Glencore is looking for a buyer for its stake in the Koniambo Nickel joint-venture given continued losses amid slumping nickel prices, after investing billions in the project over the past decade. The Anglo-Swiss mining giant said Monday that it will transition New Caledonia-based Koniambo Nickel--or KNS--to care and maintenance status and plans a six-months winding-down period. Glencore will begin the search for a new industrial partner for the venture shortly, in which it has a 49% stake. In September, the miner said it would stop funding by the end of February. "Even with the proposed assistance [from the French government], KNS remains an unsustainable operation and Glencore cannot justify continuing to fund losses to the detriment of its shareholders," the diversified miner said. The decision echoes that of peer Trafigura last month, when the company said it would stop funding for a major nickel operation, also in New Caledonia. The French territory in the South Pacific was once seen as the future of nickel production. Just 18 months ago the nickel market was running hot and Australian giant BHP struck a deal with Tesla to supply it with the key element for electric vehicles. However, a flood of new supply from Indonesia has sent prices crashing.

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The Switzerland stock market ended on a firm note on Monday thanks to sustained buying at several frontline counters amid optimism about earnings and hopes the central banks will start reducing interest rates after the first quarter of the current year. Investors awaited Swiss consumer price inflation data for January, due on Tuesday. in December, the annual inflation rate in Switzerland rose to 1.7% in December 2023 from 1.4% in the previous month. The benchmark SMI, which moved in a tight range between 11,117.40 and 11,184.14, ended the session with a gain of 87.72 points or 0.79% at 11,179.30. Geberit rallied 3.31% and Sika climbed 3.06%. Holcim surged nearly 2%, while Nestle, Partners Group, Swiss Life Holding and Roche Holding gained 1.1 to 1.5%. UBS Group gained nearly 1%. ABB, Richemont, Swiss RE, Zurich Insurance Group and Lonza Group posted moderate gains. Kuehne & Nagel and Novartis ended lower by 0.81% and 0.71%, respectively. Swisscom edged down marginally. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, ams OSRAM Ag rallied 4.64%. Belimo Holding gained 2.7%. Swatch Group, Avolta, Adecco, SIG Combibloc and Baloise Holding ended higher by 2.1 to 2.5%. Clariant, Tecan Group, Julius Baer, Helvetia, Georg Fischer and Straumann Holding also ended with impressive gains. Ems Chemie Holding ended down 1.26%. Temenos Group and VAT Group closed lower by 0.74% and 0.7%, respectively. Meyer Burger Tech, Flughafen Zurichand Sandoz ended marginally down.

European stocks closed higher on Monday with investors picking up shares ahead of a slew of crucial economic data, including inflation reports from the U.S., and U.K., and quarterly earnings updates from several top companies. Among the major markets, the U.K. underperformed, with its benchmark FTSE 100 gaining just marginally. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 gained 0.65% and 0.55%, respectively. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.54% up, while Switzerland's SMI climbed 0.79%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains. Finland and Russia edged up marginally, while Greece and Iceland ended weak, and Denmark closed flat. In the UK market, Ocado Group rallied nearly 5%. Burberry Group and Frasers Group gained about 4.5% and 4.4%, respectively. In the German market, Siemens Energy surged nearly 6%, and Zalando gained about 4%.

Stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged before eventually closing narrowly mixed. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 had been poised to set new record closing highs but pulled back into negative territory in afternoon trading. While the Nasdaq fell 48.12 points or 0.3 percent to 15,942.55 and the S&P 500 edged down 4.77 points or 0.1 percent to 5,021.84, the Dow rose 125.69 points or 0.3 percent to a record closing high of 38,797.38. The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a breather following recent strength, which has lifted the S&P 500 above 5,000 for the first time ever. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has also shown a significant advance in recent sessions, closing in the on the record highs set in November 2021. A lack of major U.S. economic data also kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of several key reports in the coming days. Among individual stocks, shares of Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) soared by 7.5 percent after Piper Sandler upgraded its rating on the pharmaceutical company to Overweight from Neutral. Space company Rocket Lab (RKLB) also spiked by 8.8 percent after Citi resumed coverage of the company's stock with a Buy rating. On the other hand, shares of Big Lot (BIG) plunged by 28.0 percent after Loop Capital downgraded its rating on the discount retailer to Sell from Hold. Telecom stocks also showed a significant move to the upside, resulting in a 1.8 percent jump by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.

The stock markets in East Asia and Australia rose sharply in some cases on Tuesday. The biggest winner was the Nikkei-225 in Tokyo, which rose by 2.6 per cent after the holiday break at the start of the week. Surprisingly good results from the technology sector, including from Tokyo Electron and Softbank, are fuelling sentiment. In contrast, the Shanghai stock exchange will remain closed all week due to the Chinese New Year, while trading in Hong Kong will not resume until Wednesday.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries have fluctuated over the course of the session and are currently seeing modest strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.9 basis points at 4.168 percent.

Bank of America raises Siemens Energy to Buy (Neutral) – target EUR 20 (13.20)

UBS lowers L'Oreal target to EUR 465 (475) – Neutral

Deutsche Bank lowers Delivery Hero target to EUR 21 (36) – Hold

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