UBS received a license to offer full-service banking in the U.S., part of a plan to tap rich Americans for their deposits and investments, and extend its reach in the world’s biggest wealth market. The national bank charter, approved by U.S. regulators Friday, should help the Swiss bank expand beyond its traditional clientele of the superrich into a pool of affluent and not-quite-ultrawealthy clients. The Americas are already UBS’s biggest region for wealth management, accounting for around half of invested assets and revenue. But the region has a much higher cost base, and scaling up in banking is a way to gather more deposits and make the region more profitable. UBS has already increased the profit margins of its Americas wealth business and is hoping that a suite of checking and savings account services will help attract new clients and convince existing ones to consolidate their finances at UBS. The bank has faced some recent challenges executing on that plan. UBS reported outflows last quarter and said it was anticipating further disruption after changes to how it compensates its front-line financial advisers.

After a positive spell till about an hour before noon on Friday, the Swiss market struggled a bit for a while, and despite a good recovery, turned weak again and eventually ended the day's session on a weak note. Volatile oil prices, rising concerns about the conflict in the Middle East and fears of monetary tightening by global central banks rendered the mood bearish. The benchmark SMI settled with a loss of 138.55 points or 1.11% at 12,320.99, the day's low. Swisscom ended nearly 2.5% down. Alcon, ABB and Kuehne + Nagel lost 2%-2.2%, while Logitech International, Julius Baer and Roche Holding ended lower by 1.5%-1.7%. Novartis moved higher after it agreed to buy an experimental breast cancer drug from Synnovation Therapeutics for as much as $3 billion. However, the stock failed to hold gains and settled on a weak note. Lonza Group, Partners Group, Straumann Holding, Schindler Ps, Swiss Re, Amrize and Nestle lost 1%-1.4%. SGS, Swiss Life Holding, Givaudan, VAT Group, UBS Group and Zurich Insurance also ended notably lower. Holcim climbed up 1.7%. Lindt & Spruengli, Sika and Helvetia Baloise Holding posted modest gains.

Europe
After a fairly good start Friday morning, the major European markets turned weak and ended the day's session with notable losses as oil's climb and concerns that major central banks will soon hike interest rates rendered the mood bearish. Major central banks, including the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, left their interest rates unchanged but hinted at one or more rate hikes this year to combat inflation. Oil's wild swings since trade commenced this morning resulted in high volatility in the stock markets across Europe. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 1.78%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 1.44%, Germany's DAX fell 2.01% and France's CAC 40 lost 1.82%. Switzerland's SMI closed with a loss of 1.11%. The FTSE, DAX and CAC 40 all fell for a third straight week. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye closed with sharp to moderate losses. In the UK market, Smiths Group tanked nearly 10% after the engineering group's half-year revenue growth fell short of estimates. Babcock International ended 4.5% down. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, BP, ICG, National Grid, SSE, Weir Group, Segro, Barratt Redrow, Centrica, Natwest Group, Marks & Spencer, BAE Systems, BT Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Coca-Cola HBC Antofagasta, Anglo American Plc and Endeavour Mining declined sharply. Bank stocks HSBC Holdings, Natwest Group, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays also ended sharply lower. British pub chain JD Wetherspoon tumbled after reporting a notable drop in profits in the first half. Metlen Energy & Metals climbed 3.2%. Croda International, Entain, Easyjet, IAG and Burberry Group gained 1%-1.5%.

United States
Extending the slump seen over the two previous sessions, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Friday. With the extended nosedive, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 plunged to their lowest closing levels in over six months. The Dow and the Nasdaq dipped into contraction territory, reflecting a 10 percent plunge from their latest highs, before regaining some ground going into the end the day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, plummeting to 443.08 points or 2.0 percent to 21,647.61, while the S&P 500 tumbled 100.01 points or 1.5 percent to 6,506.48 and the Dow slumped 443.96 points or 1.0 percent to 45’577.47. The major averages more than offset the strength early in the week, with the S&P 500 diving by 1.9 percent for the week and the Dow and the Nasdaq both plunging by 2.1 percent. The sell-off on Wall Street came amid continued volatility by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions. Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the worst performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index diving by 6.0 percent after ending the previous session as a record closing high. Super Micro Computer (SMCI) led the sector lower, plummeting by 33.3 percent after U.S. prosecutors charged several of the information technology company's employees with smuggling Nvidia (NVDA) chips to China. Substantial weakness was also visible among networking stocks, as reflected by the 4.6 plunge by the NYSE Arca Networking Index. The index also ended Thursday's trading at a record closing high. Interest rate-sensitive utilities stocks also saw considerable weakness, dragging the Dow Jones Utility Average down by 3.7 percent to its lowest closing level in over a month.

Asia
Asian stock markets are under significant selling pressure at the start of the week. US President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy Iran’s power stations if the country does not lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. Iran has threatened retaliatory strikes should this happen. This is fuelling fears of further escalation. The Kospi in Seoul is falling particularly sharply, losing 5.9 per cent. Trading was temporarily suspended due to the heavy losses.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved sharply lower, extending the downward move seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, soared 11.0 basis points to a nearly eight-month closing high of 4.391 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises its target price for Rational to EUR 805 (785) – Buy
Jefferies raises its target price for Eni to EUR 27 (23) – Buy
JPMorgan raises its rating on Infineon to Overweight (Neutral) – Target price EUR 48 (40)

Produced by MBI Martin Brückner Infosource GmbH & Co. KG on behalf of Swissquote. All news is acquired with journalistic accuracy. No liability is assumed for delays or errors.