The Singapore government plans to put a halt to a proposed deal by Germany’s Allianz to buy a majority stake in Singapore insurance company Income Insurance. “The government has assessed the proposed transaction and has decided that it would not be in the public interest for the transaction, in its current form, to proceed,” said Edwin Tong, minister for culture, community and youth, in remarks to parliament on Monday. The ministry isn’t confident that Income will be able to continue fulfilling its social mission following the proposed Allianz transaction, Tong said. Income was set up as a social enterprise in 1970 to provide accessible and inclusive insurance to Singaporeans, he added. Allianz said in July that it would buy a 51% stake in Income Insurance for 2.2 billon Singapore dollars, equivalent to US$1.69 billion, as part of plans to expand in the region. While the proposed transaction won’t be allowed to proceed in its current form, Tong said the government is “open to any new arrangement which Income wish to pursue whether with Allianz or any other partners, so long as the concerns highlighted are fully addressed.”

The Swiss market ended on a bright note on Monday with stocks holding early gains thanks to sustained buying right through the day's session. Investors digested the nation's producer price inflation data and looked ahead to the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement. The SMI closed up 105.04 points or 0.86% at 12,259.23, after scaling a low of 12,176.38 and a high of 12,266.58 intraday. VAT Group gained a little over 3% and Lonza Group ended almost 3% up. Logitech International climbed 2.62% and UBS Group ended up 2.05%. Givaudan ended higher by 1.67%, while Swiss Re, ABB and Sandoz Group gained 1.3 to 1.5%. SGS, Partners Group, Holcim, Kuehne + Nagel, Sonova, Alcon and Novartis ended up 0.8 to 1.2%. Sika, Swiss Life Holding, Swisscom, Schindler Ps, Julius Baer, Straumann Holding, Zurich Insurance Group and Geberit also closed on a firm note. Swatch Group ended nearly 2.5% down. SIG Group closed down 0.93% and Richemont ended 0.42% down. Shares of industrial fastening and assembly technology company Bossard plunged more than 8% following a year-over-year drop in third-quarter group net sales to 240.4 million francs from 249.8 million francs. The company also anticipates sales in the fourth quarter to remain subdued.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Monday with investors largely making their moves reacting or looking ahead to earnings updates and digesting some corporate news. Investors also awaited the European Central Bank's upcoming decision, expecting a 25-bps rate cut later this week. Data showing much less than expected growth in China's exports and imports in September weighed a bit on sentiment. A much-anticipated Chinese stimulus announcement over the weekend also failed to inspire confidence among investors. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.53%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.47%, Germany's DAX ended up 0.69% and France's CAC 40 closed 0.32% up, while Switzerland's SMI advanced 0.86%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended higher. Austria, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Turkiye closed weak, while Denmark and Norway ended flat. Shares of designer goods manufacturers fell as investors remained jittery over anemic China demand for European designer goods. In the UK market, Vistry Group climbed nearly 4.5%. Bunzl, SSE, BAE Systems and Severn Trent gained 2 to 2.5%, while United Utilities advanced nearly 2%. Pershing Square Holdings, Sage Group, AstraZeneca, Smiths Group, Coca-Cola HBC, Centrica, EasyJet, Sainsbury (J), Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Diploma, Intertek Group, Compass Group, National Grid and Halma climbed 1 to 1.6%. Mulberry Group shares jumped over 20% following a revised possible takeover offer from Frasers Group Plc.

United States
Following the strong upward move seen during last Friday's session, stocks saw further upside during trading on Monday. The major averages all moved higher on the day, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs. The major averages reached new highs for the session late in the day before giving back some ground going into the close. The Dow rose 201.36 points or 0.5 percent to 43,065.22, the Nasdaq jumped 159.75 points or 0.9 percent to 18,502.69 and the S&P 500 climbed 44.82 points or 0.8 percent to 5,859.85. The continued strength on Wall Street came amid optimism about the outlook for interest rates following last Friday's report on producer price inflation. The Labor Department report showed producer prices were unexpectedly unchanged in September, while the annual rate price growth slowed modestly. While hopes the Federal Reserve will lower rates by another 50 basis points next month have largely evaporated, the data reinforced optimism the central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points. Semiconductor stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.8 percent. Considerable strength was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Airline, utilities and banking stocks also saw significant strength, while networking stocks showed a notable move to the downside. Shares of Caterpillar Inc. pulled back from a record level on Monday, after an analyst’s warning to sell ahead of earnings, citing valuation and signs of growing risks of weakness in the construction business.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia and Australia were mixed on Tuesday. While the stock market in Japan rose significantly, the Chinese stock markets fell. Positive impetus came from Wall Street, where new record highs were set. In Tokyo, the Nikkei index rose by 1.3 per cent to 40,136 points after a long weekend due to the public holiday.

Bonds
U.S. Treasury bond yields presented a mixed picture on Tuesday morning. At 7:15 a.m., the yield on the ten-year bond was down 1.1 basis points at 4.094%. The rate on the two-year bond was up 0.7 basis points at 3.973%. The U.S. bond market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.

Analysis
UBS raises Givaudan target to CHF 4,520 (4,500) – Neutral
UBS raises Air Liquide target to EUR 200 (195) – Buy
HSBC raises Scout24 target to EUR 81 (76) – Hold

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