Boeing is elevating Stephanie Pope to become its No. 2 executive, setting her up as the heir apparent to Chief Executive David Calhoun as the plane maker prepares for its next leadership transition. Pope, who heads Boeing’s services arm, was promoted to chief operating officer and will start in the newly created role on Jan. 1, the company said Monday. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the three-decade Boeing veteran beat out other top executives for the role. Boeing is making the change as Calhoun nears his retirement age, which was extended in 2021, and the company is in a more stable position, with some regulatory matters behind it and a rising stock price. Calhoun expects to remain in the top job at least one more year, some of the people said. Pope, 51 years old, has worked in various parts of the company, including stints as the finance chief of both the commercial airline business and services unit, which she helped form. The services unit, which she took over in 2022, generates about a quarter of the company’s revenue and is the only unit making a profit.

After opening weak and moving along the unchanged line till about mid afternoon, the Switzerland market began edging up on Monday to eventually end the day's session notably higher. The benchmark SMI, which touched a low of 11,048.01 a little past noon, ended up 58.59 points or 0.53% at 11,130.36. ABB climbed 2.78% and Kuehne & Nagel gained 2.18%. Richemont advanced nearly 1.5%, while Alcon, Logitech International and Novartis gained 1 to 1.1%. Givaudan and Sika, both gained nearly 1%. Swiss Life Holding, Partners Group, Geberit and Roche Holding posted modest gains. Lonza Group declined 1.28%. Nestle, Zurich Insurance Group and Sonova ended modestly lower. In the Mid Price Index, Tecan Group and Avolta both gained about 2.5%. Galenica Sante, Belimo Holding and Swatch Group gained 1.55%, 1.5%, and 1.18%, respectively. BKW, Ems Chemie Holding, PSP Swiss Property, SGS and Georg Fischer ended higher by 0.5 to 1%. Meyer Burger Tech tanked 12.8%. ams OSRAM AG shares ended lower by nearly 2.5%. Hevetia, Julius Baer, Lindt & Spruengli and Flughafen Zurich lost 0.6 to 1%. Basilea Pharmaceutica climbed 4% after its license partner Astellas Pharma US, Inc. received the U.S. FDA approval for expanded use of antifungal Cresemba (isavuconazole) in children with invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis.

Despite struggling for direction during much of the trading session, the major European markets closed higher on Monday as stocks found support past mid afternoon amid optimism the central banks will soon start reducing interest rates. Several central banks, including the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE), are scheduled to announce their monetary policy decisions this week. Some crucial economic data from the U.S., Europe and Asia are also due this week. The BoE is expected to hold its Bank Rate unchanged at 5.25% for the third decision, but the focus will be on the MPC's judgment of its progress against inflation and hints on the possible start of easing financial conditions. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders are likely to focus more closely on the central bank's accompanying statement and projections. Reports on consumer and producer price inflation are also likely to attract attention in the coming days along with reports on retail sales and industrial production. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 03%. Germany's DAX gained 0.21% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.33% up. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.13%, while Switzerland's SMI advanced 0.53%. Other markets in Europe ended mixed. Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden ended higher. Belgium and Greece edged up marginally. Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkiye closed weak. In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion, British Land Company, Hargreaves Lansdown and Rolls-Royce Holdings gained 2.4 to 3%. ICP, IHG, Ferguson, J Sainsbury, Land Securities, WPP, ITV, M&G, CRH, Experian, The Sage Group, Melrose Industries, Antofagasta, Barratt Developments, Ashtead, Associated British Foods, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Bunzl, Informa and Tesco gained 1 to 2%. Glencore and Centrica dropped about 3.7% and 3.4%, respectively. TUI drifted down nearly 3%.

Gains across a swath of stocks on Monday offset declines in big technology shares, keeping major indexes steady ahead of coming inflation data. Monday extended a recent trend: Since a lower-than-expected inflation reading last month, investors have piled into the stocks of moderately sized companies, while cooling on the giant tech firms that had previously driven this year’s rally. The so-called Magnificent Seven stocks of Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Nvidia, Tesla and Meta Platforms each fell at least 0.8%. Meta led the declines, dropping 2.2%. But only one out of 11 S&P 500 sectors fell. Even the information technology subindex ticked higher, reflecting gains outside of the largest companies in the sector. This week’s most important trading sessions lie ahead. Those will begin on Tuesday with the release of November consumer-price index data, which will show whether inflation continued to cool following last month’s encouraging reading for October. Department-store stocks were among Monday’s best performers. Macy’s surged 19% after The Wall Street Journal reported that an investor group had made an offer to take the company private. That in turn helped lift Kohl’s, which rose 7%, and Nordstrom, which climbed 7.2%. Cigna was the top performer in the S&P 500, rising 17% after it scrapped a tie-up with Humana.

Stock markets in East Asia and Australia are trending mostly higher on Tuesday. Positive cues from the US stock markets are encouraging investors to buy, according to traders. Meanwhile, according to media reports, the Japanese central bank is in no hurry to deviate from its ultra-loose monetary policy. The Bank of Japan currently sees no need to do so, according to reports. This is supporting the stock market in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 index is currently trading 0.1 per cent higher. In early trading, however, the index was up more significantly.

U.S. treasury yields initially climbed heading into a $37 billion auction of 10-year notes but fell after the auction was completed, suggesting investors were satisfied with what it showed about demand for longer-term bonds. The 10-year yield finished the session at 4.238%, according to Tradeweb, down from 4.244% Friday

Citi downgrades Thales to Neutral (Buy) – Target EUR 156
UBS raises the Uniper target to EUR 2.10 (1.70) – Sell
UBS downgrades Fortum to Neutral (Buy) – EUR 13 (13.50)

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