Enel SpA said it is ready to resume a liquefied-natural-gas terminal project in southern Italy as the country seeks to reduce its reliance on gas imports from Russia. "Enel believes that, in order to be less tied to gas pipelines in Italy, it is useful for the country to have two additional LNG terminals," a spokesperson for the Rome-based energy company said Tuesday, adding that it is available to resume the Porto Empedocle LNG plant project, which is fully permitted. The project is a LNG regasification terminal located in a port industrial area on the coast of Sicily, capable of regasifying 8 billion cubic meters a year. In line with Europe's plans to cut its dependence on imports from Russia and speed up the path to energy security, Italy is increasing its efforts to be less reliant on Russian gas flows after its invasion of Ukraine. According to Italy's Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani it should take 24 to 30 months for Italy to become independent from Russian gas. "We import 29 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Russia, which is about 40% of our gas imports. These must be replaced," Mr. Cingolani said Tuesday on Italian television.

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The Swiss stock market experienced a rollercoaster ride on Tuesday. Although the leading index SMI had advanced into positive territory in the morning, selling pressure soon reappeared. The continuing Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and the further rise in oil prices made investors turn their backs on the stock market. The SMI lost 1.3 per cent to 11,057 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were twelve price losers and eight price winners. 84.93 (previously: 86.56) million shares were traded. It was noticeable that stocks considered to be defensive were sold off massively. Givaudan, for example, fell by 5.6 per cent without news. Nestle and Swisscom posted losses of 2.6 and 0.9 per cent respectively. In the pharmaceutical sector, investors parted with Novartis (-3.2 per cent) and Lonza (-4.7 per cent) in particular. Alcon fell by 3.2 per cent. Roche (+1.0%) defied the selling pressure. In contrast, financials, which were battered on Monday, recovered in line with the European banking and insurance sectors. CS ended the trading session 1.6 per cent higher. UBS gained 4.2 per cent. Swiss Life, Swiss Re and Zurich rose between 1.0 and 3.1 per cent.

European stocks ended Tuesday's session in disarray as U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil imports into the United States, accelerating the rise in oil prices. The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 0.5% to 415 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 were each down 0.3%. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 finished almost stable (-0.02%), while in London the FTSE 100 rose by 0.1%. The European Union said it plans to store more natural gas and diversify its sources, aiming to cut its imports of Russian supplies by two-thirds by the end of this year. The invasion of Ukraine has highlighted Europe’s dependence on energy imports from Russia, which last year accounted for about 40% of its natural-gas consumption. The EU has been under pressure to come up with a plan to survive next winter if Russian supplies are cut off, either by Moscow or because of damage to pipelines that run across Ukraine. Danone SA said Tuesday that it will focus on selective expansion as well as its core business categories ahead as it set out its future strategy and growth targets. Ahead of a capital-markets event Tuesday under new Chief Executive Antoine de Saint-Affrique, the French food-products group said its new strategic plan aims to build a model of sustainable and profitable growth, based on four pillars.

U.S. stocks traded erratically, bouncing between losses and gains as investors tried to keep up with a barrage of headlines, even as bond yields, oil and gold prices rose, a day after fears of oil inflation pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a correction. The S&P 500 lost 0.7% and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite, the first of the major indexes to fall into bear-market territory, slid 0.3%. Investors are scrambling to analyze the likely broader impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the hardening Western response. Market volatility has jumped as relations between the West and Russia have hit new lows. Soaring commodity prices have raised the prospect that global growth could take a hit and have muddied the outlook for central banks seeking to tame inflation by raising interest rates. Analysts watching the markets said the morning's selloff turned sharply after an interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he seemed to reject Ukraine joining NATO and appeared open to a potential agreement with Russia that could end hostilities. Google said it reached a deal to buy cybersecurity company Mandiant Inc. for nearly $5.4 billion, aiming to bolster its cloud unit with more cybersecurity offerings at a time when businesses have seen a wave of attacks on their systems. The deal is the second-largest in history for the Alphabet Inc. unit and comes as the company is facing antitrust lawsuits from the Justice Department and multiple states for allegedly anticompetitive practices. Online mortgage lender Better.com said Tuesday it is laying off more of its workforce, months after the company’s chief executive drew criticism for firing 900 employees over a Zoom call. The New York-based company plans to let go of 35% of its workforce, which is just over 3,000 employees, according to people familiar with the matter.

The sell-off sentiment on the East Asian stock exchanges against the backdrop of the Russian attack on Ukraine calmed down in the middle of the week. Overall, the trend is mixed. While the indices on the Chinese stock exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong in particular are now showing further significant losses of up to 1.7 per cent after a friendlier opening, Sydney and Tokyo are able to recover somewhat after heavy losses. The Nikkei index gained 0.5 per cent to 24,926 points. Fundamentally, however, the situation remains fragile and volatile.

Yields for U.S. government debt edged back very slightly in Asia after they rose briskly Tuesday, pushing the 2-year maturity to a fresh 52 week high and its loftiest rate since 2019.

CS lowers the Barclays target to 205 (230) p – Outperform

JPM cuts Moeller-Maersk to Neutral (Overw.) – Target DKK 22,940 (27,954)

UBS raises the Dassault target to EUR 150 (117) – Buy

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