European lawmakers reached agreement on the main points of a new digital-competition law focused on the world's biggest tech companies, setting the stage for one of the most sweeping pieces of technology-regulation legislation to go into effect next year. The new law, known as the Digital Markets Act, is part of the biggest proposed expansion of global-tech regulation in decades. It seeks to impose new obligations and prohibitions on a small cadre of digital giants the European Union defines as gatekeepers - backed by fines for noncompliance that, based on early drafts of the legislation, could rise into the tens of billions of dollars. Widely known as the DMA, the legislation could affect many corners of the tech world. It is aimed broadly at limiting the ability of the biggest tech companies from taking advantage of their powerful presence in digital markets -- including the app ecosystem, online shopping and online advertising. Provisions in the text, if agreed upon, would allow developers to make their apps available to iPhone users without going through Apple's App Store and could limit how sites such as Google and Amazon can rank their own products and services ahead of those offered by smaller competitors in search results.

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The ups and downs on the Swiss stock market continued at the end of the week. After the previous day's gains, the SMI fell moderately. The index moved in a narrow trading range, which was an expression of increased investor caution. In addition, risks were reduced before the weekend, it was said. The SMI fell by 0.1 per cent to 12,122 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 11 price losers and nine price winners. 27.21 (previously: 36.56) million shares were traded. Among individual stocks, ABB fell 1.0 per cent. The mechanical and electrical engineering company wants to buy back its own shares again for 3 billion dollars within a year. This exceeds the previously expected payout of 1.2 billion dollars from the sale of the power grid division, it was said in trading. Novartis rose 0.3 per cent. The blood cancer drug Jakavi from the drug company and its partner Incyte is facing an expanded EU approval. Shares in the mail-order pharmacy Zur Rose (+0.4%) recovered only slightly from the previous day's price slump after disappointing results for the past year. Now there were a number of negative analyst comments.

The European equity indices ended Friday's session slightly higher, resisting the publication of deteriorating macroeconomic statistics on both sides of the Atlantic under the combined effects of the war in Ukraine and high inflation. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.1% to 453.6 points, losing 0.2% for the week. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 ended Friday almost unchanged. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt gained 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.3%. Consumer confidence in the U.K. declined for the fourth consecutive month as the cost-of-living crisis and uncertainty stemming from the war in Ukraine hit households’ mood. The consumer-confidence barometer compiled by research firm GfK fell to minus 31 in March from minus 26 in February, the lowest level since November 2020, when the country was dealing with a surge in Covid-19 cases. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected the indicator to decline to minus 30. BP PLC said Friday that it plans to invest 1 billion pounds ($1.32 billion) to expand electric-vehicle charging in the U.K. over the next 10 years. The energy major said BP Pulse will triple the number of public charging points in its U.K. network with 300-kilowatt and 150-kilowatt ultra-fast charging points.

U.S. stocks continued their rebound for a second straight week, but rising interest rates threaten to temper their gains. The S&P 500 broad stock market index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both ended the week up more than 1%, as investors grew more confident that the U.S. economy will withstand the escalating war in Ukraine and the Federal Reserve's plans to lift interest rates. The moves follow last week's rise of more than 6% for the S&P 500 and more than 8% for the Nasdaq. Still, stocks were mixed during Friday's session in response to a fresh surge in bond yields, a sign that higher rates will continue to ripple through markets. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5%, but the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% for the day and added 0.3% for the week. Instacart Inc. said it has cut its valuation by about 38% to $24 billion, illustrating the difficulties of competing in the delivery market. The San Francisco company said the valuation reflects the market turbulence impacting public and private technology companies. Instacart, which sends shoppers to pick and deliver groceries from supermarkets, was last valued at $39 billion about a year ago. The pandemic was initially a boon to its business, as consumers avoided going to physical stores and turned to grocery delivery. A former Boeing pilot’s acquittal marks the end of the Justice Department’s three-year attempt to hold individuals criminally responsible for a pair of 737 MAX crashes that claimed 346 lives. After deliberating less than two hours Wednesday, a jury here found Mark Forkner, who was Boeing Co. ’s chief technical pilot during the aircraft’s development, not guilty of deceiving a Federal Aviation Administration training official about a flight-control system blamed for sending two of the jets into fatal nosedives in 2018 and 2019.

Most of the East Asian stock markets were little moved in the course of trading on Monday, remaining in the range of their previous week's closing levels. In many cases, the indices have recovered from initial losses. The Nikkei index in Tokyo fell by 0.4 per cent to 28,048 points. The clearly falling yen does not provide any tailwind.

Treasury yields continued to rise in Asia, hitting highs not seen since 2019, as the Fed turns more hawkish and investors worry about rampant inflation and potential economic contraction.

BoA lowers Zur Rose target to CHF 250 (280) – Buy

Citi lowers Jungheinrich target to EUR 28.50 (48) – Neutral

JPM raises Eon target to EUR 12.50 (12.00) – Neutral

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