With its shares under pressure due to revised Covid guidance from Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. on Monday said it “remains comfortable” with its existing guidance on full-year 2023 COVID-19 sales. Moderna reiterated that full-year Covid vaccines sales are expected to be in the range of $6 billion to $8 billion, guidance previously provided in its August earnings release. The company also sounded a note of caution, saying in a statement Monday that “it is still too early in the U.S. vaccination season to accurately project where vaccination rates will land for the full year.” Moderna expects to have a better picture of the expected U.S. market size at the end of October, the company said, and will provide an update when it reports quarterly results Nov. 2. Pfizer’s announcement Friday that it was slashing its full-year outlook due to lower expected COVID-19 sales weighed on shares of vaccine makers Monday. Moderna shares fell 4%, while Novavax stock fell 0.4%, and BioNTech’s American depositary receipts fell 6.7%, while Pfizer shares gained 3% after a steep drop Friday.

Save for a few minutes at the start and a brief while a few minutes before the closing bell, the Swiss market remained in negative territory on Monday. Worries about higher borrowing costs, likelihood of further hike in rates, and concerns about global economic slowdown weighed on the market. The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 11.27 points or 0.1% at 10,889.03. Roche Holding declined 1.1%. ABB and Swiss Re ended lower by 0.76% and 0.71%, respectively. Swisscom, Novartis, Nestle and Sika posted modest losses. Lonza Group and UBS Group both gained nearly 2%. Alcon climbed about 1.2% and Partners Group ended nearly 1% up. Geberit, Sonova and Givaudan posted modest gains. In the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burger Tech tumbled 2.8%. VAT Group, Schindler Ps, Schindler Holding, Helvetia and AMA also ended notably lower. Sandoz surged 5.63%. Dufry gained nearly 2%. Straumann Holding and Belimo Holding climbed 1.63% and 1.49%, respectively. Georg Fischer, Lindt & Spruengli, BKW, Flughafen Zurich and Temenos Group also ended higher.

European stocks closed modestly higher on Monday, despite seeing some weakness during the course of the session, as investors stayed largely cautious amid lingering concerns about the tensions in the Middle East, and worries about interest rates and inflation. Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan said his country 'has no interest' in occupying Gaza but will do 'whatever is needed' to eliminate the Palestinian Hamas militant group which controls the densely populated coastal enclave. The pan European Stoxx 600 advanced 0.23%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.41%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.34% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.27% up, while Switzerland's SMI edged down 0.1%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain closed higher. Norway and Sweden edged up marginally, while Denmark, Iceland and Turkiye ended weak. In the UK market, mining stocks Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore gained as base metal prices rose on optimism around demand from top consumer China. St. James's Place shares rallied more than 5%. TUI, Just Eat Takeway.com, Next, ITV, Pennon, Hargreaves Lansdown, Rio Tinto, Severn Trent, Entain, JD Sports Fashion and United Utilities gained 2 to 4%. Anglo American, Persimmon, ICP, WPP, Prudential, British American Tobacco, Associated British Foods, Glencore and BT also ended notably higher. Ferguson declined 2.7%. Intertek, Experian and Croda International lost 0.8 to 1.6%. GlaxoSmithKline drifted lower despite getting positive CHMP opinion for its Jemperli drug. In the German market, Commerzbank climbed nearly 5%. Zalando surged 4%, while Deutsche Bank, Adidas, Fresenius Medical Care, Qiagen and BASF gained 1 to 1.8%.

U.S. stocks climbed Monday, reflecting investors’ hopes that the Israel-Hamas conflict wouldn’t have a major impact on the global economy. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rebounded from a 1.2% decline on Friday, by adding back 1.2%. The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 314 points, or 0.9%. At the other end of the reversal, Monday was more challenging for assets such as gold and U.S. Treasurys, which had rallied Friday. Pfizer shares gained 3.6% after the pharma giant slashed its 2023 revenue-guidance range, citing lower-than-expected sales of both its treatment and its vaccine for Covid-19 but also announced cost-cutting measures meant to save at least $3.5 billion through the end of 2024. The news weighed on other vaccine makers, with Moderna falling 6.5% and Novavax dropping 6%. Lululemon Athletica’s stock surged 10%, two days before it will join the S&P 500 index. Charles Schwab gained 4.7% after the brokerage firm said in an earnings report that bank-deposit outflows were slowing. Some analysts noted that optimism about the U.S. economy might help to offset investors’ concerns about geopolitical tensions. In recent weeks, some Federal Reserve officials who had previously seemed more inclined to raise interest rates one more time this year have indicated that such action might not be necessary thanks to the recent increase in longer-term U.S.

Hopes that the ongoing manifold diplomatic efforts can prevent a regional expansion of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas are causing a recovery from the previous day's losses on the East Asian stock exchanges and in Sydney on Tuesday. The Nikkei index in Tokyo rises by 1.1 per cent and thus makes up about half of the previous day's minus. The Kospi in Seoul also rises by 1.1 per cent. The gains on the Chinese stock exchanges and in Sydney (+0.4%) were about half as large. In "Down Under", the fact that Australian consumer confidence has fallen is slowing things down a bit.

Bond prices also fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note up to 4.709% from 4.628% Friday.

Barclays raises Novo Nordisk target to DKK 825 (725) – Overweight
UBS lowers Vinci target to EUR 125 (127) – Buy
JP Morgan raises Thyssenkrupp target to EUR 7.50 (6.30) – Neutral

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