Harbour Energy revealed it would buy most of the upstream assets of oil-and-gas producer Wintershall Dea for $11.2 billion in cash and shares from its shareholders BASF and LetterOne. The U.K. oil-and-gas company confirmed on Thursday that the deal includes all of Wintershall Dea's upstream assets in Norway, Germany, Denmark, Argentina, Mexico, Egypt, Libya and Algeria as well as its carbon-dioxide capture and storage licenses in Europe. It excludes Wintershall Dea's assets located in Russia or those held in joint ventures with Russian companies, as well as Wintershall Dea's stake in WIGA Transport Beteiligungs. Earlier this week, Russia moved to transfer the stakes that Wintershall Dea and Austria's OMV hold in a joint venture operating the Yuzhno-Russkoye field in Western Siberia to a new entity. Upon completion of the acquisition, German chemicals giant BASF--which has a 72.7% stake in Wintershall Dea--will own 46.5% of Harbour's shares. Harbour Energy shares were up 21%. However, they are currently down 9.9% over the year to date. BASF shares closed virtually unchanged being up 4.9% over the year to date.

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The Swiss stock market closed slightly lower on Thursday. The SMI lost 0.1 per cent to 11,133 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 13 losers and seven winners. A total of 14.83 (previously: 17.89) million shares were traded. One of the few headlines of the day involved Swisscom. According to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, the telecommunications provider is examining a counter-bid for Vodafone's Italian business, which is currently the subject of a EUR 10.45 billion offer from the Iliad Group. Swisscom fell by 0.3 per cent. The appreciation of the Swiss franc against the dollar and euro weighed on export stocks Richemont (-1.2%) and Swatch (-1.3%) in the luxury goods sector. Defensive heavyweights Roche (+0.6%) and Nestle (+0.4%) were at the top of the SMI table. The rating agency Moody's lowered Julius Baer's credit rating causing the share price to fall by 1.2 per cent. Among the other second-line stocks, Schweiter lost 0.4 per cent following a 60 per cent stake in Jiangsu ZNL Coating New Materials in China.

The European stock markets closed slightly lower on Thursday, with investors taking a few profits before the release of new US inflation data on Friday and the extended Christmas weekend. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell by 0.2% to 476.9 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 also lost 2% each. The DAX 40 declined by 0.3% in Frankfurt, as did the FTSE 100 in London. Getlink dropped 2.3%, as a surprise strike by Eurotunnel employees led to the closure of the Channel Tunnel and panic in several European stations. Renewable energy producer Neoen (+1.1%) announced on Wednesday that it had won a call for tenders from the Commission de Régulation de l'Energie (CRE) to build four photovoltaic power plants with a total maximum output of 104.4 megawatt-peak (MWp). European aerospace group Airbus (+0.5%) confirmed plans to build 16 Airbus C295 aircraft in Spain, at a cost of €1.7 billion to the Spanish Ministry of Defence. Axa (+0.5%) informed that its subsidiary Axa France Vie has concluded a reinsurance contract with Axa Réassurance Vie France (ARVF), the negative impact of which on operating income will be offset by share buybacks of around 500 million euros.

Stocks rose Thursday, putting the S&P 500 back on track for its eighth consecutive week of gains. The benchmark index rose 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9%, or about 322 points. All three indexes are up so far this week. All 11 sectors within the S&P 500 ended Thursday higher. Consumer-discretionary stocks were the top performer, rising 1.4%. Utilities were the day’s laggard, gaining 0.1%. On Thursday, stocks rebounded after economic data showed the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation indicator rose by 2% in the third quarter, less than previously estimated. That marked the latest signal that the U.S. economy is cooling gradually, as policy makers have hoped. Chip maker Micron Technology was the S&P 500’s best performer, rising 8.6% after earnings. The PHLX Semiconductor index gained 2.8%. Shares of cruise-line operators rallied after Carnival Corp. reported fourth-quarter results. Carnival rose 6.2%, while Royal Caribbean Group advanced 5.2%. The weakest performer in the S&P 500 was Paychex, which fell 7% after reporting earnings. US aircraft manufacturer Boeing (+0.6%) announced on Thursday that it had delivered a 787 Dreamliner to Juneyao Airlines, its first delivery of an aircraft to China since 2021. Cyber security specialist Blackberry (-12.9%) reported adjusted earnings of 1 cent per share for the third quarter of its financial year, whereas analysts were expecting an adjusted loss of 4 cents. The chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery (-1.5%), David Zaslav, held talks this week with his counterpart at Paramount (-0.2%), Bob Bakish, about a possible merger between the two media groups, people close to the matter informed the Wall Street Journal. However, no official discussions are underway between the companies, the sources specified. The Norwegian road safety authority announced on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into the American electric car manufacturer Tesla (+3%) because of suspension faults in its Model S and X vehicles.

Stocks in Asia closed mixed on Friday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.1 per cent to 33,176 points, held back slightly by the continued strengthening of the yen. Hong Kong however (-1.5 per cent) was weak, weighed down by the slump in the share price of technology heavyweight Tencent. Tencent's share price plunged by a good 11 per cent after Beijing presented a new draft regulation for online games. The technology sector index lost 3.3 per cent.

The policy-sensitive 2-year U.S. government debt yield fell further into its lowest level of 4.352% since early June after U.S. third-quarter GDP was revised slightly downward. The 10-year Treasury note yield stagnated at around 3.89%.

Price target Bossard: Berenberg increases to CHF 295 (264) - Buy

Target price Comet: UBS raises to CHF 300 (235) - Buy

Rating VAT: Berenberg downgrades to Hold (Buy) - Target CHF 450 (395)

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