Apple is reportedly in active talks with Alphabet (Google) to use its Gemini Artificial Intelligence tools to power iPhones in a bid to out-shine its smartphone competitors, according to a Bloomberg report on Monday. It is competing with Google's own Pixel 8 Pro and Samsung's Galaxy S24 smartphones, which already use Gemini. Apple is looking to strike a deal to obtain license to integrate the Gemini AI engine into the iPhone OS. As for the timeframe, Apple could reportedly launch the AI integrated iOS 18 at the Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference in June. Since January this year, Apple has been involved in acquiring, hiring staff and updating hardware to design an iPhone with generative AI capabilities. The iPhone maker has reportedly been developing a large language model of its own, dubbed AppleGPT, which could compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The Swiss market ended on a weak note on Monday as investors reacted to some corporate news, and largely chose to stay cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The benchmark SMI, which stayed weak right through the day's session, settled with a loss of 52.50 points or o.45% at 11,623.63, around 30 points off an early low of 11,593.41. Logitech International tumbled nearly 7% after the company announced that its Chief Financial Officer Charles 'Chuck' Boynton is leaving the company. Logitech announced that it will announce a successor later. Richemont ended down 2.57%. Sonova, Kuehne & Nagel, Swiss Life Holding, Alcon, Nestle and Roche Holding lost 0.5 to 1%. UBS Group, Geberit and Swisscom also ended weak. Givaudan climbed about 1.25%. Lonza Group ended higher by 0.84%, while Swiss Re and Partners Group gained 0.75% and 0.7%, respectively. Sika advanced nearly 0.5%. In the Mid Price Index, Meyer Burget Tech tanked 28%. Temenos Group lost 4.7% and Baloise Holding drifted down 2.05%. Barry Callebaut, BKW, VAT Group, Swiss Prime Site, Tecan Group, Swatch Group and Helvetia ended lower by 0.8 to 1.5%. Julius Baer ended down by about 0.7% after the lender said its sees annual growth in adjusted pre-tax profit in excess of 10% over 2023-2025. The company said it expects pre-tax margin of 28 to 31 basis points by 2025, and adjusted cost/income ratio of below 64% by 2025.

Major European markets closed lower on Monday after a lackluster session as investors stayed cautious, choosing to wait for the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday, for clarity about the timing of interest rate cuts. Investors also digested the latest batch of economic data from the region. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.17%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX edged down 0.06% and 0.02%, respectively, while France's CAC 40 ended down by 0.2%. Switzerland's SMI settled lower by 0.45%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Russia, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Austria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Portugal ended higher, while Iceland, Poland and Spain closed flat. In the UK market, Phoenix Holdings, BT, Vodafone, United Utilities, Centrica, St. James's Place, Severn Trent and Haleon lost 2 to 4%. Schrodders, Berkeley Holdings, Associated British Foods, Anglo American Plc, Fresnillo, Compass Group, Diageo, Howden Joinery and Endeavour Mining also ended notably lower. Beazley declined nearly 3%. British American Tobacco gained about 2.5% after the company started a £1.6 billion ($2 billion) buyback program after selling part of its stake in India's ITC. Hikma Pharmaceuticals, SSE, Reckitt Benckiser, Unite Group, Land Securities, Legal & General, Scottish Mortgage and Imperial Brands gained 1 to 2.5%.

After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, stocks gave back some ground over the course of the trading day on Monday but managed to close mostly higher. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 regained ground after closing lower for three straight sessions. While the major averages came under pressure going into the close, they managed to end the day in positive territory. The Nasdaq advanced 130.27 points or 0.8 percent at 16,103.45, the S&P 500 climbed 32.33 points or 0.6 percent to 5,149.42 and the Dow rose 75.66 points or 0.2 percent at 38,790.43. Technology stocks helped lead the early rally on Wall Street, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a particularly strong move to the upside. Nvidia (NVDA) also jumped early in the session ahead of its GTC Conference, where the chipmaker is expected to provide updates on its AI initiatives, but gave back ground before ending the day up by 0.7 percent. At the same time, shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI) plunged by 6.4 percent after the information technology company was added to the S&P 500 before the start of trading. Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but the central bank's accompanying statement and economic projections could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.

An event of historic proportions barely moved the stock markets in South East Asia and Australia in late trading on Tuesday. Instead, the yen came under further pressure following the Japanese central bank's exit from its ultra-loose monetary policy, having already depreciated in the previous days. The Bank of Japan says goodbye to negative interest rates and raises its key interest rates for the first time since 2007 - by 10 basis points to between zero and 0.1 per cent. The unorthodox measures to control the yield curve will also be discontinued. However, the purchase of government bonds will continue for the time being, while other purchase programmes will end.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the downward trend seen throughout the previous week. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 3.6 basis points to a three-month closing high of 4.340 percent.

UBS raises Logitech target to CHF 58 (53) – Sell
Bank of America raises Aston Martin to Buy
Deutsche Bank raises Generali target to EUR 20.40 (19.50) – Hold

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