BHP Group Ltd. (-1.8%) said it has signed an agreement to buy Australian copper miner OZ Minerals Ltd. in what would be its biggest acquisition in more than a decade. The world's largest miner by market value said the companies have entered a scheme implementation deed after BHP offered to buy OZ Minerals for 28.25 Australian dollars (US$18.96) a share. The OZ Minerals board has unanimously recommended shareholders vote in favor of the deal. BHP last month raised its bid for the Adelaide, Australia-based miner after an earlier proposal of A$25.00 a share, submitted in August, was rejected by directors as too low. The latest offer represents an enterprise value of A$9.6 billion, or roughly US$6.4 billion. The agreement follows four weeks of exclusive due diligence. It allows for Oz Minerals to pay a dividend of up to A$1.75 a share on or prior to the deal being completed, to be deducted from the offer price. BHP predicts that demand for copper, which is an excellent conductor of electricity and has wide-ranging uses including in construction and electronics, will double in the next three decades. OZ Minerals runs two copper-and-gold mining operations in South Australia - where BHP runs the large Olympic Dam copper mine - and another in Brazil. BHP also wants to produce more nickel, which OZ Minerals has in a project it is developing in Western Australia, where BHP already runs nickel mines and processing facilities.

After a flat start and a subsequent uptick, the Switzerland stock market slipped into the red Thursday morning, and stayed weak right through the day's session to eventually close on a negative note. Worries about growth and imminent interest rate hikes weighed on sentiment. The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 70.95 points or 0.65% at 10,774.64. Sika edged more than 2% down. Partners Group drifted down 1.55%, while Givaudan, Richemont, Credit Suisse, Logitech, ABB, Geberit and Roche Holding finished lower by 1 to 1.3%. Swisscom climbed about 0.8%. Zurich Insurance Group edged up marginally, while Lonza Group and Swiss Re closed slightly weak. In the Mid Price Index, VAT Group lost 4.3%. Zur Rose ended nearly 4% down. Bachem Holding shed about 3% and Belimo Holding drifted down 2.4%. Helvetia, Baloise Holding and Galenica Sante gained 1.2%. PSP Swiss Property and Swiss Prime Site advanced 0.84% and 0.69%, respectively. According to a report from the Swiss National Bank, Switzerland recorded a current account surplus of CHF 24.1 billion in the third quarter of 2022, widening from CHF 21.8 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

European stocks closed lower on Thursday as worries about recession and interest rate hikes returned to haunt sentiment, outweighing optimism about earnings. The pan European Stoxx 600 slid 0.97%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.37% down, Germany's DAX dropped 1.3% while France's CAC 40 fell 0.95%. In the UK market, Ocado Group ended 3.4% down. United Utilities, Halma, Weir Group, Pershing Square Holdings, Scottish Mortgage and Schroders closed lower by 2 to 3%. In Paris, Renault, Stellantis, Schneider Electric, Hermes International and Legrand lost 2 to 4%. In the German market, Volkswagen, HelloFresh, Infineon Technologies, Porsche Automobil, Zalando, Continental, Daimler, MTU Aero Engines, Deutsche Post, Symrise, Fresenius Medical Care and BASF declined 1.7 to 4.5%. In the EuroStoxx, the shares of chip industry supplier ASML fell by 4.1 per cent. STMicroelectronics fell by 3.5 per cent in the Cac 40. Banks fared better. Nordea rose 0.7 per cent, ING and BNP Paribas fell only moderately. In London, shares in ABRDN were in the spotlight and lost almost three per cent. Chief Financial Officer Stephanie Bruce is leaving the asset manager, which is now looking for a successor.

Stocks fell Thursday after economic data pointed to a strong labor market and faster economic growth than previously thought. The S&P 500 tumbled 56.05 points, or 1.4%, to close at 3822.39. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 348.99 points, or 1%, to 33027.49. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 233.25 points, or 2.2%, to close at 10476.12. Weekly data published Thursday showed 216,000 people filed initial claims for unemployment benefits last week, up 2,000 on the week before. A third estimate of economic growth last quarter, meanwhile, suggested output expanded at an annual pace of 3.2%. That is faster than the previous estimate of 2.9%. The strong numbers are adding to investor angst that more Fed-induced pain is coming. Tesla fell sharply again on Thursday following the announcement of promotional offers on the carmaker's entry-level vehicles in the United States. The company's stock has lost two-thirds of its value since the start of the year, weakened by Elon Musk's share sales since his takeover of Twitter. Electric vehicle manufacturers Rivian (-6.2%) and Lucid (-4%) slipped in the wake of Tesla. Semiconductor manufacturer Micron (-3.4%) reported lower-than-expected results and presented a pessimistic forecast for the first half of 2023, pointing to oversupply in the memory chip market. Chipmakers Intel (-3.2%), Nvidia (-7%), and AMD (-5.6%) also edged lower following these announcements. AMC Entertainment shares plunged 7.4% after the movie chain revealed a $110 million capital increase and a future 1-for-10 reverse stock split. Alphabet subsidiary YouTube (-2.2%) secured the rights to broadcast a series of NFL games in a multi-year deal.

Stocks in Asia mostly fell, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 1% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong down 0.6%. China’s Shanghai Composite slipped by 0.3%. In Seoul the Kospi even decreased by 1.7 percent. New price data from Japan revealed that inflation there in November, at an annual rate of 3.7 per cent, remains well above the 2 per cent target of the Japanese central bank. The US blacklist of Chinese companies which are not allowed to be supplied with US products is also detrimental to sentiment. The expansion of this list, according to analysts at Nomura, further limits China's ability to develop advanced chip manufacturing capabilities and gain access to high-performance processing technology, after export controls were already introduced in the US in October.

The policy-sensitive two-year U.S. Treasury yield rose on Thursday, while long-term rates held near three-week highs, after revised data showed the U.S. economy grew in the third quarter by more than previously estimated. The 10-year Treasury note added 1 basis point to 3.679%. The 2-year Treasury note edged 3 basis points higher to 4.257%.

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