Advent International agreed to buy Maxar Technologies Inc. in a deal that values the satellite owner and operator at about $4 billion. Advent is paying $53 a share for Maxar, the companies said, confirming an earlier Wall Street Journal report. Shares of Maxar, which had fallen 23.5% since the beginning of the year, closed at $23.10 on Thursday. They soared 125% Friday on the news to close at $51.93. Including debt, the transaction is worth $6.4 billion, making it one of the bigger buyouts to be announced during the past few months, when market turmoil and a challenging financing environment have made it harder to do deals. The debt for the transaction will be supplied by a group of nonbank lenders. Based in Westminster, Colo., Maxar owns and operates a constellation of satellites that allows it to collect detailed images from space. Its technology is used for geospatial intelligence and defense and also powers Google Maps. Images in the news of the battlefield in Ukraine are often provided by Maxar. The company, whose origins date back to 1957, has 90 satellites in orbit, counts 70 countries among its customers and employs 4,400 people, according to its website. It trades on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Boston-based Advent has completed over 400 private-equity investments across 41 countries.

The Switzerland stock market languished in negative territory on Friday as fears about a global economic recession rendered the mood bearish. The Swiss National Bank raised its interest rate by 0.5 percentage point on Thursday and said it cannot rule out further tightening in the policy rate to counter rising inflationary pressures. The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 109.76 points or 1.01% at 10,770.38. All 20 SMI stocks edged lower. 108.53 (previously: 52.63) million shares were traded. The share of cement producer Holcim (-0.1%) held up better than the market, same as Nestle (-0.5%), which is considered defensive, and Roche (-0.4%). Credit Suisse (-0.2%) had been sold off sharply in the previous days, so stabilisation may have occurred here. Fears that interest rate hikes could push the economy into recession weighed on the prices of cyclicals such as ABB (-1.1%), Sika (-2.2%) and Sonova (-2.8%). Logitech posted a minus of 3.4 per cent. Banks and insurers were also sold off. UBS lost 1.1 per cent and Julius Baer 1.4 per cent. Swiss Life, Swiss Re and Zurich fell by up to 1.7 per cent.

European markets closed lower on Friday, extending recent losses, as fears of a global economic recession amid surging interest rates continued to hurt sentiment, prompting investors to refrain from picking up stocks. The Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank, all raised their lending rates this week, and also signaled further policy tightening in the coming months to fight inflation. Concerns about a surge in Covid cases in China, and geopolitical tensions weighed as well. The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 1.2%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 1.27%, Germany's DAX drifted down 0.67% and France's CAC 40 fell 1.08%. Porsche AG moved up into the DAX and displaced Puma into the MDAX. Because rising interest rates make real estate loans more expensive, real estate shares were now under pressure on the stock market. Among the individual stocks, Vonovia, Deutsche Wohnen and LEG Immobilien fell by up to 8.2 per cent. Rising interest rates also weighed on the often high valuations of technology stocks, whose Stoxx sub-index lost 1.7 per cent. The indices of commodity (-0.9 per cent) and oil and gas stocks (-2.0 per cent) also fell, here the gloomy economic outlook in particular weighed. Bank stocks (+0.8%), on the other hand, generally benefit from rising interest rates because they promise more lucrative margins for the lending business. While car stocks were down 0.6 per cent, VW was up 2.2 per cent. Volkswagen shareholders will, as expected, receive a special dividend worth billions from the IPO of sports car manufacturer Porsche. The fact that Games Workshop Group (+16.2 per cent) is collaborating with Amazon on film and television productions went down very well. Südzucker gained 9.0 per cent. Thanks to a solid price level for sugar and hedged energy prices, the company also expects a significant increase in profits and revenues for the new financial year starting on 1 March and has confirmed its outlook for the current year. Morphosys slumped 11.4 percent after a downgrade to "sell" by Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs reportedly described the biotechnology company's pipeline as now very thin after various failures. The cancer antibody Monjuvi, which was associated with many hopes, had also failed to meet all expectations since its launch. Bayer was down 3.8 per cent, Credit Suisse had lowered the price target.

Stocks fell again Friday, with investors forced to wrestle anew with the prospect of higher-for-longer interest rates and the potential for recession. The S&P 500 dropped 43.39 points, or 1.1%, to 3852.36 a day after falling 2.5%. Each of the index’s 11 sectors finished in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 281.76 points, or 0.8%, to 32920.46. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite slid 105.11 points, or 1%, to 10705.41. All three major indexes fell at least 1.5% this week, with technology stocks and other growth-sensitive segments suffering the most. Among the individual stocks, Adobe shares rose by 3 per cent. The software manufacturer performed better than expected in the fourth quarter and is optimistic about the current first quarter. United States Steel gained 5.8 per cent after the steelmaker said it expects better demand in the US and rising prices. For the fourth quarter, the group expects adjusted earnings above market consensus. In contrast, steelmaker and metals recycler Steel Dynamics (+7.8%) expects fourth-quarter profit to be lower than last year. Ford (-7.1%) raised prices again for the popular F-150 electric pickup. This did not go down well with investors.

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from global markets on Friday, as ongoing concerns about rising interest rates and fears of a global economic recession continued to weigh on sentiment. Losses range between half a percent to 1.3 percent. In Tokyo, the Nikkei slips 1.1 per cent to 27,228 points. There, the Bank of Japan is holding its two-day consultations up to and including Tuesday. In Hong Kong, shares of casino operators are disposed of. The background being new investment plans by Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment, in the course of renewing their licences.

Ten- and 30-year U.S. government debt yields bounced off their one-week lows Friday, as investors weighed this week’s interest-rate increases by central banks on both sides of the Atlantic and policy makers’ efforts to keep hiking despite the economic cost. The 10-year Treasury note rose by 4 basis points to 3.486%. The 2-year Treasury note, on the other hand, fell by 5 basis points to 4.281%.

CS cuts Bouygues target to EUR37 (39) - Outperform
Baader lifts Eni target to EUR 18.20 (16.10) - Buy
CS increases Prosus target to EUR 106 (94) - Outperform

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