Tesla Inc. has secured local approvals in Germany to formally begin electric-vehicle productions at its new plant outside Berlin, a key pillar of Chief Executive Elon Musk's push to rapidly boost output and sales. Tesla's plant challenges Europe's established auto makers, who have invested billions over the past few years to develop electric cars and catch up with the U.S. powerhouse. The approval comes with conditions that Tesla must fulfill before the new vehicles can be driven from the factory to customers, Brandenburg state officials said. Tesla must provide assurances regarding water usage as well as pollution controls, which have been at the forefront of objections to the plant by environmentalists. The Berlin plant, when fully operational, will have a production capacity to make 500,000 vehicles a year and will initially make Model Y compact crossover vehicles. Tesla produced just under one million vehicles last year globally. The plant is Tesla's third, following Fremont, Calif., and Shanghai. Tesla expects to inaugurate production at a new plant in Austin, Texas, soon.

Looking for New Structured Product Ideas?
https://en.swissquote.com/trading/investment-products/yield-boosters

The Swiss stock market reacted to the latest developments in the Ukraine war with heavy price losses on Friday. Reports that Russian shelling had caused a fire at Europe's largest nuclear power plant raised fears of an unprecedented nuclear disaster. The SMI lost 3.2 per cent to 11,300 points. All 20 SMI stocks closed with losses. 81.32 (previously: 50.76) million shares were traded. Nestle (-1.8%), Givaudan (-0.5%) and Swisscom (-1.2%), which are considered defensive, held up comparatively well, as did the shares of the pharmaceutical group Roche (-1.7%). At Logitech (-2.5%), the positive investor event from the previous day provided some support, it was said. The shares of building materials manufacturers Holcim and Sika fell by 6.6 and 6.1 per cent respectively. ABB fell 5.2 per cent. Among the banks, Credit Suisse fell by 6.4 per cent and UBS by around 7 per cent. Richemont was also very weak, down 5.8 per cent. Russia is an important sales market for the luxury goods manufacturer.

European equity markets fell sharply on Friday, reacting to Russia's bombing of a major Ukrainian nuclear plant. The decline accelerated throughout the session as investors sold off positions in fear of further escalation of the war over the weekend. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 3.6% to 421.8 points, bringing its decline for the week to 7%. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 plunged 5% and 4.9% respectively on Friday, with the CAC 40 posting a weekly decline of 10.2%. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 fell 4.4%, while the FTSE 100 in London gave up 3.2%. Dassault Aviation SA said Friday that net income almost doubled last year, but guided for lower net sales in 2022. The French aircraft manufacturer said consolidated net income was 605 million euros ($669.5 million) compared with EUR303 million in 2020. Adjusted for certain elements such as hedging instruments, profit rose to EUR693 million from EUR396 million, it said. Net sales rose to EUR7.25 billion from EUR5.49 billion, it said. Advertising giant WPP PLC will discontinue operations in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, the company said on Friday. The London-based firm said its ongoing presence in Russia “would be inconsistent with our values as a company.” WPP - which owns Ogilvy, Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R, as well as media-buying business GroupM - said it employs nearly 1,400 people in Russia. Russia accounted for 0.6% of its global net sales last year, the company said.

U.S. stock-index futures fell sharply after trading began late Sunday, as investors remain rattled by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid more than 300 points, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures each fell more than 1%. Last week, all three major indexes booked losses, with the Dow falling for a fourth straight week. Dow DJIA dropped 179.86 points, or 0.5%, to close at 33614.80, while the S&P 500 index SPX fell 34.62 points, or 0.8%, to finish at 4328.87, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP shed 224.5 points, or 1.7%, to end at 13313.44. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 each fell 1.3% while the Nasdaq dropped 2.8%. Walt Disney Co. told investors just over a year ago that the idea of a cheaper, ad-supported subscription offering for its Disney+ streaming platform was anathema. Times have changed, and so have the streaming wars. Disney announced Friday that it would roll out a cheaper, ad-supported Disney+ subscription in the U.S. beginning in late 2022. The company didn’t share pricing details for the ad-supported subscription, or say when exactly it will launch. Customers will still be able to subscribe to the ad-free version of Disney+, which costs $7.99 a month. Costco Wholesale stock is edging lower Friday even as the discount retailer reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that came in ahead of expectations. Costco (ticker: COST) earned $2.92 per share on revenue that climbed nearly 16% year over year to $51.9 billion. Analysts were looking for earnings per share of $2.76 on revenue of $51.53 billion. Same-store sales climbed 11.1% excluding gasoline on an adjusted basis

Massively rising oil prices cause further increasing selling pressure on the stock markets in East Asia on Monday. Brent oil rises by more than 10 per cent to over 130 dollars a barrel, its highest level since 2008. The Nikkei index in Tokyo plummets by 2.7 per cent to 25,276 points. In Hong Kong, the index fell by as much as 3.0 per cent, and by 4 per cent at the low for the day; in the other places it fell by between 1.0 and 2.1 per cent.

Yields for U.S. government debt continued to fall early Monday, extending Friday's drop, even after the February U.S. employment report signaled the economy was picking up.

CS lowers Akzo Nobel target to EUR 105 (107) – Outperform

CS lowers UMG target to EUR 25 (29.50) – Outperform

UBS raises Thales target to EUR 123 (98) – 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.