Johnson & Johnson has struck a $13.1 billion deal to buy Shockwave Medical, extending the healthcare giant’s position in devices that treat heart disease. J&J on Friday said it would pay $335 a share in cash for Shockwave, a 4.7% premium to Thursday’s closing price of $319.99 for the Santa Clara, Calif., medical-device company and nearly 17% above its closing price of $287.23 on March 25, before The Wall Street Journal reported that J&J was considering a takeover. The New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J said it expects to fund the deal with cash on hand and debt. The $13.1 billion enterprise value includes cash acquired. The deal has an equity value of about $12.5 billion based on the most recent disclosure of shares outstanding by Shockwave. Shockwave makes devices that deliver acoustic energy through catheters to crack calcium that builds up in the arteries of people with heart disease. The technique, which was derived from a treatment for kidney stones, can ease the implantation of artery-opening stents, among other benefits.

Swiss stocks reeled under sustained selling pressure on Friday, in line with major markets across Europe, as rising geopolitical tensions and uncertainty about the outlook for Fed interest rate weighed on sentiment. The benchmark SMI, which stayed well down in negative territory right through the day's session, ended with a loss of 195.34 points or 1.67% at 11,495.79. All the components of SMI ended in negative territory. Richemont, Novartis and Roche Holding lost 2.76%, 2.47% and 2.4%, respectively. Nestle, Logitech International and Swiss Re ended lower by 1.67 to 2%. UBS Group, Sika, ABB, Sonova, Zurich Insurance Group, Kuehne & Nagel and Swisscom drifted down 1 to 1.4%. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Julius Baer, Swatch Group and Temenos Group lost 2 to 2.2%. BKW, Adecco, Avolta, Clariant, Helvetia, Flughafen Zurich, ams OSRAM AG, PSP Swiss Property, Galenica Sante and Ems Chemie Holding ended lower by 0.7 to 1.6%. Meyer Burger Tech, VAT Group, Georg Fischer and Lindt & Spruengli settled higher. In economic news, survey results from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) showed Swiss consumer confidence improved in March to the highest level in eight months. The consumer confidence index rose to -38.0 in March from -42.3 in the previous month. Despite this further improvement, the consumer sentiment index remained below the long-term average.

European stocks closed lower on Friday, weighed down by persisting tensions in the Middle East, and continued uncertainty about Fed interest rates after hawkish comments from some Fed officials and data showing stronger than expected growth in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in the month of March. Investors also digested a slew of economic data from the European region. The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.84%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down by 0.81%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 lost 1.24% and 1.11%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI ended 1.67% down. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended with sharp to moderate losses. Austria and Finland edged down marginally. Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Norway and Turkiye closed higher, while Poland ended flat. In the UK market, Ocado Group tanked nearly 9%. St. James's Place, JD Sports Fashion, National Grid, DCC, Scottish Mortgage, Kingfisher, Schrodders, Associated British Foods, Croda International, IMI, Rio Tinto, Severn Trent, WPP, Airtel Africa, Vodafone Group and Centrica lost 2 to 4.3%. Flutter Entertainment, BAE Systems, Smith & Nephew, Admiral Group, Royal Dutch Shell, Fresnillo and Rolls-Royce Holdings finished with moderate gains. In the German market, Zalando ended more than 5% down. Bayer drifted down nearly 4%. Munich RE, Siemens Energy, Vonovia, Sartorius, Merck, Deutsche Post, Siemens, BASF, BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen lost 1.7 to 3%. In Paris, Eurofins Scientific ended lower by 4.75%. Veolia, Bouygues, WorldLine, Pernod Ricard, LVMH, STMicroElectronics and AXA lost 2 to 3.4%. Kering, Hermes International, Alstom, ArcelorMittal, Sanofi and Saint Gobain also ended notably lower. Teleperformance gained nearly 2.5%. Dassault Systemes, Capgemini, Carrefour and Thales posted moderate gains.

Following the sell-off seen late in the previous session, stocks showed a significant move back to the upside during trading on Friday. The major averages all moved notably higher, largely offsetting Thursday's steep losses. The major averages finished the day off their highs of the session but still firmly in positive territory. The Nasdaq surged 199.44 points or 1.2 percent to 16,248.52, the S&P 500 jumped 57.13 points or 1.1 percent to 5,204.34 and the Dow advanced 307.06 points or 0.8 percent to 38,904.04. Despite the rebound on the day, the major averages all moved lower for the week. The Dow plunged by 2.3 percent, while the S&P 500 slumped by 1.0 percent and the Nasdaq slid by 0.8 percent .The rebound on the day came as traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the steep drop seen during Thursday's session, which dragged the Dow down to its lowest closing level in a month. Traders also reacted positively to a closely watched Labor Department report showing much stronger than expected job growth in the month of March. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment spiked by 303,000 jobs in March after surging by a downwardly revised 270,000 jobs in February. Economists had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs compared to the addition of 275,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Significant strength was visible among retail stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index. Software, semiconductor and housing stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

There is no uniform trend on the stock markets in East Asia and Australia at the start of the week. While the Nikkei-225 recovered somewhat from Friday's losses, the Chinese stock markets fell slightly due to new concerns in the property sector.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries regained some ground after an early sell-off but remained firmly negative. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 6.9 basis points to 4.378 percent.

HSBC raises the Iberdrola target to EUR 13.10 (12.40) – Buy
UBS lowers the RWE target to EUR 49 (52) – Buy
Barclays raises the Siemens Energy target to EUR 18 (16) – Trader

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