The European Union gave conditional approval to Prosus, the Dutch subsidiary of Naspers, for its $4.77 billion bid for JustEat Takeaway.com, clearing a key hurdle for the transaction. The European Commission said it approved the merger after Prosus offered concessions to ease concerns that the deal would hamper competition in food delivery if it goes ahead. Prosus last month extended the acceptance period for its 4.1 billion-euro ($4.77 billion) offer to take over Just Eat until October to allow the European Union to complete its investigation. The EU’s antitrust enforcer started investigating the deal in June and had set an Aug. 11 deadline to decide whether to clear it or open an in-depth probe. Prosus offered concessions, including slashing its stake in German company Delivery Hero, to the regulator last month to avoid a more intensive screening. The company, which is Tencent’s largest shareholder, owns a 27.4% stake in Delivery Hero. European competition regulators have been focused on food delivery as the sector has struggled with higher prices and a dip in consumer spending in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite opening on a firm note, the Switzerland market paring gains and even slipped into negative territory in late afternoon trades on Monday, but managed to end the day's session slightly up. The benchmark SMI, which advanced to 11,960.44, dropped to a low of 11,849.13 in the final hour, before settling at 11,869.99, gaining 3.14 points or 0.03%. Novartis gained about 2.1%. The pharma major said that its drug ianalumab met its main goal in two Phase 3 studies in Sjögren's syndrome, a chronic and progressive immune disease. Novartis didn't provide specifics, but said that treatment with ianalumab led to statistically significant improvements in disease activity compared to a placebo in each trial, as measured by a widely used index evaluating symptoms. The drug was also 'well tolerated' and demonstrated 'a favorable safety profile,' the company said in a statement. Julius Baer and Swisscom, both gained 1.05%. Swiss Re, Amrize and Swiss Life Holding advanced 0.73%, 0.65% and 0.52%, respectively. SIG Group closed down 2.43%, and Swatch Group lost 2.1%. Sika, Richemont, Holcim, Kuehne + Nagel, Addeco and Logitech International ended lower by 1 to 1.5%. Givaudan, ABB, Geberit, Lonza Group, Sandoz Group and Lindt & Spruengli lost 0.5 to 1%.

Europe
European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday after a cautious session as investors looked ahead to upcoming talks between the U.S. and Russia on the Ukraine war issue, and the ongoing tariff negotiations between the U.S. and China, as well as some crucial economic data, including a report on consumer price inflation in the world's largest economy. The pan European Stoxx 600 settled flat. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.23%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.26% and 0.28%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI crept up 0.03%. Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden closed weak. Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Russia, Spain and Turkiye ended higher. In the UK market, Marks & Spencer climbed nearly 3%. Fresnillo, Airtel Africa, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Pershing Square Holdings, Coca-Cola HBC and British American Tobacco gained 2 to 2.5%. Drug maker GSK found some support after the U.S. FDA has accepted its application for priority review of gepotidacin, an oral antibiotic to treat sexually transmitted uncomplicated gonorrhoea. Croda International closed down by about 3.6%. Intercontinental Hotels Group, Mondi, JD Sports Fashion, Experian, Segro, Melrose Industries, SSE and Spirax Group lost 1.4 to 2.5%. In the German market, Commerzbank jumped nearly 4% and Siemens Energy gained about 3.7%. Deutsche Telekom, Volkswagen and Sartorius closed up 1.4 to 1.7%.

United States
Following the strong upward move seen in the previous week, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Monday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. The major averages eventually ended the day in negative territory. While the slid 200.52 points or 0.5 percent to 43,975.09, the Nasdaq fell 64.62 points or 0.3 percent to 21,385.40 and the S&P 500 dipped 16.00 points or 0.3 percent to 6,373.45. The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of several closely watched economic reports in the coming days. The Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation in the month of July is likely to be in focus on Tuesday, as the data could impact the outlook for interest rates. After his meeting with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan on Monday, US President Donald Trump struck a more conciliatory tone than last week, when he called for Tan's dismissal. “The meeting was very interesting,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “His success and rise is a remarkable story. Mr. Tan and my cabinet members will spend time together and submit proposals to me next week.” Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves. Oil service stocks showed a significant move to the downside, however, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index slumped 2.1 percent despite a modest increase by the price of crude oil. Oil producer and transportation stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, contributing to the moderately lower close by the broader markets.

Asia
The Tokyo Stock Exchange rose to a record high on Tuesday with a strong surge. According to traders, the mood after Monday's holiday break was buoyed by strong figures from many companies during the reporting season. Shanghai rose by half a percent and Hong Kong by 0.1 percent. Although the newly granted time for further negotiations on tariffs is also causing optimism here, this had already been widely anticipated.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries saw modest strength after trending lower over the past few sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by 1.2 basis points to 4.273 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises Gea target to EUR 73 (67) – Buy
UBS lowers Henkel target to EUR 75 (84) – Neutral
Citi raises Rolls-Royce target to GBP 11.01 (6.41) – Neutral