Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, a leader in AI-native networks, announced that the companies have entered a definitive agreement under which HPE will acquire Juniper in an all-cash transaction for $40.00 per share, representing an equity value of approximately $14 billion. The combination of HPE and Juniper advances HPE's portfolio mix shift toward higher-growth solutions and strengthens its high-margin networking business, accelerating HPE's sustainable profitable growth strategy. The acquisition is expected to double HPE's networking business, creating a new networking leader with a comprehensive portfolio that presents customers and partners with a compelling new choice to drive business value. The explosion of AI and hybrid cloud-driven business is accelerating demand for secure, unified technology solutions that connect, protect, and analyze companies' data from edge to cloud. These trends, and AI specifically, will continue to be the most disruptive workloads for companies, and HPE has been aligning its portfolio to capitalize on these substantial IT trends with networking as a critical connective component.

Despite spending much of the day's session in negative territory, the Switzerland market ended marginally up on Tuesday thanks to some brisk buying at select counters in the final hour. The benchmark SMI ended up 18.25 points or 0.16% at 11,248.65. The index touched a low of 11,192.12 and a high of 11,261.42 in the session. Lonza Group rallied about 2.25%. Alcon gained 1.84%, while Givaudan and Sonova ended higher by 0.83% and 0.62%, respectively. Novartis and Roche Holding posted modest gains. Zurich Insurance Group and Logitech International also closed on a positive note. Swisscom ended down 1.1%. UBS Group ended lower by 0.82%, while Partners Group, Sika, ABB, Richemont and Swiss Re also closed weak. In the Mid Price Index, Sandoz advanced nearly 2%. Temenos Group and Barry Callebaut ended higher by 1.33% and 1.05%, respectively. Meyer Burger Tech drifted down 4.7%, and Adecco ended down 3.1%. Clariant shed 2.5%, while Julius Baer ended nearly 2% down. Data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) showed Switzerland's unemployment rate increased further in December to the highest level in more than one-and-a-half years. The unadjusted unemployment rate rose to 2.3% in December from 2.1% in November. In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.1%. The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, increased to 2.2% from 2.1%..

Europe
European stocks closed lower on Tuesday, weighed down by data showing an unexpected drop in Germany's industrial output, and caution ahead of crucial U.S. inflation data, and big bank earnings. Major U.S. banks JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup are due to report fourth quarter and full-year results on Friday. Data from Destatis showed Germany's industrial production slid 0.7% on a monthly basis in November, following a revised 0.3% drop in October. Output was forecast to grow 0.2%. On a yearly basis, the decline in industrial output deepened to 4.8% from 3.4% in October. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.19%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.13%, Germany's DAX declined 0.17% and France's CAC 40 shed 0.32%. Switzerland's SMI gained 0.16%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Denmark, Greece and Poland ended higher, while Austria and Norway settled flat. In the UK market, GSK gained nearly 2% after it struck a $1.4bn deal to acquire Anglo-American biotech Aiolos Bio. Severn Trent, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Scottish Mortgage gained 1.6 to 2%. AstraZeneca, Smith & Nephew, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Centrica, Reckitt Benckiser and Airtel Africa advanced 1 to 1.3%. Beazley, JD Sports Fashion Group, Ocado Group, RS Group, St. James's Plae, Kingfisher, WPP and Standard Chartered ended lower by 2 to 4.3%. In the German market, Sartorius rallied 2.7%. E. ON, RWE, Symrise, Merck, MTU Aero Engines, Qiagen, HeidelbergCement and Bayer gained 1 to 2%.

United States
The Nasdaq Composite climbed for a third consecutive day as shares of Nvidia, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet advanced. The tech-heavy index added 0.1%, leaving it down 1% in 2024 after starting the year with declines. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%, or about 158 points. Stocks had a relatively quiet session Tuesday after a day of solid gains to start the week. All three indexes are modestly lower so far this year after ending 2023 with double-digit gains. The S&P 500 advanced 24% last year, the Dow industrials gained 14% and the Nasdaq surged 43%. The technology, communications-services and consumer-staples segments of the S&P 500 advanced Tuesday, while the financials, industrials and consumer-discretionary sectors declined. News that Hewlett Packard Enterprise is in advanced talks to buy Juniper Networks for about $13 billion drove moves in both companies’ shares. HPE’s stock slumped 8.9%, the worst performance in the S&P 500, while Juniper jumped 22%, the best performance in the index. Shares of Illumina advanced 4.5% after the gene-sequencing company said it expected its full-year sales to decline less than it had forecast. Boeing shares fell 1.4%, adding to their 8% drop Monday after a hole opened midair in a 737 MAX 9 jet.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia and Australia were mixed on Wednesday. After uninspiring cues from Wall Street, the Nikkei index in Tokyo rises significantly by 2.0 per cent to 34,444 points. Support comes from the foreign exchange side, where the yen has weakened significantly from 143.60 to 144.80 per dollar at the same time the previous day, which is particularly favourable for export-oriented companies.

Bonds
Yields on the U.S. bond market were slightly lower as investors bet on low inflation data. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 4.016%, from 4.001% on Monday.

Analysis
UBS lowers United Internet to Neutral (Buy) – EUR 24.50 (23.50)
Citi raises Moncler target to EUR 64 (62.20) – Buy
Barclays raises MTU to 211 (196) EUR – Equalweight

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