Nine pharmaceutical companies agreed to lower the prices that certain federal government programs and patients pay, in a new round of industry pacts with the Trump administration. The companies said they would reduce U.S. prices on drugs to levels comparable with prices charged in other wealthy countries, which are generally much lower. In return, the companies get administration-backed reprieves from potential new U.S. tariffs for three years. President Trump announced the deals at the White House, joined by top executives of the nine companies. “Starting next year American drug prices will come down fast and furious and will soon be among the lowest in the developed world,” Trump said. The companies reaching the new agreements are Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche’s Genentech unit, Gilead, Novartis and Sanofi, in addition to Bristol-Myers, Merck and GSK.

After some positive moments till about an hour after the opening bell Friday morning, and a subsequent long spell in negative territory, the Swiss market climbed higher in the final hour to close on a firm note. The benchmark SMI settled with a gain of 35.77 points or 0.27% at 13,171.85. Roche Holding climbed 1.88%. Julius Baer, ABB, Zurich Insurance, Swisscom, Holcim and Novartis gained 0.7 to 1%. Swiss Re and Lonza Group posted modest gains. Logitech International ended nearly 2% down. Amrize drifted down 1.7%, while Nestle, Swatch Group, Galderma Group and Partners closed weak by 1 to 1.4%. Data from the Swiss National Bank showed Switzerland's current account surplus widened sharply to CHF 15.4 billion in the third quarter of 2025 from CHF 7.6 billion in the same period of the previous year. The primary income deficit saw improvement, narrowing to CHF 3.3 billion from CHF 9.9 billion, while the secondary income shortfall decreased to CHF 1.2 billion from CHF 5.4 billion a year earlier.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Friday, and several markets in the region climbed to fresh highs, with investors reacting to the interest rate decisions by major central banks. Expectations of more monetary easing by the Federal Reserve contributed as well to the positive mood in the markets. The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.37%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.61% and Germany's DAX ended 0.37% up, while France's CAC 40 edged up 0.01%. Switzerland's SMI ended with a gain of 0.27%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden closed higher. In the UK market, Endeavour Mining, Fresnillo and Rolls-Royce Holdings gained 3.2%, 2.85% and 2.3%, respectively. Melrose Industries, Spirax Group, Shell, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, HSBC Holdings, Babcock International, Admiral Group, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Airtel Africa, Barclays and DCC gained 1.2 to 2%. Barratt Redrow, JD Sports Fashion and Persimmon ended down by 2.3 to 2.7%. Berkeley Group Holdings, Marks & Spencer, Whitbread, Auto Trader Group, WPP, Bunzl, BT Group and British American Tobacco closed lower by 1 to 2%. In the German market, Commerzbank, MTU Aero ENgines, Bayer, RWE, Hannover Rueck, Munich RE, Allianz and Rheinmetall gained 1 to 2.3%. Zalando drifted down by about 2.7%. Adidas, Scout24, Siemens Healthineers, Daimler Truck Holding and Vonovia ended with moderate losses. Puma settled notably lower, weighed down by a sell-off in Nike. Although Nike beat forecasts with its fiscal second-quarter earnings, weakness in the Chinese market and the persistent impact of the Trump administration's tariff regime hurt the counter. In the French market, Engie, STMicroElectronics, Safran, Accor, Schneider Electric, Societe Generale and Airbus gained 1 to 1.7%. Renault climbed 1.3% following a rating upgrade. S&P Global upgraded the company's credit rating to BBB- from BB+, with a stable outlook.

United States
Stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Friday, extending the significant rebound seen over the course of Thursday's session. With the upward move, the major averages further offset the weakness seen earlier in the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq reached new highs for the session going into the end of the day, closing up 301.26 points or 1.3 percent at 23,307.62. The S&P 500 also jumped 59.74 points or 0.9 percent to 6,834.50, while the narrower Dow rose 183.04 points or 0.4 percent to 48,134.89. With the strong upward move seen over the past two days, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 turned positive for the week. The Nasdaq climbed by 0.5 percent and the S&P 500 inched up by 0.1 percent, although the Dow slid by 0.7 percent. The continued strength on Wall Street came amid a sharp increase by shares of Oracle (ORCL), with the software giant spiking by 6.6 percent. Oracle surged after a memo from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a joint venture that includes Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake. Shares of Micron Technology (MU) also showed another strong move to the upside after helping lead the markets higher on Thursday on better than expected quarterly results and blowout guidance. Nvidia (NVDA) also turned a strong performance on the day, with the AI darling and market leader jumping by 3.9 percent. The advance by Nvidia came after a report from Reuters said the Trump administration has launched a review that could result in the first shipments of the company's second-most powerful AI chips to China. In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a modest increase by existing home sales in the U.S. in the month of November. NAR said existing home sales rose by 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.13 million in November after jumping by 1.5 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 4.10 million in October.

Asia
Stock markets in East Asia opened higher on Monday, continuing Friday's positive trend. The gains were mainly driven by a strong recovery in technology and chip stocks. The technology-heavy Kospi in Seoul posted particularly strong gains of 1.8 per cent. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose by as much as 1.9 per cent. Here, too, gains in technology stocks were the main driver. By contrast, gains were more moderate in Shanghai (+0.7 per cent) and Hong Kong (+0.1 per cent).

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries gave back ground following the strength seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 3.5 basis points to 4.151 percent.

Analysis
UBS lowers Schweiter Technologies to CHF 240 (250) – Sell
Berenberg lowers Sanofi to EUR 105 (110) – Buy
UBS lowers EssilorLuxottica to EUR 352 (355) – Buy

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