Italian lender BPER Banca topped up its offer for Banca Popolare di Sondrio by throwing in a cash component to value the smaller rival at around 5.47 billion euros ($6.43 billion). In February, BPER Banca rushed to join the wave of consolidation sweeping through Italy’s crowded banking sector in a bid to gain scale and defend its market position. The offer it put forward for BP Sondrio valued it at roughly 4.3 billion euros based on share prices at the time. The two entities have complementary business models, share several partners in terms of product factories and both count insurer Unipol as their largest investor. BP Sondrio rebuffed the approach and later laid out a midterm plan to solidify its standalone case. The offer period for BP Sondrio shareholders to tender their shares opened last month and runs until July 11. BPER said late Thursday that it is now prepared to pay 1.45 new BPER shares plus 1.0 euro in cash in exchange for each of BP Sondrio’s around 451.8 million shares. BPER said that this adds 451.8 million euros in cash to its original bid. This values the target at 5.47 billion euros, based on BPER’s closing price of 7.65 euros and BP Sondrio’s at 11.74 euros on Thursday. “By improving the financial terms of the offer…we aim to maximize shareholders’ acceptance and ensure the successful completion of the transaction, while maintaining the financial targets previously announced,” BPER Chief Executive Gianni Franco Papa said.

After languishing in negative territory till a little before the final hour of the day's trading session, the Switzerland market managed to emerge into positive zone on Friday but failed to hold firm and eventually settled with a marginal loss. Shares of pharma companies found some support on reports Switzerland has added a clause in its trade deal offer to the US that will give local drugmakers preferred treatment to avoid tariffs on exports. The benchmark SMI, which dropped to 11,874.07 around mid morning, settled at 11,972.41 with a loss of 5.95 points or 0.05%. The index touched a high of 12,046.30. ABB, UBS Group, VAT Group, Kuehne + Nagel, Adecco, Partners Group, Richemont, Sika and Julius Baer ended lower by 1 to 1.5%. Sandoz Group gained nearly 2%. Novartis and Amrize climbed 1.36% and 1.12%, respectively. Swisscom and Roche Holdings both gained nearly 1%. Lonza Group and Lindt & Spruengli posted modest gains. On the economic front, Switzerland's unemployment rate held steady in June after falling slightly in the previous month, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said. The unadjusted unemployment rate stood at 2.7% in June, the same as in May. In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.2%. The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, also remained stable at 2.5 percent. Data showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 2.9% from 2.8%.

Europe
European stocks closed lower on Friday amid concerns about U.S. tariffs, and on some disappointing regional economic data. With the July 9 deadline to strike deals with the U.S. just a few days away, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that his government will send letters to trading partners outlining unilateral tariffs that will take effect on August 1. The EU, which is pushing for an agreement in principle ahead of July 9, has acknowledged that a comprehensive deal is unlikely to be reached by the deadline. The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 0.72%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 settled flat, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.61% and 0.75%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI edged down 0.05%. Among other markets in Europe, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed weak. Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Portugal and Turkiye ended higher, while Austria and Belgium closed flat. In the UK market, Barratt Redrow, Mondi, Schroders, Airtel Africa, Howden Joinery, Antofagasta, Easyjet, Anglo American Plc, Croda International and Kingfisher were among the notable losers. Vodafone Group gained 3%. Fresnillo, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Coca-Cola HBC, AstraZeneca, Haleon and Endeavour Mining climbed 1 to 2.5%. In the German market, Siemens, Brenntag, Deutsche Post, Deutsche Bank, Vonovia, BASF, Volkswagen and Adidas ended down 1 to 2.5%. Rheinmetall rallied nearly 4%. E.ON gained about 1.3%, while Qiagen, Bayer and Merck posted modest gains. In the French market, Teleperformance, Publicis Groupe, BNP Paribas, Stellantis and ArcelorMittal lost 2 to 2.5%. LVMH, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, Schneider Electric, Edenrd, Saint Gobain and STMicroElectronics ended down 1 to 1.7%. Engie gained about 1.8% and Sanofi climbed nearly 1%. Orange and Thales recorded modest gains. Data from Destatis showed Germany's factory orders declined more than expected in May as the sharp fall in domestic demand offset the rise in orders from non-euro area economies. Factory orders decreased 1.4% from a month ago, Destatis reported. Orders were expected to drop 0.2% after an upwardly revised 1.6% rise in April. Excluding large-scale orders, manufacturing orders were 3.1% lower than in the previous month. Survey data from S&P Global showed Germany's construction sector remained in the contraction territory in June due to the deterioration in housing activity. The construction Purchasing Managers' Index posted 44.8 in June, up from 44.4 in May. It was the second-highest score in over two years behind April's recent high. Data from the statistical Office INSEE showed France's industrial production logged an unexpected monthly fall in May, dropping by 0.5% month-on-month. Output was expected to rise 0.4%. Nonetheless, the pace of decline was less severe than the 1.4% decline posted in April. Meanwhile, the decline in manufacturing output deepened to 1% from 0.7% a month ago.

United States
In New York, Wall Street was closed for the US bank holidays.

Asia
In Asia, the Nikkei index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 0.6% in late trading on Monday. The Shanghai Composite index was stable, while the Hang Seng fell by 0.2% on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Bonds
At around 7.40 am, the yield on the ten-year US Treasury bond was down 2 basis points at 4.34%. The rate on the two-year bond was also down 2 basis points at 3.87%.

Analysis
Barclays raises the Kion target to EUR 55 (48) – Overw.
Barclays lowers the LVMH target to EUR 520 (550) – Equalweight
JPM raises the DWS target to EUR 51.50 (51.40) – Overweight