PepsiCo agreed to acquire prebiotic soda brand Poppi for $1.95 billion, adding a drink with claims that it is good for the gut as sales of traditional sugary drinks go flat. The deal comes as the soda industry is facing fresh scrutiny from the Make America Healthy Again movement, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has called the product “poison.” PepsiCo said Monday that the transaction includes $300 million of anticipated cash tax benefits, bringing the net purchase price to around $1.65 billion. The deal also includes an additional potential earnout consideration depending on whether certain performance milestones are achieved in a designated period. Additional terms of the acquisition, including when the companies expect the deal to close, weren’t disclosed. Ram Krishnan, chief executive of PepsiCo Beverages U.S., said that as the company looks to address unmet consumer needs, “the Poppi brand’s unique intersection with wellness and culture is a perfect addition to our portfolio.”

After opening marginally up, the Switzerland market gained in strength as the day progressed on Monday, thanks to sustained buying at several counters, amid optimism about more monetary easing by central banks. The Swiss National Bank's monetary policy meeting is scheduled to take place on Thursday (March 20). The Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England are also scheduled to announce their rate decisions this week. The benchmark SMI ended the day's session with a strong gain of 141.31 points or 1.09% at 13,058.12, slightly off the day's high of 13,064.98. Novartis, VAT Group and Lonza Group gained 2.1 to 2.34%. UBS Group advanced nearly 2%. Roche Holding gained 1.73% and Sandos Group climbed 1.59%, while SGS, Adecco, Swiss Life Holding and Nestle closed higher by about 1.2%. Lindt & Spruengli, ABB, Swiss Re, Alcon, Holcim, Straumann Holding. Zurich Insurance, Kuehne + Nagel and Sonova also ended on firm note. Richemont ended down 1.65%. Swatch Group lost nearly 1%, while Geberit ended 0.65% down. Logitech International, Sika and Julius Baer closed modestly lower.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Monday with investors indulging in some selective buying ahead of central bank meetings and a crucial vote on a spending plan in Germany, while continuing to monitor the developments on Russia-Ukraine conflict. A vote on Germany's spending plan is set to take place tomorrow. The proposal seeks to exempt defense spending from debt limits and create a 500 billion euro infrastructure plan fund. It is expected that the CDU/CSU bloc, led by Friedrich Merz, will secure the necessary majority votes for the constitutional amendments that would pave the way for the reform measure. Investors are also awaiting the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement this week. Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are also scheduled to make their monetary policy announcements this week. Investors reacted positively to China's plans featuring measures to boost wages and stabilize stock and real estate markets. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.79%. Germany's DAX closed up 0.73%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.56% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.57% up, while Switzerland's SMI closed with a gain of 1.09%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain closed with sharp to moderate gains. Austria, Greece, Sweden and Turkiye closed marginally up, while Iceland ended flat. In the UK market, Phoenix Group Holdings Plc shares soared nearly 11%. The British insurer reported a better-than-expected rise in full-year adjusted operating profit and total cash. The group said IFRS adjusted operating profit increased 31% to 825 million pounds in 2024. The Group said that it is now targeting approximately 1.1 billion pounds of IFRS adjusted operating profit in 2026, increased from a previous target of 900 million pounds. The Board recommended a 2.6% increase in the final 2024 dividend to 27.35 pence per share.

United States
After rebounding last Friday but still posting steep weekly losses, stocks continued to regain ground during trading on Monday. The major averages all moved to the upside over the course of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs going into the end of trading but remained in positive territory. The Dow jumped 353.44 points or 0.9 percent to 41,841.63, the S&P 500 climbed 36.18 points or 0.6 percent to 5,675.12 and the Nasdaq rose 54.58 points or 0.3 percent to 17,808.66. The strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following recent weakness, which saw the S&P 500 plunge into correction territory last Thursday. Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to the Commerce Department's report on U.S. retail sales in the month of February. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.2 percent in February after tumbling by a revised 1.2 percent in January. While the uptick by retail sales missed expectations for an increase of 0.7 percent, traders seem relieved that the data wasn't even worse. However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. While the Fed is almost universally expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates. Significant strength was also visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. The index continued to regain ground after ending last Thursday's trading at its lowest closing level in over four months. Oil producer stocks also turned in a strong performance amid an increase by the price of crude oil, with the NYSE Arca Oil Index climbing by 1.7 percent. Commercial real estate, semiconductor and natural gas stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia
Firm prices in Tokyo and Hong Kong in the wake of a positive lead from Wall Street and little changed indices in Shanghai and Seoul characterise the stock market picture in the course of trading in East Asia on Tuesday. Sydney has already ended trading, where the trend was well maintained. In Tokyo, the Nikkei rose by 1.3 per cent to 37,880 points, while the HSI rose by 1.9 per cent in Hong Kong.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries gave back ground after an early upward move, closing roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 4.306 percent after hitting a low of 4.258 percent.

Analysis
BoA raises the Renk target to EUR 49.50 (42) – Overweight
Dt. Bank lowers TAG Immobilien to EUR 15 (18)/Buy – Trader
HSBC raises the Hannover Retarget to EUR 290 (280) – Buy

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