Elon Musk’s SpaceX is writing its biggest check ever to expand its foothold in the mobile-phone business. SpaceX said Monday it would pay $17 billion for the rights to use some of EchoStar’s valuable spectrum for cellphone service. The deal with EchoStar includes $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion of SpaceX stock for two chunks of valuable U.S. wireless licenses and related domestic and international rights to beam signals from space. The rocket and satellite-internet company also agreed to pay about $2 billion of cash toward interest payments on EchoStar debt through November 2027. SpaceX is already a growing home broadband provider through its Starlink business and has dipped into the mobile-phone sector through a U.S. partnership with T-Mobile. However, the new spectrum rights would significantly improve Starlink’s ability to connect with cellphones in remote areas beyond the reach of cellphone towers.

The Switzerland market ended on a weak note on Monday, weighed down by concerns about political instability in France. Optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve helped limit market's downside. The benchmark SMI ended down by 57.92 points or 0.47% at 12,312.65. The index, which edged up slightly to 12,375.49 at the start, touched a low of 12,269.26 in the session. Adecco ended down by 2.22%. Sandoz Group, Novartis and Roche Holding closed lower by 1.76%, 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively. Alcon and Lonza Group lost 1.37% and 1.25%, respectively. Nestle ended nearly 1% down. Swatch Group, Swisscom, Richemont, Zurich Insurance and Swiss Life Holding also closed weak. VAT Group climbed nearly 4%. Amrize gained 2.8%. Kuehne + Nagel and ABB gained 1.86% and 1.56%, respectively. SGS, Holcim, Sika, Schindler Ps, Logitech International, Lindt & Spruengli, Geberit, Julius Baer, UBS Group and Sonova ended higher by 0.4 to 1.3%.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Monday, thanks to encouraging German economic data, and optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week. Concerns about political uncertainty in France weighed and limited markets' upside. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.33%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.07%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 gained 0.54% and 0.49%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI lost 0.47%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended higher. Denmark, Greece, Iceland and Turkiye closed weak, while Czech Republic ended flat. In the UK market, Marks & Spencer climbed nearly 3% thanks to a rating upgrade by Citigroup. Fresnillo ended 2.85% up. Croda International, Howden Joinery, ICG, Standard Chartered, Polar Capital Technology, Weir Group, Reckitt Benckiser, Diploma and Rolls-Royce Holdings gained 1.5 to 2.4%. Homebuilder Vistry moved up sharply after it entered into a partnership with Homes England, a housing and regeneration agency, to accelerate development of large-scale sites across England. Phoenix Group Holdings tanked 7.6% after the insurer announced interim results for the first half of 2025. The company eported a loss before tax of 209 million pounds for the first half. However, the loss was lower than 862 million pounds for the corresponding period last year. The company posted adjusted operating profit of 451 million pounds, higher than 360 million pounds a year ago. Net loss was 156 million pounds, down from 646 million pounds last year. Diageo closed down by 3.65%. Airtel Africa, Haleon, Unilever, Games Workshop, Imperial Brands, M&G, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Coca-Cola HBC lost 1.2 to 2.5%. In the German market, Zalando surged about 5%. Adidas, Commerzbank, Volkswagen, Rheinmetall, Heidelberg Materials, RWE, Siemens Energy and Siemens gained 2 to 3.6%. Deutsche Telekom closed down 3.7%, while Porsche, Daimler Truck Holding, Mercedes-Benz and BMW lost 0.6 to 1%.

United States
Stocks moved moderately higher during trading on Monday, regaining ground after ending last Friday's session well off their worst levels but still mostly lower. With the upward move, the tech-heavy Nasdaq reached a new record closing high. The major averages all ended the day in positive territory. The Nasdaq climbed 98.31 points or 0.5 percent to 21,978.70, the Dow increased 114.09 points or 0.3 percent to 45,514.95 and the S&P 500 rose 13.65 points or 0.2 percent to 6,495.15. The strength on Wall Street partly reflected optimism about the outlook for interest rates following last Friday's weaker-than-expected U.S. employment data. Following the release of a closely watched report showing employment increased by much less than expected in the month of August, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates later this month. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating 88.2 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point and a slim 11.8 percent chance of a half-point rate cut. Software stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index up by 1.2 percent. An increase by the price of gold also contributed to strength among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Networking and retail stocks also saw notable strength, while telecom, utilities and natural gas stocks moved to the downside.

Asia
The East Asian stock markets and the Sydney Stock Exchange showed no uniform direction in the course of trading on Tuesday. In Seoul, South Korea, the Kospi continued its winning streak, this time rising sharply by a good 1 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the strong upward move seen over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 4.0 basis points to a five-month closing low of 4.046 percent.

Analysis
Citi raises Marks & Spencer to Buy – Target GBP 4.40
GBC lowers MS Industrie to EUR 2.80 (2.90) – Buy
Jefferies lowers the Heineken target to EUR 95 (100) – Buy

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