Some of the biggest merchants are exploring how to issue or use stablecoins, potentially shifting the high volumes of cash and card transactions that they handle outside the traditional financial system and saving them billions of dollars in fees. Walmart, Amazon. com and other multinational giants have recently explored whether to issue their own stablecoins in the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter. Expedia Group and other large companies such as airlines have also discussed potential efforts to issue stablecoins, some of the people said. A move to launch crypto-based payments by Walmart or Amazon that bypasses the traditional payments system would send shivers through the nation’s banks and card-network giants. With vast networks of customers and employees, troves of data and far lighter regulations, retail and technology companies have long been viewed as particular threats to banks, including regional and community lenders. Stablecoins are currently used to store cash or purchase other cryptocurrency tokens. They are supposed to maintain a one-to-one exchange ratio with dollars or other government currencies, and are backed by reserves of cash or cashlike assets such as Treasurys.

The Swiss stock market turned lower again on Friday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had given up more than 50 points or 0.4 percent. The losses were in line with the rest of the European markets thanks to heightened Middle East tensions. Israel launched strikes against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities and ballistic missile factories as part of efforts 'to damage Iran's nuclear infrastructure, its ballistic missile factories and military capabilities. The overnight strikes on the country killed at least three of its senior military leaders. Iran retaliated by launching more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory. For the day, the SMI tumbled 177.38 points or 1.44 percent to finish at 12,146.02 after trading between 12,128.46 and 12,236.18. Among the actives, Sika plunged 3.82 percent, while Swatch Group tanked 2.79 percent, Compagnie Financiere Richemont stumbled 2.75 percent, Adecco Group weakened 2.18 percent, UBS Group dropped 1.62 percent, Swisscom sank 1.42 percent, Swiss Life shed 1.04 percent, Novartis lost 0.93 percent and Zurich Insurance Group fell 0.50 percent.

Europe
The major European markets slumped on Friday as heightened Middle East tensions offset encouraging inflation data from Germany and France. Israel launched strikes against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities and ballistic missile factories as part of efforts 'to damage Iran's nuclear infrastructure, its ballistic missile factories and military capabilities.' The overnight strikes on the country killed at least three of its senior military leaders. Iran retaliated by launching more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory. Germany's DAX stumbled 255.22 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 23,516.23, while the FTSE in London shed 34.29 points or 0.39 percent to close at 8.850.63 and the CAC 40 in France sank 80.43 points or 1.04 percent to end at 7,684.68. In Germany, Adidas tumbled 2.77 percent, while Volkswagen retreated 2.24 percent, Deutsche Bank declined 2.11 percent, Heidelberg Materials slumped 1.95 percent, Siemens Healthineers skidded 1.64 percent, Deutsche Borse dropped 1.51 percent, Deutsche Post sank 1.43 percent and Deutsche Telekom lost 1.09 percent. In London, Schroders plunged 3.42 percent, while BAE Systems rallied 2.86 percent, easyJet stumbled 2.72 percent, Rolls-Royce tanked 1.96 percent, Tesco jumped 1.69 percent, Rightmove shed 1.53 percent, Compass Group fell 1.01 percent, Haleon slipped 0.97 percent, British American Tobacco gained 0.96 percent and Centrica added 0.45 percent. In France, Atos plummeted 5.36 percent, while Wordline and Compagnie de Saint-Gobain both tumbled 2.76 percent, BNP Paribas dropped 1.57 percent, Engie improved 1.27 percent, Vinci and Kering both sank 1.19 percent, Sanofi lost 1.00 percent, Credit Agricole fell 0.84 percent and Societe Generale was down 0.78 percent.

United States
After moving modestly higher over the course of the previous session, stocks pulled back sharply during trading on Friday. The major averages all moved significantly lower, with the Dow and the S&P 500 pulling back well off yesterday's three-month closing highs. The major averages staged a recovery attempt in late morning trading after an early slump but moved back to the downside as the day progressed. The Dow plummeted 769.83 points or 1.8 percent to 42,197.79, the Nasdaq plunged 255.66 points or 1.3 percent to 19,406.83 and the S&P 500 tumbled 68.29 points or 1.1 percent to 5,976.97. With the steep drop on the day, the major averages also moved lower for the week. The Dow slumped by 1.3 percent, the Nasdaq slid by 0.6 percent and the S&P 500 fell by 0.4 percent. The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index surged to 60.5 in June after holding at 52.2 in May. Economists had expected the index to rise to 53.5. Airline stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 4.3 percent to its lowest closing level in over a month. Substantial weakness was also visible among computer hardware and semiconductor stocks, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware and Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunging by 2.7 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively. Housing, networking and financial stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, while energy and gold stocks bucked the downtrend.

Asia
The military escalation between Israel and Iran is being viewed more relaxed on the stock markets in East Asia and Australia on Monday than it was on Friday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose by 1.1 per cent, supported by the fact that no further interest rate hike is expected from the meeting of the Japanese central bank starting on Tuesday.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries gave back ground after moving notably higher over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 6.7 basis points to 4.424 percent.

Analysis
UBS lowers Tecan to EUR 188 (192) – Neutral
Morgan Stanley lowers Deutsche Telekom to EUR 40 (41) - Overweight/Top Pick
Citi raises Deutsche Bank to EUR 24.20 (22.30) – Neutral