Bristol Myers Squibb has struck a $4.1 billion deal to buy radiopharmaceutical therapeutics company RayzeBio. Bristol Myers on Tuesday said it will pay $62.50 a share in cash for RayzeBio, more than double Friday’s closing price of $30.57 for the San Diego company. The RayzeBio transaction comes on the heels of Bristol’s deal last week to buy neuroscience-drug developer Karuna Therapeutics for $14 billion. Bristol Myers said the deal, worth about $3.6 billion net of cash acquired, is slated to close in the first half of 2024. Bristol Myers said the RayzeBio deal adds a differentiated actinium-based radiopharmaceutical platform and a pipeline of multiple drug-development programs to its oncology franchise.

Despite spending much of the day's session in negative territory, the Switzerland market ended marginally up on Friday thanks to some brisk buying at select counters in the final hour. The benchmark SMI ended up 20.49 points or 0.18% at 11,153.09, slightly off the day's high of 11,160.23. The index dropped to a low of 11,093.27 at the start. Kuehne & Nagel climbed about 2.25%. Lonza Group gained 2.1%. Alcon advanced nearly 1%, while Partners Group and Novartis ended higher by 0.7% and 0.65%, respectively. Richemont drifted down 1.36%. Logitech International ended lower by 0.55% and Roche Holding ended 0.29% down. Sandoz, up nearly 1.5%, was the top gainer in the Mid Price Index. Barry Callebaut climbed 1.15%. Baloise Holding, VAT Group, PSP Swiss Property and Straumann Holding gained 0.4 to 0.53%. Swatch Group ended 1.22% down. SGS and Avolta declined 1.07% and 1.05%, respectively. Adecco, AMS Osram AG, Julius Baer and Lindt & Spruengli lost 0.5 to 0.75%.

European stocks closed slightly higher on Friday with investors assessing the likely move of the Federal Reserve following the latest data on consumer price growth, digesting the data from the European region, and monitoring the developments around the Red Sea. The mood was largely cautious with traders largely away on the sidelines ahead of the long weekend. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up 0.14%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.04%, Germany's DAX gained 0.11%, and France's CAC ended down 0.03%. Switzerland's SMI ended higher by 0.12%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Russia ended higher. Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands and Turkiye closed weak, while Poland, Spain and Sweden ended flat. In the UK market, Lloyds Banking Group climbed nearly 2%. Pennon, Persimmon, RightMove, Convatec Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, M&G, Taylor Wimpey and HSBC Holdings gained 0.8 to 1.5%. EnQuest surged more than 6%. The independent energy company has agreed to sell 15% interest each in the Bressay field and the EnQuest Producer floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), both located in the UK North Sea to RockRose UKCS 10 Ltd, a unit of Viaro Energy. JD Sports Fashion drifted down more than 5%. Entain ended lower by about 2.5%, while Rentokil Initial, DCC, Prudential, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Ashtead Group and Halma lost 1 to 1.6%. In Germany, Qiagen, BMW, Commerzbank, Symrise, Vonovia, RWE and Deutsche Post ended higher by 0.7 to 1.2%. Puma and Adidas ended down by about 7% and 5.2%, respectively, after U.S. peer Nike lowered its revenue outlook and unveiled plans to cut $2 billion (€1.8 billion) in costs over the next three years. In the French market, Saint Gobain, Airbus Group, TotalEnergies, Sanofi, ArcelorMittal, Publicis Groupe and Vinci posted moderate gains.

Major indexes advanced to start the holiday-shortened trading week, with stocks looking to close out a positive year after a bruising 2022. The benchmark S&P 500 gained 0.4% Tuesday, leaving it within 0.5% of a record close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.5%, and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, or about 159 points. The small-cap Russell 2000, which has outperformed the leading indexes in December, climbed 1.2%. The rise is a sign that the year may end with a so-called Santa Claus rally, which refers to the tendency of U.S. stocks to rise during the period comprising the last five trading sessions of a year and the first two of the next year. Investors are broadly optimistic heading into 2024. Interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve have tamed inflation while avoiding a recession. Money managers expect the central bank will cut interest rates next year. Fresh data out Tuesday showed that shoppers kept spending during the holiday season. That helped the energy sector lead broad-based gains in the S&P 500, adding 0.9%. Marathon Oil shares added 2.1%. The rise in energy prices weighed on travel stocks. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell 2.9% and Carnival declined 1.7%. American Airlines Group edged down 1.4%, while United Airlines Holdings ticked down 1.1%. Shares of Intel rose 5.2% Tuesday, logging their highest close since March 2022. Advanced Micro Devices shares added 2.7%. The PHLX Semiconductor Index added 1.8%.

Positive signs predominated on the stock markets in East Asia and Australia on Wednesday after Wall Street closed slightly firmer the previous evening. Investors are still betting that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon. In Asia, shares in the technology sector in particular are benefiting from this. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index advanced by 1.2 per cent. Among the individual stocks, Softbank gained 4.8 per cent. The company has increased its stake in T-Mobile US. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rises by 1.7 per cent on the first trading day after the Christmas break. Shares in online games manufacturers recovered significantly from their slump on Friday after Beijing softened its plans for stricter regulation of the industry. Netease improved by 10.3 per cent and Tencent by 4.7 per cent.

In U.S. bond markets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note ticked down to 3.885% from 3.907% Friday. The 2-year Treasury yield edged up to 4.339% from 4.338% Friday.

Citi lowers Standard Chartered to 675 (750) p – Neutral
Citi lowers HSBC to 880 (940) p – Buy
Barclays raises United Internet to 23 (16) EUR – Equalweight

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