Amazon (+2.7%) closed its $6.5 billion acquisition of the MGM movie and television studio on Thursday, even as the Federal Trade Commission continues to examine the deal. The move comes after Amazon certified to the FTC that it had provided all the information requested by antitrust investigators reviewing the transaction. That step put the deal on a regulatory clock with the agency that has now expired, leaving the company free to move forward, a person familiar with the matter said. Amazon provided the FTC with more than three million documents over the past eight months as part of the review process, the person familiar with the matter said. European regulators approved the deal earlier this week, saying that the transaction wouldn’t significantly reduce competition. The deal marks Amazon’s second-largest acquisition in its history, following its 2017 deal to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The deal closes as the technology company remains under intense antitrust scrutiny because of its size and power in a number of different industries. Beyond the FTC’s review of the merger, the agency is taking a broader look at Amazon’s operations. With MGM, Amazon will add 4,000 films to its holdings including the iconic James Bond franchise. MGM also has a deep library of 17,000 episodes of television content. Amazon is investing heavily to boost its Prime Video platform, which is competing against Netflix Inc., Walt Disney Co. ’s Disney+ and other large rivals. Entertainment isn’t the only area where Amazon is increasing its video presence. The company is investing heavily in sports. Last year, it struck a deal with the National Football League for exclusive national video rights to Thursday Night Football at a price tag of around $1 billion per-season, people familiar with the matter said.

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On Thursday, the SMI gained 1.4 per cent to 12,062 points and closed above the 12,000 mark for the first time since mid-February. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 18 price gainers and two price losers. 48.81 (previously: 58.84) million shares were traded. As on the previous day, Richemont (+1.6%) and Swatch (+0.7%) were sought after in the luxury goods sector. Nestle rose 2.1 per cent in the wake of food sector stocks being in demand across Europe. Fuelled by a positive analyst commentary, the shares of speciality chemicals provider Sika rose by 2.9 per cent. Among the financial stocks, Credit Suisse fell by 1 per cent and UBS lagged behind with a plus of 0.3 per cent - they were thus reflecting negative trends on the European stock exchanges. Roche gained 0.5 per cent ex-dividend. The pharmaceutical company had introduced a Covid 19 test for the detection of Omikron subvariants. At the staffing services provider Adecco (-1.9%), the complete Akka takeover was identified as the reason for the markdowns. Asmallworld (+7.7%), meanwhile, spoke of a record year.

European equity indices ended Thursday's session in mixed order, after the US Federal Reserve (Fed) raised rates for the first time since 2018 and the Bank of England raised rates again, while investors are still closely monitoring developments in the war in Ukraine. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.5% to 450.5 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 advanced 0.4% each. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 gave up 0.4%, while in London the FTSE 100 rose 1.3%. The Bank of England (BOE) continued its tightening cycle on Thursday, raising its key interest rate for the third time in a row to contain soaring inflation in the UK. At the end of its monetary policy meeting, the BOE raised its key rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%. Veolia (+2.8%) published annual results that exceeded analysts' expectations for the 2021 financial year. The group of services to local authorities has achieved last year revenues of 28.5 billion euros and a gross operating surplus (Ebitda) of 4.2 billion euros, figures that are respectively 2% and 4% higher than analysts' forecasts, notes Jefferies. Atos jumped 3.8% after BFM Business reported that aircraft manufacturer Airbus (+0.1%) had considered buying the digital services company's cybersecurity business, but did not make an offer. In Frankfurt, Thyssenkrupp fell by 9.3%. The German industrial conglomerate suspended its free cash flow before mergers and acquisitions forecast for its 2021-2022 financial year on Wednesday evening, as well as its plans to spin off its steel business, due to the impact of the war in Ukraine on its operations.

U.S. stock indexes rallied for a third straight day, putting the S&P 500 on pace for its biggest weekly gain since late 2020. The S&P 500 finished the session up 1.2%, or 53.81 points, at 4411.67. It has climbed nearly 5% so far this week, which would represent its biggest weekly gain since November 2020. The broad-market gauge rallied more than 2% on both Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, all 11 of the S&P 500’s sectors were in the green. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.3%, or 178.23 points, to 13614.78. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2%, or 417.66 points, to 34480.76. Some of the biggest market moves were in oil, which has been highly volatile because the war stands to curtail Russia’s role as a major oil supplier. The U.S. crude benchmark added 8.4% Thursday to close at $102.98 a barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 8.8% to end at $106.64 a barrel. The S&P 500 energy sector was up roughly 3.5%. Devon Energy Corp. jumped 9.7%, or $5.06, to $57.52. Occidental Petroleum Corp. climbed 9.5%, or $5.02, to $58.01. Marathon Oil Corp. rose 6.9%, or $1.48, to $23.07. Diamondback Energy Inc. advanced 6.6%, or $8.25, to $133.88. Cloud computing service provider OVHcloud has filed a complaint with the European Commission against US software company Microsoft (+0.3%), the French company told the Agefi-Dow Jones agency, confirming information from the Wall Street Journal. Berkshire Hathaway (+2.3%), Warren Buffett's investment company, increased its stake in the oil company Occidental Petroleum (+9.5%), now holding 14.6% of its capital. Investment firm KKR (+4%) announced on Thursday that it had bought the Japanese real estate investment joint venture of Mitsubishi and UBS Asset Management for USD 2 billion. The acquired company, Mitsubishi-UBS Realty, is one of Japan's largest real estate fund managers with $15 billion in assets. A few months after a 3.9% increase in the price of Netflix subscriptions in the US, the platform announced that it was testing a new feature that would charge for account sharing.

In Asia, major indexes broadly closed with gains. In Hong Kong (-1.5%), however, there was profit-taking after the bull market of the previous two days. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) confirmed its ultra-loose monetary policy. The Nikkei 225 index rises by 0.5 per cent to 26,795 points. The renewed surge in oil and other commodity prices helped Inpex to increase by 1.1 per cent. Sumitomo Metal Mining rises by 4.5 per cent. Unlike in China, the Corona case numbers are declining in Japan. According to traders, Sumitomo Realty & Development (+2.3 per cent) and Mitsubishi Estate (+1.7 per cent) are benefiting from hopes of a reopening. In Shanghai, the composite index is up 0.4 per cent, while the Kospi in Seoul climbs 0.2 per cent.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note ended almost flat at 2.194%, after three consecutive sessions of increases. Selling of shorter-dated bonds, which are more heavily affected by changes in monetary policy, also eased with the two-year yield declining to 1.936% after climbing for eight trading sessions. The yield on the 10-year German Bund stood at 0.391%, down from 0.393% on Wednesday evening.

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