Just Eat Takeaway, the parent company of Lieferando, is being taken over. As the Dutch company announced, it has reached an agreement with investor Prosus regarding an acquisition. The deal values the food delivery service, which is known under the Lieferando brand, at around 4.1 billion euros. Prosus is paying 20.30 euros per share in cash. This corresponds to a premium of 63 per cent on Friday's closing price. The Management Board and Supervisory Board of Just Eat have unanimously approved the deal. Just Eat Takeaway will retain its name and its most important brands.

The Swiss stock market ended trading on Friday with substantial gains. The SMI climbed 1.1 per cent to 12,949 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 16 price gainers and 4 price losers. A total of 32.83 (previously: 19.03) million shares were traded. The share price of food giant Nestlé rose sharply by 3.4 per cent. Among the pharmaceutical heavyweights, Novartis increased by 1.5 per cent and Roche by 1.1 per cent. Sika's share price advanced by 0.9 per cent following the presentation of business figures for 2024. Givaudan (+1.0%), Swisscom (+0.8%) and UBS (+0.8%) also performed well. Bringing up the rear were Holcim (-0.5%) and ABB (-0.2%). Among small caps, the shares of underwear and lingerie manufacturer Calida picked up 1.4 per cent following the presentation of its figures.

The European stock markets closed without any real direction on Friday, as investors analyzed new economic data on both sides of the Atlantic, amid a salvo of corporate results as well as uncertainties over German policy. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.5% to 553.9 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 both climbed 0.4%. By contrast, the DAX 40 lost 0.1% in Frankfurt and the FTSE 100 was unchanged in London. Over the week as a whole, the Stoxx Europe 600 picked up 0.3%. AIR LIQUIDE (+3.3%): the industrial gases specialist indicated on Friday expecting further growth in its operating margin and recurring net profit for 2025, at constant exchange rates, following higher results last year despite a macroeconomic context which it described as ‘sluggish’. GTT (+15.9%): the specialist in cryogenic membranes for transporting liquefied natural gas reported a sharp rise in results for 2024 and expressed confidence in the continued growth of its markets in 2025. ALTEN (+10.4%): the engineering and technology consultancy group generated robust cash flow last year, notes Invest Securities. In 2024, Alten's free cash flow came to €333 million, up 81% year-on-year and higher than the €249 million expected by analysts.

Stocks erased much of their gains from the week Friday after investors tapped the brakes in response to signs of a lacklustre economy. The Dow fell 1.69% to close at 43428.0. The S&P 500 fell 1.71% to close at 6013.13, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.2% to 19524.0. Indicators published in the morning showed service industry weakness and a 4.9% drop in sales of existing homes last month. A report last week showed retail sales also fell in January. Flagging health care stocks also weighed down the Dow Jones Industrial Average. UnitedHealth stock dropped more than 7% Friday after The Wall Street Journal reported the Justice Department was probing its Medicare billing practices and how the company records diagnoses. UnitedHealth’s high stock price means it has a sizable effect on the price-weighted Dow. Other healthcare stocks including Humana and CVS Health also sold off. Shares of Novo Nordisk, the company behind blockbuster obesity drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, rallied after the Food and Drug Administration said shortages in those drugs had been resolved. And investors gave a cool initial reception to a plan by the president’s media company to start an investing fund. Shares in Trump Media and Technology (DJT), the parent company of the president’s Truth Social platform, fell 3% after a morning rally. In global markets, enthusiasm about artificial intelligence is bubbling up again-this time in Asia. Alibaba sparked a fierce rally, a day after the Chinese e-commerce and cloud-computing company reported strong results from its AI strategy and pledged more aggressive investment in this area. Alibaba stock leapt 15% in Hong Kong and rallied in U.S. trading (+5.7%).

Stocks in Asia mostly fell on Monday. Hong Kong dropped 0.9 per cent after Friday's bull market, with profit-taking likely playing a role. The Shanghai Composite fell by 0.2 per cent. In Seoul, the Kospi is down 0.6 per cent, while trading in Tokyo is suspended due to a public holiday. In Sydney, the trading day has already ended, with the S&P/ASX-200 index closing up 0.1 per cent after a weaker start. Ampol lost 2.8 per cent after the refinery company cut its dividend. The share price of data centre operator NextDC also declined by 2.8 per cent following a confirmed forecast.

U.S. government debt yields slipped on Friday, with short-dated notes tallying their biggest one-day drop since January after a fresh batch of data raised questions about the strength of the U.S. economy. The 10-year Treasury note yield fell by 9 basis points on Friday (0.09 percentage points) to 4.43%. The 2-year Treasury note yield declined by 8 basis points to 4.21%.

Goldman Sachs lowers Zurich target to CHF 580 (596)/Neutral - Trader
Deutsche Bank upgrades Temenos target to CHF 76 (70) - Hold
Berenberg starts Landis & Gyr with Hold - Target 54 CHF

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