Estée Lauder is in talks to acquire Spanish beauty group Puig Brands, a deal that would combine two of the world’s biggest beauty companies. Estée Lauder confirmed the discussions Monday, following a report by The Wall Street Journal. The talks are continuing, and there is no guarantee an agreement will be reached, the company said. The companies have discussed a combination involving a mix of cash and stock, people familiar with the matter said. Other details surrounding the discussions couldn’t be learned. Puig is based in Barcelona and has a market value of about $10 billion. The company went public in 2024 and its shares have significantly underperformed since then, in part because of sluggish fragrance demand. A deal would further expand Estée Lauder’s sprawling portfolio, which includes Clinique, M.A.C, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Le Labo. It would also help cement the family-controlled business as a leader in the so-called prestige beauty category. Puig, which is also still family-controlled, sells perfume, fashion, makeup and skin-care products, from brands including Carolina Herrera, Charlotte Tilbury, Byredo and Dr. Barbara Sturm.

After languishing in negative territory till noon on Monday, Switzerland's equity index SMI moved above the flat line and stayed positive thereafter to end the day's session on a firm note despite paring a significant portion of its gains. Richemont closed more than 5% up. Amrize climbed 3.27%, while Julius Baer and VAT Group gained 2.34% and 2.17%, respectively. Geberit moved up nearly 2%. Logitech International, Partners Group, Sika, UBS Group, Holcim, Helvetia Baloise Holding and Roche Holding gained 1%-1.6%. Kuehne + Nagel, Lindt & Spruengli and Straumann Holding alco closed notably higher. Sonova ended 5.85% down, after the company lowered its expectations for the full-year to the lower end of the previously announced range. Sonova also announced plans to sell its Sennheiser consumer hearing business, which generated about 6.5% of its revenue in the financial year 2024/2025. Sandoz Group and Nestle closed lower by 1.88% and 1.33%, respectively. Givaudan finished 0.8% down, while Zurich Insurance settled with a loss of 0.67%.

Europa
European stocks reversed early losses and closed higher on Monday, amid signs of a de-escalation in the ongoing Iran conflict after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a five-day pause on strikes over Iran. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up by 0.61% at 576.78, recovering from a low of 559.05%. Germany's DAX, which tumbled to 21,863.38, the lowest level in about 13 months, settled with a gain of 1.22% at 22,653.86, and France's CAC 40 closed up by 0.79% at 7,726.20, rallying from a nine-month low of 7,505.27. The U.K.'s FTSE 100, which dropped to 9,670.18, surged to 10,036.65 before paring gains to settle at 9,894.15, down 0.24%. Switzerland's SMI ended 0.56% up 12,389.68, coming off a low of 12,053.51. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye closed higher. Finland and Norway ended weak, while Czech Republic, Denmark and Iceland closed flat. In the UK market, Entain climbed more than 8%. Miners Antofagasta and Anglo American Plc closed up by 7.3% and 5.5%, respectively. Fresnillo ended 3.3% up, and Rio Tinto gained about 2.1%. Croda International rallied 5.6%. IAG, Smiths Group, Barratt Redrow, Burberry Group, Weir Group, HSBC Holdings, Halma, Standard Chartered and IMI gained 3%-5%. Easyjet, Persimmon, Spirax Group, Barclays, IMI, JD Sports Fashion, Lloyds Banking Group, Mondia and Natwest Group moved up 2%-3%. BT Group ended lower by nearly 6% and BAE Systems settled 4.9% down. Tesco, Admiral Group, Centrica, SSE, The Sage Group, Haleon, LSEG, BP, Shell, Sainsbury (J), Rightmove, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Autotrader Group also declined sharply.

Stati Uniti
After moving sharply higher early in the session, stocks gave back some ground over the course of the trading day on Monday but continued to turn in a strong performance. The major averages all rebounded after ending last Friday's trading at their lowest levels in several months. The major averages ended the day well off their highs of the session but still posted notable gains. The Dow surged 631.00 points or 1.4 percent to 46,208.47, the Nasdaq jumped 299.15 points or 1.4 percent to 21,946.76 and the S&P 500 shot up 74.52 points or 1.2 percent to 6,581.00. The early rally on Wall Street came reaction to President Donald Trump backing down from his threats to 'obliterate' Iran's power plants unless they fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the U.S. and Iran have had 'very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.' Trump said he has subsequently instructed the War Department to postpone all military strikes on Iran's power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period. The president later told CNBC's Joe Kernen that the U.S. is 'very intent on making a deal with Iran' after previously claiming he wasn't interested in a deal. Airline stocks turned in some of the market's best performances, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 4.2 percent after ending last Friday's trading at its lowest closing level in four months. Substantial strength was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks came despite a steep drop by the price of the precious metal. Networking stocks also showed a significant move back to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 3 percent.

Asia
Hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran conflict are driving a slight recovery on Asian stock markets on Tuesday following the sometimes-heavy losses seen at the start of the week. The Kospi in Seoul is posting the strongest gain, rising by 2.4 per cent. It had also recorded the sharpest fall at the start of the week, plunging by 6.5 per cent. In Tokyo, the Topix is up 1.5 per cent. On the Chinese stock markets, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.6 per cent and the Hang Seng Index has gained 1.2 per cent. In Australia, where trading has already closed, the S&P/ASX 200 closed with a gain of 0.2 per cent.

Obbligazioni
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries regained ground after moving sharply lower over the past few sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 5.7 basis points to 4.334 percent.

Analisi
UBS lowers Lanxess target price to EUR 10 (14) – Sell
UBS raises Sartorius target price to EUR 240 (230) – Neutral
JPMorgan downgrades SAP to Neutral (Overweight)

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