LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton agreed to sell the fashion brand Marc Jacobs to WHP Global and G-III Apparel Group in a $850 million deal. The two buyers agreed to pay $425 million each to buy the brand and split ownership 50/50, according to a Thursday filing. The deal would move designer Marc Jacobs’s brand away from the company behind Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi after nearly three decades at LVMH. G-III, which owns Karl Lagerfeld and dozens of licenses for several other fashion brands, would manage Marc Jacobs’s operating business, including direct-to-consumer and wholesale. G-III is also gaining an exclusive license to use the Marc Jacobs brand and intellectual property. WHP, which manages licenses for Vera Wang and Rag & Bone, would oversee licensing. The transaction is set to close during G-III’s fiscal third quarter, which ends in October, the company said. LVMH bought a majority stake in Marc Jacobs in 1997, when Jacobs himself was brought on as creative director of Louis Vuitton. Jacobs founded the brand in 1984, and it has become known for its accessible luxury handbags.

The Swiss market ended slightly up on Friday after stocks turned in a mixed performance in largely cautious moves by investors. The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 13,304.96 early on in the session, gaining nearly 100 points in the process, ended the day with a small gain of 7.21 points or 0.05% at 13,220.17. Sonova, the top gainer in the benchmark index, closed 2.64% up. Swiss Re, Alcon and Nestle gained 1.67%, 1.63% and 1.55%, respectively. Swiss Life Holding, Helvetia Baloise Holding, SGS and VAT Group ended higher by 1%-1.27%. Roche and Givaudan also closed notably higher. Holcim fell more than 5%. Sandoz Group closed down by 3.36% and Amrize drifted down 2.73%. Sika, Lindt & Spruengli, Galderma Group, Lonza Group, ABB and UBS Group also ended notably lower.

Europe
European stocks closed sharply lower on Friday on renewed concerns about inflation as oil prices rose sharply amid Middle East tensions. A lack of positive outcome from the U.S.-China summit weighed as well on sentiment. Investors also followed the developments on the political front in the United Kingdom where Andy Burnham moved closer to a potential bid for prime minister, with MP Josh Simons saying he would step aside for the Manchester mayor. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 1.48%. The UK's FTSE 100 finished with a loss of 1.71%, Germany's DAX dropped 2.07% and France's CAC 40 settled 1.6% down. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Türkiye closed notably lower. Finland and Sweden finished with modest losses, while Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway ended higher. In the UK market, miners and bank stocks closed with sharp losses. Antofagasta and Fresnillo closed down by 10.7% and 10%, respectively. Endeavour Mining ended 7.05% down and Anglo American Plc lost 5.6%. Glencore closed 3.6% down, and Rio Tinto settled lower by 4.7%. Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, HSBC Holdings, Natwest Group and Standard Chartered lost 1.2%-2.8%. Centrica tumbled nearly 7% after agreeing to pay £20 million to settle an Ofgem investigation into claims that British Gas forced struggling customers onto prepayment meters.

United States
Following the strength seen in the previous session, stocks pulled back sharply over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages all showed significant moves to the downside on the day. The major averages finished the day off their lows of the session but still firmly negative. The Dow slumped 537.29 points or 1.1 percent to 49,526.17, the Nasdaq plunged 410.08 points or 1.5 percent to 26,225.14 and the S&P 500 tumbled 92.74 points or 1.2 percent to 7,408.50. With the pullback on the day, the major averages were little changed for the week. The S&P 500 crept up by 0.1 percent, while the Nasdaq edged down by 0.1 percent and the Dow dipped by 0.2 percent. The sell-off on Wall Street may partly have reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which lifted the Nasdaq and S&P 500 to record highs. Technology stocks helped lead the pullback, with Intel (INTC) and Micron Technology (MU) plunging by 6.6 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) also tumbled by 4.4 percent. A sharp increase in treasury yields also weighed on the markets, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note surging to its highest levels in almost a year. The spike in treasury yields came as recent data showing significant accelerations in the pace of consumer and producer price inflation has led to concerns about the outlook for interest rates. Substantial weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 4.4 percent plunge by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Semiconductor stocks also showed a significant move to the downside, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 4 percent. Steel, housing and computer hardware stocks also saw considerable weakness, while oil producer and software stocks bucked the downtrend.

Asia
Negative sentiment is dominating the stock markets in East Asia and Australia. The ongoing conflict with Iran is weighing on market sentiment. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with further military strikes if no agreement is reached. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, driving oil prices further up on Monday. The price of a barrel of Brent crude has risen by 1.8 per cent to $111.20. Technology stocks in particular are under pressure in the region. Investors are eagerly awaiting Nvidia’s financial results later this week.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries nosedived amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, soared 13.4 basis points to a nearly one-year closing high of 4.595 percent.

Analysis
Berenberg raises Swiss Life target to CHF 979 (939) – Buy
UBS raises Burberry target to 1,420 (1,410) p – Buy
UBS downgrades BPER to Neutral (Buy) – Target EUR 12.50 (13.50)

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