Siemens Healthineers has agreed to buy part of a Novartis business unit specialising in the production of radioactive chemicals for cancer scans. The acquisition will provide a further boost to the healthcare group's largest division. The German group will pay more than 200 million euros for the diagnostics division of Advanced Accelerator Applications, according to two people familiar with the transaction. The companies confirmed the transaction separately. AAA, which was initially acquired by Switzerland's Novartis in 2017, operates Europe's second-largest network of cyclotrons. These are utilised to manufacture the radioactive compounds used to detect cancer, heart disease and neurological disorders in positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Siemens Healthineers, which was spun off from parent company Siemens in 2017, explained that the takeover would allow its US-based PET radiopharmaceutical business - the world's largest - to expand into Europe. The transaction will be finalised in the last quarter of the year, subject to regulatory approval and negotiations with the Novartis works council. Novartis put AAA's diagnostics business up for sale last year to divest low-growth operations.

Dovish statements by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell lifted the Swiss stock market into positive territory on Friday after initial losses. The SMI gained 0.3 per cent to 12,347 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 17 winners and two losers, with one stock closing unchanged. A total of 16.11 (previously: 12.24) million shares were traded. Nestle delivered a major blow: the food company surprisingly fired its CEO. Laurent Freixe is to succeed Mark Schneider as the new Nestle CEO from 1 September. Schneider's strategy was not convincing and the share price has fallen by over 8 per cent since the beginning of the year alone. Nestle shares rose by 0.1 per cent on Friday amid high turnover and extremely volatile trading. Following positive business figures from reinsurer Swiss Re the previous day, the share price climbed by a further 1.7 per cent. Favoured by the growing certainty of falling interest rates, the cyclical stocks Geberit (+1.1%), Sika (+0.9%) and Holcim (+0.9%) advanced. Among the second-line stocks, Stadler increased by 1.5 per cent following a major order from SBB.

Europe
The European stock markets closed on a positive note on Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.5% to 518.1 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and SBF 120 advanced by 0.7% each. The DAX 40 in Frankfurt climbed 0.8%, while the FTSE 100 in London pocketed 0.5%. Over the week as a whole, the Stoxx Europe 600 climbed by 1.3%. Sodexo (+0.7%) announced on Friday that it had completed the sale of its holding company Sofinsod to Bellon SA, the Bellon family's investment company and the core shareholder of the foodservices group, for 918 million euros. Survey-based research group Ipsos (+1.2%) confirmed on Friday the launch of a friendly takeover bid for infas Holding AG, valuing the German market, opinion and social research company at 61.2 million euros.

United States
Investors have been saying it’s time for interest-rate cuts. Jerome Powell on Friday finally agreed. Stocks extended their recent advance after the Federal Reserve chair all but ended the central bank’s inflation fight. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led Friday’s rally with a 1.5% gain, while the S&P 500 rose by 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average veered upward by 1.1%, or 462 points, its second-highest close ever. Major indexes logged their best two-week stretch of the year. The Nasdaq is up 6.8% in the period, while the S&P 500 gained 5.4%. The Dow rose 4.2%, or 1,677 points. Small-caps jumped Friday. The Russell 2000 index rose by 3.2%, outpacing its larger counterparts. Workday's shares soared by 12.5 per cent following its annual report. Tesla shares rose by 4.6 per cent. The vice president of the electric vehicle manufacturer, Sreela Venkataratnam, has left the company. However, traders also saw the premiums in connection with the turnaround in interest rates. Lower financing costs for car purchases are likely to boost sales. Uber shares climbed by 1.4 per cent. The company is expanding its partnerships with self-driving car companies. The ride-hailing company announced that customers in the US will have the option of travelling in an autonomous vehicle from GM subsidiary Cruise from 2025. Ross Stores (+1.8%) performed better than expected in the second quarter and the retailer also raised its outlook. Tax software provider Intuit also presented better-than-forecast quarterly figures but surprised to the downside with its outlook. The share price plummeted by 6.8 per cent. Roku rose by 11.9 per cent following an upgrade to ‘buy’ by Guggenheim. Following an upgrade to ‘outperform’ by JP Morgan, Warby Parker also headed north by 11.9 per cent.

Asia
Asian and Australian stocks were mixed at the beginning of the new week. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index lost 1.0 per cent to 37,967 points. In Shanghai, the Composite Index fell by 0.1 per cent after the Chinese central bank left interest rates unchanged. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong advanced by 0.8 per cent, following the positive lead from Wall Street. The Xpeng share price rose by 5.7 per cent. The Seoul stock exchange gave up initial gains; the Kospi is now down 0.3 per cent. Shares of chip manufacturers are weighing on the index. Investors are pulling back ahead of the Nvidia figures. SK Hynix dropped around 3 per cent and index heavyweight Samsung Electronics declined 1.8 per cent.

Bonds
Yields on U.S. government debt finished broadly lower on Friday and for the week after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered the clearest message yet that the central bank is prepared to start cutting interest rates. The 10-year Treasury note yield fell by 6 basis points to 3.801%, and the 2-year Treasury note yield eased by 10 basis points to 3.920%. Futures markets priced in a better-than-75% chance that the central bank will slash rates by at least one percentage point by year’s end.

Analysis
RBC upgrades Swiss Re to CHF 120 (114) - Sectorperform
Stifel cuts Docmorris to CHF 60 (90) - Buy
UBS downgrades Bucher to CHF 441 (4415) - Buy

Produced by MBI Martin Brückner Infosource GmbH & Co. KG on behalf of Swissquote. All news is acquired with journalistic accuracy. No liability is assumed for delays or errors.