to pay $5.29 billion to purchase 10 million treatment courses that Pfizer will deliver by the end of next year.

The SMI gained 0.2 percent to 12,714 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 13 price gainers and seven losers. Turnover was 21.11 (previously: 31.86) million shares. Some headwinds for the SMI stemmed mainly from the heavyweights, which are considered defensive. Nestle and Novartis, for example, closed slightly lower. Novartis strengthens in ophthalmology and takes over the British company Gyroscope Therapeutics. The pharmaceutical giant will make an initial payment of $800 million. Another up to $700 million is to follow depending on the achievement of certain milestones. Roche shares were down 0.1 percent. Sika (+0.4%) shares were not sustainably impacted by capital increase plans. The construction chemicals group plans to increase its existing conditional capital by 3.2 million to 18.8 million shares. This is to service a convertible bond. Meanwhile, Logitech (+2.8%) performed well. The tech stock benefited from the strong previous day's recovery on the US technology exchange Nasdaq. The share price of the mail-order pharmacy Zur Rose lost a further 4.2 percent.

Overseas, the pan continental Stoxx Europe 600 edged 0.3% higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 ticked up 0.9% to 478.4 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 rose 1.2% each. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 gained 1%, while in London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.6%. McPhy (+6.9%) was selected as the preferred supplier to install a 100-megawatt (MW) electrolysis platform in Sines, Portugal, as part of the GreenH2Atlantic project. The French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced on Wednesday that it has ordered 169 helicopters from Airbus (+4%) to renew the light helicopter fleet of the three armies (land, air and navy). This contract, worth 10 billion euros, also includes the supply of the support system and maintenance in operational condition for ten years. Albioma (+1.3%) has entered into exclusive negotiations with Turcas Petrol for the acquisition of a second geothermal power plant in Turkey, for an undisclosed amount. Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto (-1% in London) will acquire the Rincon lithium project in Argentina from Rincon Mining for $825 million (about €731 million). Beiersdorf shares rose 2.1% after it agreed to buy Chantecaille's skin-care division for an enterprise value that could rise to $690 million, depending on the business's development. Delivery Hero rose 7.4% after the German food-delivery firm said it planned to sell its Foodpanda subsidiary's operations in Japan and shrink them in Germany.

U.S. stocks climbed for a second day as strong economic data helped ease investors’ concerns about the risks posed by Covid-19 and inflation. Separate data showed U.S. home sales rose in November as low mortgage-interest rates and a robust job market boosted demand. Sales of existing homes are on track for their strongest year since 2006. The S&P 500 rose 47.33 points, or 1%, to 4696.56, off 0.3% from its record close earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 261.19 points, or 0.7%, to 35753.89. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 180.81 points, or 1.2%, to 15521.89. All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 rose, led by the consumer-discretionary group, which gained 1.7%. Tesla shares rose $70.34, or 7.5%, to $1,008.87. Royal Caribbean shares added $2.89, or 3.8%, to $79.46. Shares of Paychex rose $6.98, or 5.5%, to $133.41 after the human-resources company said earnings rose in its second quarter on higher sales. Semiconductor manufacturer Intel (+0.4%) received the green light from Chinese competition authorities to sell its flash memory card business to South Korea's SK Hynix. AT&T (+1.3%) will sell online advertising platform Xandr to Microsoft (+1.8%), ending its efforts to become a major player in digital marketing. Financial terms were not disclosed. Blackberry gained 1.7%. The cybersecurity software company reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the quarter ended in November. The stock had jumped 4% on Tuesday.

In Asia, major indexes broadly closed with gains. Trading is generally described as thin, even if most stock exchanges in the region will be open again tomorrow, on Christmas Eve day. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index rose by half a percent to 28,726 points. JD.com buckles nearly 8 percent in Hong Kong, weighed down by plans by tech giant Tencent (+4.0 percent) to reduce its stake in JD.com from 17.0 to 2.3 percent. In Tokyo, Eisai (-8.8 percent) suffers from the fact that the regulatory authority has requested more data for the Alzheimer's drug Aducanumab.

Long-dated U.S. government debt yields slipped on Wednesday, despite data showing U.S. consumer confidence improved this month, as markets continued to focus on the economic impact of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.457% from 1.487% Tuesday. U.S. bond markets will close an hour early Thursday and will remain closed in observance of Christmas on Friday.

Jefferies lowers Cineworld to Hold (Buy) - Target 35 (150) p
Baader lowers Metro target to EUR 10.50 (12) - Add
Barclays lowers Vonovia to EUR 65 (71) - Overweight

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