French aerospace-and-defense group Thales said it expects to record a charge after Berlin scrapped a project to procure F126 frigates, the latest casualty from the country’s decision not to move forward with what could have been Germany’s biggest class of warship since the end of World War II. Dutch shipbuilder DSNS was the prime contractor for the project and Thales one of the sub-contractors. The German government had expected the first batch of frigates to be delivered in 2033, but DSNS couldn’t hit the targeted budget and timetable, prompting Berlin to start transferring the project to Rheinmetall.However, Berlin said last month that it had opted not to pursue an order for six F126 frigates from Rheinmetall for about 15.2 billion euros ($17.38 billion) due to delays and cost increases, and opted instead to purchase eight MEKO A-200 frigates from German shipbuilder TKMS. Thales said Friday that it would book an exceptional and mostly non-cash charge of about 450 million euros, an amount it said included costs it already paid on the project and a conservative estimate of compensation it expects to receive.

After a marginal upmove and a subsequent drop into negative territory, the Swiss market stayed weak till around mid-afternoon on Friday before climbing higher to eventually end the trading session on a firm note. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to a low of 14,311.28 a little before noon, ended the session with a gain of 71.26 points or 0.5% at 14,424.24, near the day's high. ABB, VAT Group and Holcim ended stronger by about 2.9%. Lonza Group, Kuehne + Nagel, Straumann Holdings and Julius Baer gained 1.6%-1.7%. Logitech International, Geberit, Sika, Schindler Ps and SGS moved up 1%-1.4%. Swiss Life Holdings, Sonova, Richemont, Sandoz Group and Helvetia Baloise Holding also closed higher. Lindt & Spruengli shed nearly 0.9%. Partners Group, Galderma Group, Swiss Re and Roche closed lower by 0.25%-0.5%.

Europa
After struggling for direction till around noon, European stocks moved higher and closed on a firm note on Friday easing concerns about Middle East tensions and hopes that the Federal Reserve will not tighten its monetary policy for now. The Labor Department's data showing a smaller than expected growth in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in the month of May helped raise hopes the Fed will not hike interest rates soon. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.68%. The UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.25%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 moved up 0.78% and 0.39%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI closed 0.5% up. Germany's DAX hit a new all-time high, while France's CAC 40 climbed to its best levels since February 2026. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed higher. Denmark, Iceland and Türkiye ended weak. In the UK market, Lion Finance and Weir Group gained 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively. ICG, Metlen Energy & Metals, St. James's Place, Rolls-Royce Holdings, SSE, Aberdeen Group, Airtel Africa, Convatec Group, Associated British Foods, Smiths Group and Standard Chartered gained 1.5%-2.3%. Fresnillo, Persimmon, Computacenter, Anglo American Plc, Endeavour Mining, IG Group Holdings and National Grid also moved notably higher. Entain, Babcock International, DCC, Games Workshop, Tesco, AutoTrader Group, Pearson, Compass Group, Imperial Brands and Intercontinental Hotels Group shed 1%-2.2%. In the German market, E.ON surged nearly 4.5%. Siemens, Gea Group, Daimler Truck Holding, Porsche Automobil Holding, Heidelberg Materials, Volkswagen, RWE, Deutsche Bank, Continental and Siemens Energy gained 1.3%-2.7%. Rheinmetall, Scout24, SAP, Merck, Qiagen, Vonovia and Hannover RE ended sharp to moderately lower. In the French market, ArcelorMittal climbed nearly 6%. Edenred moved up 3.7%, while Veolia Environment and Teleperformance gained 2.8% and 2.5%, respectively. Engie, Renault, Legrand, Schneider Electric, Bouygues, Publicis Groupe, Airbus, STMicroelectronics, Safran, Bureau Veritas and Unibail Rodamco also ended notably higher. Stellantis shed nearly 4%. EssilorLuxottica, Kering and L'Oreal drifted down 1.8%, 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively. In economic news, final purchasing managers' survey results published by S&P Global showed the euro area private sector stabilized in June after two months of moderate decline. The Eurozone composite output index registered 50.0 in June compared to 48.5 in May. The flash score was 49.5. The final services PMI rose to 49.4 from 47.7 in the previous month. The score was initially estimated at 48.9.

Stati Uniti
In the U.S., the financial markets were closed Friday to mark Independence Day.

Asia
Stock markets in East Asia are showing no clear direction on Monday. In Seoul, the Kospi – which has been highly volatile in recent weeks due to its heavy weighting in technology stocks – is down 0.4 per cent. It has thus almost fully recovered from its significantly lower intraday low, having previously fallen by over 3 per cent. In Tokyo, by contrast, the Topix is up 0.6 per cent, whilst in Hong Kong the HSI is up 0.8 per cent; Shanghai is holding up well, and Sydney is holding on to its gains.

Obbligazioni
On the bond market, interest rates on German government bonds (2.93 per cent, up from 2.90 per cent the previous day) and French government bonds (3.72 per cent, up from just under 3.71 per cent) rose slightly.

Analisi
Jefferies raises its Sika target price to CHF 201 (181) – Buy
Equita cuts its Stellantis target price by 15% to EUR 6.40 – Hold
Morgan Stanley downgrades Repsol to Equal Weight (Overweight) – Target price EUR 24 (28)

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