Merck has reached a nearly $6 billion cash deal to buy the cancer biotech Terns Pharmaceuticals and its promising leukemia treatment. If it proves to work safely, the experimental drug would give Merck a boost as the company prepares for its top-selling drug, Keytruda, to lose patent protection. Under the terms, Merck would pay $53 a share for Terns, Merck said. The deal is worth $5.7 billion including the cash that Terns has on hand. Shares of Terns rose 5.4% in premarket trading, while Merck was up 0.4%. Terns, of Foster City, Calif., has been developing pills to treat cancer, as well as obesity and metabolic-liver diseases. Its crown jewel is a pill to treat a blood cancer known as chronic myeloid leukemia. Last year Terns reported encouraging study results for the medicine.

Swiss stocks moved higher on Wednesday, mirroring the positive mood seen across global markets, amid hopes of a U.S.-Iran peace deal. The benchmark SMI, which stayed firm right through the day's session, settled with a strong gain of 202.42 points or 1.62% at 12,718.36. Galderma Group, Partners Group, Straumann Holding and UBS Group gained 3%-3.5%. ABB, Logitech International, Julius Baer, Sika, Sandoz Group and Roche Holding closed up by 2%-2.5%. Lonza Group, Novartis and Swiss Life Holding gained 1.8%-1.9%. Geberit, Holcim, Richemont, Alcon, Zurich Insurance Group, Helvetia Baloise Holding, Givaudan and SGS moved up 1.1%-1.7%. In economic news, Swiss investor sentiment index slumped by 44.8 percentage points to -35 in March, from 9.8 in the previous month, according to data from UBS and CFA Society Switzerland. March's reading was the lowest since September 2025. Meanwhile, the current conditions index rebounded to 2.5 from -2.5 in February.

Europe
European stocks closed on a strong note on Wednesday, as the mood turned a bit bullish amid some hopes of a de-escalation in tensions in the Middle East. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.42%. Germany's DAX, France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.41%, 1.33% and 1.42%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI gained 1.62%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden closed with strong gains. Denmark, Russia and Türkiye ended with modest gains, while Greece closed sharply lower. In the UK market, stocks from mining and financials sectors turned in a fine performance. Airliners moved up as well. Endeavour Mining and Anglo American Plc climbed about 4.5% and 3.9%, respectively. Fresnillo moved up 3.7%, while Glencore and Rio Tinto gained 2.2% and 1.3%, respectively. Standard Chartered gained 2.7%, Barclays climbed 2.7%, HSBC Holdings moved up 2.5% and Lloyds Banking Group advanced by nearly 2%. Natwest Group ended 1.75% up. Pershing Square Holdings, GSK, ICG, Barratt Redrow, Smiths Group, Croda International and Scottish Mortgage gained 3%-4%. United Utilities climbed 3.2%. The water utility issued a pre-close update ahead of its full-year results for the year ending March 31, 2026, indicating that performance remains in line with expectations. Standard Life, Intertek Group, Prudential, Lion Finance, JD Sports Fashion, IMI, Rolls-Royce Holdings, National Grid, Melrose Industries, Severn Trent, Halma and Autotrader Group also posted impressive gains. Entain, Relx, Experian, Bunzl and Shell closed with sharp to moderate losses. In the German market, Siemens Energy, Infineon, Vonovia, Commerzbank, RWE, Deutsche Bank, Rheinmetall, MTU Aero Engines, Continental, BASF, Scout24, Merck, Symrise, Gea Group, Beiersdorf and Heidelberg Materials moved up sharply. Lufthansa gained about 2.3% as oil prices fell amid easing hopes of a de-escalation in tensions in the Middle East.

United States
After ending Tuesday's choppy session mostly lower, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside in early trading on Wednesday. The major averages gave back ground over the course of the trading day but managed to remain in positive territory. The Nasdaq advanced 167.93 points or 0.8 percent to 21,929.83, the Dow climbed 305.43 points or 0.7 percent to 46,429.49 and the S&P 500 rose 35.53 points or 0.5 percent to 6,591.90. The early strength on Wall Street came amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil, with international benchmark Brent crude futures slumping by 1.7 percent after surging in the previous session. Crude oil prices gave back ground after a report from the New York Times said the U.S. has sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war in the Middle East. Citing two officials briefed on the diplomacy, the New York Times said the plan, delivered by way of Pakistan, said it addresses Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Biotechnology stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 3.5 percent. A sharp increase by the price of gold also contributed to significant strength among gold stocks, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surging by 3 percent. Airline, computer hardware and pharmaceutical stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia
Following recent gains, Asian stock markets are falling again on Thursday. The sharpest decline is being seen on the Kospi in Seoul, which is down 2.7 per cent. Here, the fall is also being driven by losses among index heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The Topix in Tokyo is down 0.8 per cent. On the Chinese stock markets, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.6 per cent and the Hang Seng Index has lost 1.4 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved sharply higher following the notable pullback seen in the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slumped 6.4 basis points to 4.328 percent.

Analysis
Bank of America cuts UBS target price to CHF 46 (48) – Buy
UBS raises Prudential target price to 1,470 (1,400) GBp – Buy
JPMorgan initiates coverage of Talanx with an Overweight rating – Target price 125 EUR


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