Eni said it has received several preliminary expressions of interest for a minority stake in its biorefining unit Enilive. The Italian oil-and-gas major said that a potential sale could be part of its satellite-model approach, by which it aims to develop units linked to the energy transition that can access capital markets and finance their own growth, in part through third-party funding. An example of this strategy was the sale of a 9% stake in its low-carbon unit Plenitude for 700 million euros in December to investor Energy Infrastructure Partners. Talks are at a too-early stage for Eni to provide further details on the Enilive stake interest, a spokesperson said. Late Wednesday, Bloomberg reported the company was exploring the sale of a 20% stake in Enilive, and that it values the unit around 10 billion euros.

The Swiss market ended slightly up on Thursday after spending much of the day's session fairly well above the flat line. Investors assessed the latest batch of European economic data, reacted to earnings and other corporate updates. The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 12,016.03 around mid afternoon, ended with a small gain of 8.08 points or 0.07% at 11,966.75. VAT Group rallied nearly 5%. Julius Baer gained 3.2% after reporting a 10% year-to-date growth in assets under management as of April 30, 2024, alongside a significant recovery in client activity from the multiyear lows in the second half of 2023. Sonova, Logitech International, ABB and SGS advanced 1.7 to 2%. Givaudan, Swiss Life Holding, UBS Group and Richemont ended higher by 1 to 1.5%. Galenica Sante gained 1.62%. The company confirmed its sales growth target of 3% to 5% for the year after its four-month sales rose 4.8% year over year to 1.26 billion francs. Nestle drifted down 1.85%. Lindt & Spruengli, Kuehne & Nagel, Swisscom and SIG Group lost 0.6 to 1%. Novartis ended lower by 0.4%. ams OSRAM AG ended down 3.2%. Avolta closed lower by 2.43%. Tecan Group dropped 1.37%.

European stocks pared early gains and ended on a mixed note on Thursday as investors continued to assess the likely moves of central banks with regard to interest rates in the wake of recent economic data, and the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting released on Wednesday. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.07%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 cred up 0.06% and 0.13%, respectively, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down by 0.37%. Switzerland's SMI ended up 0.07%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden ended higher. Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkiye closed weak. In the UK market, St. James's Place gained about 4.8%. Scottish Mortgage, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Persimmon, Ocado Group, Schrodders, Taylor Wimpey, BAE Systems, Barclays Group, Marks & Spencer, Barratt Developments and Melrose Industries climbed 1.4 to 3.5%. Hargreaves Lansdown soared 13.4% after the investment platform rejected a surprise takeover offer from a group of private equity buyers. National Grid shares tanked nearly 11% after the electricity and gas utility unveiled plans to raise about 7 billion pounds ($8.9 billion) through a fully underwritten rights issue of 1.09 billion new shares. RS Group plunged 6.5%. Severn Trent dropped 5.15% and United Utilities ended nearly 5% down. Smith & Nephew, Whitbread, Flutter Entertainment, Unite Group, Croda International, Centrica, Land Securities, Sainsbury (J) and Natwest Group lost 2 to 3.1%. Aviva drifted lower by 2.1% despite reporting strong results for its first quarter.

Stocks moved mostly higher at the start of trading on Thursday but failed to sustain the initial upward move and came under pressure over the course of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session and into negative territory. After reaching record intraday highs, the Nasdaq fell 65.51 points or 0.4 percent to 16,736.03 and the S&P 500 slid 39.17 points or 0.7 percent to 5,267.84. The narrower Dow showed a more significant move to the downside, tumbling 605.78 points or 1.5 percent to 39,065.26. The initial strength on Wall Street came as tech stocks rallied following upbeat quarterly results from chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA). Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) surged after the AI darling reported better than expected fiscal first quarter results and provided upbeat guidance. Nvidia also announced a ten-for-one stock split of its common stock and increased its quarterly cash dividend by 150 percent to $0.10 per share. Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as concerns about the outlook for interest rates continue to hang over the broader markets following Wednesday's slightly hawkish Fed minutes. With the minutes signaling rates are likely to remain higher for longer than previously expected, the chances rates will be lower by September have fallen to 55.4 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool. Potentially adding to the rate concerns, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in the week ended May 18th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slid to 215,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000. Airline, banking and biotechnology stocks also came under pressure over the course of the session, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

Negative signs dominated the stock markets in East Asia and Australia on Friday. Observers are talking about interest rate concerns. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index fell by 1.1 per cent, additionally burdened by domestic inflation data. Japanese consumer prices rose more slowly in April than in March, suggesting that the Japanese are reluctant to spend. With an increase of 2.5 per cent over the year as a whole, inflation was still above the Bank of Japan's target of 2 per cent.

In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved notably lower, extending a recent downward trend. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 4.1 basis points to 4.475 percent.

JP Morgan lowers Nestle to Neutral (Overweight) - target CHF 105 (115)
JP Morgan raises Unilever to Overweight (Underweight) - target GBP 51 (36)
HSBC raises Kion target to 58 (50) EUR - Buy

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