Anthropic, the artificial intelligence lab recently valued at nearly $1 trillion, said Monday it has filed confidentially for an initial public offering, setting up a blockbuster year for IPOs. The filing could put the company behind the Claude AI model on a path to go public this fall. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to stage what is likely to be the largest IPO ever next week. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Anthropic’s chief rival, OpenAI, was preparing to submit its own IPO filing imminently. Banks have told both Anthropic and OpenAI that whoever makes it to market first will get to define the new industry and have first dibs on the large pools of cash eager to back new AI companies. If both file initial paperwork with regulators around the same time, either would still have a chance to stage an offering before the other. Anthropic said in a blog post that its plans will depend on market conditions and other factors. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a CNBC appearance Monday that he didn’t think there was a race to go public. “We will do it when it makes sense,” he said. The year could end up being the biggest ever for money raised through IPOs if Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX all make their debuts. SpaceX is aiming to raise as much as $80 billion or more in an offering next week. It had a valuation of $1.25 trillion after its combination with Musk’s AI company xAI and could see its valuation rise further.

The Swiss stock market ended sharply lower on Monday amid fading hopes for a U.S.-Iran peace deal after Tehran accused US of violating ceasefire. Switzerland's benchmark index SMI stayed in negative territory throughout the day's session and settled at 13,305.40, losing 237.26 points or 1.75%. Pharma stocks Roche and Novartis ended down by 3.61% and 3.33%, respectively. Sika, Geberit, VAT Group, Helvetia Baloise Holding and Sandoz Group lost 2.1%-2.8%. Nestle, Givaudan, Swiss Life Holding, Holcim, Sonova, Gaderma Group, Richemont, Swiss Re, Lindt & Spruengli and Schindler Ps shed 1%-2%. Logitech International ended with a gain of 2.8%. Kuehne + Nagel and UBS Group gained 1.55% and 1.38%, respectively. Julius Baer moved up 0.3%. In economic news, Swiss retail sales increased at the quickest pace in four months in April, climbing 1.6% (annually), faster than the 1.3% growth in March, data from the Federal Statistical Office revealed.

Europe
European stocks closed weak on Monday amid fading hopes for a U.S.-Iran ceasefire after Iran reportedly said it will stop communications with the United States. Also, inflation and interest rate concerns rose following a sharp rise in oil prices. The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 0.76%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down by 0.68%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.4% and 0.45%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI shed 1.75%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended with sharp to moderate losses. Belgium and Finland edged down marginally, while Greece, Netherlands, Norway and Ukraine closed higher. In the UK market, Persimmon, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Babcock International, 3i Group, Barratt Redrow and Convatec Group tumbled 4%-5.4%. Kingfisher, Endeavour Mining, Pershing Square Holdings, Diageo, Haleon, Mondi, AstraZeneca, Howden Joinery Group, British Land, IAG, Bunzl and Weir Group were among the several other notable losers. The Sage Group surged nearly 8%. Entain gained about 5.4%, while Experian, Relx and Glencore moved up 3.5%-4%. Energy stocks BP and Shell gained 2.7% and 2.5%, respectively, riding on oil prices. Autotrader Group, RightMove, LSEG, Pearson, Sainsbury (J), IG Group. Tesco, Halma and Rio Tinto also closed notably higher. EasyJet soared more than 10% on takeover interest. The budget airline called a potential £3bn bid by a U.S. investment group 'highly opportunistic', adding any deal would face substantial hurdles.

United States
Following the relatively lackluster performance seen during last Friday's sessions, stocks continued to show a lack of conviction during trading on Monday but once again managed to end the day mostly higher. The major averages ended the day off their best levels but still at new record closing highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 114.19 points or 0.4 percent to 27,086.81, the S&P 500 rose 19.90 points or 0.3 percent to 7,599.96 and the Dow inched up 46.42 points or 0.1 percent to 51,078.88. The higher close on Wall Street partly reflected strength among tech stocks after Nvidia (NVDA) unveiled a new superchip RTX Spark in collaboration with Microsoft (MSFT) that the company said reinvents Windows PCs for the era of personal AI agents. Shares of Nvidia spiked by 6.3 percent, while shares of Microsoft jumped by 2.3 percent. PC makers Dell (DELL) and HP (HPQ) also saw significant strength. On the U.S. economic front, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded for the fifth consecutive month in May. The ISM said its manufacturing PMI rose to 54.0 in May from 52.7 in April, with a reading above 50 indicating growth. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 53.1. With the bigger than expected increase, the manufacturing PMI reached its highest level since hitting 55.9 in May 2022. Software and computer hardware stocks saw substantial strength on the day, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index and the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index spiking by 4.2 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively.

Asia
The mood on the stock markets in East Asia and Australia is predominantly negative on Tuesday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index is down 1.4 per cent, although it reached a record high on Monday. The broader Topix index is down 0.8 per cent. Following a profit warning, Ito En shares have plummeted by 11.2 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries regained ground after coming under pressure early in the session but remained in the red. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.4 basis points to 4.477 percent after reaching a high of 4.516 percent.

Analysis
ING raises ASML target to EUR 1,700 (1,500) – Buy
Berenberg lowers Capgemini target to EUR 112 (117) – Hold
Citi raises Siltronic target to EUR 105 (74) – Neutral

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