Italy’s competition watchdog fined Apple more than 98 million euros ($114.8 million), saying the company abused its dominance in the digital economy through its app-tracking transparency policy. The AGCM said Monday that Apple imposes unfair privacy rules on app developers by requiring them to gain users’ consent to collect and use data for advertising through a specific prompt. The watchdog said the prompt essentially forces app developers to ask for consent twice for the same purpose. It said Apple’s app-tracking transparency terms harm the interests of Apple’s commercial partners. Apple said its app-tracking transparency policy lets users easily decide whether apps can track their online activity, saying that its policy has received support from privacy agencies and that it will continue to defend the system. “We will continue to defend strong privacy protections for our users as we appeal,” a company spokesperson said. The AGCM said that Apple holds a “super-dominant” position in the market through its App Store. “Since user data are a key input for personalized online advertising, the double consent request that inevitably arises from the ATT policy, as implemented, restricts the collection, linking and use of such data,” the regulator said.

The Swiss market ended slightly down on Monday after languishing in negative territory right through the day's trading session, as traders largely stayed on the sidelines ahead of Christmas holidays. The Swiss market, which will have a full session on Tuesday, will remain closed Wednesday through Friday this week. The benchmark SMI settled at 13,163.66, down 8.19 points or 0.06%, after moving between 13,097.51 and 13,164.08. Amrize climbed about 1.7%, and Partners Group gained nearly 1.2%. Galderma Group, Swiss Re, SGS, Sandoz Group, VAT Group, Helvetia Baloise Holdings, Sonova and Schindler Ps posted moderate gains. Holcim shares settled little changed. A court in Switzerland has decided to admit a legal complaint linked to global warming against Holcim which alleges the company is doing too little to cut carbon emissions. Kuehne + Nagel closed lower by 1.04%, and Nestle ended nearly 1% down. Logitech International, Lindt & Spruengli, Straumann Holding and Givaudan settled down by 0.4 to 0.9%.

Europe
European stocks closed on a weak note on Monday with investors largely refraining from making big moves and most of the markets recording thin volumes, ahead of upcoming Christmas holidays. The German market will have a full session on Tuesday, and then remain closed for rest of the week. The UK and French markets will have full sessions tomorrow. They will open for trading for half a day on Wednesday, and then remain closed on Thursday and Friday, while the Swiss market will remain closed Wednesday through Friday this week. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down by 0.13%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.32% and 0.37%, respectively. France's CAC 40 edged down 0.02%, and Switzerland's SMI settled lower by 0.06%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia and Turkiye closed weak. Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Norway, Poland and Sweden ended higher, while Iceland and Spain closed flat. DCC, down more than 5%, was the biggest loser in the FTSE 100 index. Diageo closed lower by about 3.7%, while Pershing Square Holdings, WPP, Ashtead Group, Howden Joinery Group and Rolls-Royce Holdings lost 1.25 to 2.5%. Fresnillo climbed 2.85%. Airtel Africa, Endeavour Mining and Rio Tinto gained 1.5 to 2%. In the German market, Infineon, Fresenius Medical Care, Gea Group, Zalando and Deutsche Boerse posted sharp to moderate gains. In the French market, Stellantis shed more than 4%. Pernod Ricard closed nearly 3% down. Edenred, Safran, Danone, L'Oreal, Veolia Environment and Sanofi alco ended notably lower. TP, Legrand, ArcelorMittal, Kering, Unibail Rodamco, Air Liquide and TotalEnergies ended higher. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK economy registered a meager growth as initially estimated in the third quarter, growing by unrevised 0.1% sequentially, following the second quarter's 0.2% expansion. The growth was driven by increases in services and construction, while industrial output contracted.

United States
Extending the strong upward move seen over the two previous sessions, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day following the mixed performance seen in the previous week. The major averages finished the day off their highs of the session but still firmly in positive territory. The Dow rose 227.79 points or 0.5 percent to 48,362.68, the Nasdaq climbed 121.21 points or 0.5 percent to 23,428.83 and the S&P 500 advanced 43.99 points or 0.6 percent to 6,878.49. The markets continued to benefit from strength among technology stocks, which helped lead the way higher last Thursday and Friday. Shares of Oracle (ORCL) surged by 3.3 percent after Wells Fargo reiterated its Overweight rating on the software giant's stock. AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) also saw further upside after a report from Reuters said the company has told Chinese clients it aims to start shipping its second-most powerful AI chips to China before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February. Overall trading activity appeared somewhat subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data keeping some traders on the sidelines. Some traders may also be away from their desks as they look to get a head start on the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday. Reports on durable goods orders, third quarter GDP, industrial production and consumer confidence are still likely to attract attention on Tuesday.

Asia
Most stock markets in East Asia are trading higher on Tuesday. The technology-heavy Kospi in Seoul is up 0.3 per cent. Here, the shares of heavyweight Samsung Electronics are rising by a further 1.4 per cent. SK Hynix is up 1.0 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the downward move seen during last Friday's session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 1.8 basis points to 4.169 percent.

Analysis
Vontobel lowers Clariant target to CHF 8 (8.50) – Hold
Jefferies lowers Heineken target to EUR 95 (100) – Buy
Berenberg lowers Hornbach target to EUR 88 (90) – Hold

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