Amazon and iRobot have agreed to terminate their acquisition deal, citing challenges to gaining regulatory approval in the European Union. The companies said Monday that they have signed a termination agreement resolving all outstanding matters relating to the transaction. Amazon will pay iRobot a $94 million termination fee. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the European Union’s competition watchdog planned to block Amazon’s $1.7 billion bid to buy the Roomba maker. The European Commission previously raised concerns that the tie-up would restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners. David Zapolsky, Amazon’s general counsel, said Monday the company was disappointed with the outcome. “Undue and disproportionate regulatory hurdles discourage entrepreneurs, who should be able to see acquisition as one path to success, and that hurts both consumers and competition - the very things that regulators say they’re trying to protect,” Zapolsky said in a statement. In light of the termination, iRobot is launching a restructuring that will include 350 job cuts, representing about 31% of the company’s workforce, and see Colin Angle step down as chief executive and chairman.

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The Swiss market started off on a weak note on Monday, but recovered swiftly and then stayed firm right through the day's session to eventually close modestly higher. The mood remained cautious with investors awaiting a slew of economic data, including monetary policy announcements from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England, and U.S. jobs data for the month of January. On the Swiss economic front, Swiss KOF economic barometer score, retail sales data, reports on manufacturing activity and consumer confidence are all due during the course of this week. The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 39.70 points or 0.35% at 11,429.83. Holcim climbed 4.7% after the company announced plans to spin off its North American operations in a flotation. Lonza Group gained 2.62%, and Givaudan advanced about 1.3%. Nestle gained nearly 1%, and Kuehne & Nagel ended 0.72% up. ABB and Novartis posted modest gains. Alcon drifted down nearly 2%. Logitech International ended 1.43% down, while Swisscom, Sonova, Geberit, Sika and UBS Group closed lower by 0.5 to 0.8%. Among other stocks in the Midcap Index, Meyer Burger Tech soared nearly 11%. Sandoz, Straumann Holding, Schindler Ps and Schindler Holding gained 0.7 to 1%.

European markets closed on a mixed note on Monday after stocks swung between gains and losses with investors making cautious moves ahead of a slew of major economic events, including the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England's policy announcements, and Chinese factory activity report, U.S. jobs report and euro zone GDP numbers. Investors also looked ahead to earnings announcement from U.S. technology majors. The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.21%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX edged down 0.03% and 0.12%, respectively. France's CAC 40 crept up 0.09%, while Switzerland's SMI climbed 0.36%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain ended weak. Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Russia and Turkiye closed higher, while Finland and Sweden ended flat. In the UK market, Fresnillo soared nearly 10%. RS Group climbed about 2.5%. In the German market, Zalando surged about 4%, and Continental gained 3.7%. Bayer dropped 4.5% after a U.S. court ordered the company to pay $2.25 billion in damages to a former Roundup user.

After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Monday. With the upward move, the Dow and the S&P 500 set new record closing highs, while the Nasdaq reached its best closing level in two years. The major averages rallied to new highs for the session in the final hour of trading. The Dow climbed 224.02 points or 0.6 percent to 38,333.45, the Nasdaq jumped 172.68 points or 1.1 percent to 15,628.04 and the S&P 500 advanced 36.96 points or 0.8 percent to 4,927.93. Earlier in the day, traders seemed reluctant to make significant ahead of several key events this week, including the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. Software stocks showed a strong move to the upside over the course of the session, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index up by 1.7 percent to a record closing high. Considerable strength also emerged among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The strength in the sector came amid a modest increase by the price of gold. Biotechnology, networking and semiconductor stocks also moved notably higher as the day progressed, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. On the other hand, airline stocks moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.2 percent.

A very weak trend in Hong Kong and little changed indices elsewhere characterise the picture on the stock exchanges in East Asia and Sydney on Tuesday. The HSI in Hong Kong slumped by 2.1 per cent. The ruling by a Hong Kong court on Monday, which ordered the liquidation of the property crisis group Evergrande, is causing uncertainty. It is still unclear how mainland China, where Evergrande does almost all of its business, will react to the judgement. Evergrande shares plummeted by over 20 per cent the previous day after the ruling was announced, before being suspended from trading, which they still are.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved back to the upside after ending last Friday's trading modestly lower. The central bank is seen as virtually certain to leave the fed-funds rate unchanged at 5.25% to 5.5%, but investors will key in on the policy statement and, in particular, remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell for clues on the timing of expected rate cuts.

UBS raises Vivendi target to EUR 15.20 (14.70) – Buy

UBS lowers Essilorluxottica target to EUR 181 (186) – Neutral

UBS lowers SEB to Neutral (Buy) – Target SEK 154 (150)

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