Boeing Co. has further slowed production of 787 Dreamliners as it addresses defects that are delaying deliveries of new jets and complicating airlines’ plans, people familiar with the matter said. The plane maker is holding off completing the new wide-body jets at its North Charleston, S.C., factory as workers and engineers address problems related to areas surrounding passenger and cargo doors on aircraft already under construction, these people said. The latest production slowdown began in recent days and could last a few weeks as Boeing seeks expertise from other aerospace manufacturers in addressing the door issue, some of these people said. In late October, Boeing disclosed it was producing about two Dreamliners a month, down from a planned monthly rate of five, to resolve production issues. A string of production snafus has hampered Boeing’s ability to deliver new Dreamliners for much of the last year, fueling the manufacturer’s financial losses and making it difficult for airlines to build schedules for jets often used in international travel. The plane maker has faced increased scrutiny internally, by air-safety regulators and lawmakers after two of its 737 MAX jets crashed in 2018 and 2019, claiming 346 lives.

The Swiss stock market closed in red on Thursday. The SMI lost 0.4 per cent to 12,553 points. Among the 20 SMI stocks, there were 14 losers and six gainers. 31.45 (previously: 33.1) million shares were traded. The building materials producer Holcim has set itself new financial and sustainability targets as part of its Strategy 2025. Zurich Insurance lost 1.1 per cent. Citigroup reacted somewhat disappointed to the company's Capital Markets Day documents. Banking stocks were under pressure after US market interest rates fell sharply the previous evening. UBS lost 1.7 per cent and Credit Suisse 1.8 per cent. Watch exports from Switzerland accelerated somewhat in October. This confirmed the trend towards levels above those before the pandemic. However, exports to the important customer country China decreased. Richemont reacted with a discount of 0.1 per cent, Swatch gained 0.4 per cent.

European equity markets closed lower on Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 0.3% to 486.1 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 and the SBF 120 lost 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively. In Frankfurt, the DAX 40 was down 0.4%, while the FTSE 100 in London was down 0.5%. Europe’s largest budget airline, Ryanair Holdings PLC, plans to ditch its London listing, citing low trading volumes and a desire to accelerate efforts to comply with European Union ownership requirements. EU rules call for all airlines based in member states to be at least 50% owned by shareholders from within the bloc, a requirement the Irish carrier has struggled to meet ever since the U.K. split from the EU at the start of last year. To give it a better chance of complying with those rules, Ryanair said Friday it would end its more-than-20-year listing on the London Stock Exchange, effective Dec. 20. Kingfisher PLC said Friday that sales fell on year in the third quarter of fiscal 2022, but rose compared with the equivalent pre-pandemic period two years earlier, and that its fourth quarter has started well. The home-improvement retailer said sales for the quarter ended Oct. 31 declined to 3.25 billion pounds ($4.67 billion) from GBP3.46 billion for the same period a year earlier. When compared with the same period of fiscal 2020, sales were up 15%, it said.

U.S. stocks closed mixed Friday. Investors piled into the safety of the dollar and government bonds after fresh Covid-19 restrictions in Europe clouded prospects for the global economic recovery. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.4%, or 63.73 points, to 16057.44, its 46th record this year. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, or 6.58 points, to 4697.96 after closing at an all-time high Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.7%, or 268.97 points, to 35601.98, its second consecutive weekly decline. Ford Motor Co. and Rivian Automotive Inc. have decided to go their separate ways rather than collaborate on future electric vehicles, backing away from an earlier strategic pact that led to a multibillion-dollar windfall for Ford. Executives from both companies this week decided to scrap plans for a specific electric vehicle, a Ford spokesman said Friday. The auto makers mutually decided to focus on their own projects, scrapping plans to jointly develop a new model as had been envisioned under a partnership struck in early 2019, representatives from each company said. Efforts by Starbucks Corp. workers to unionize have spread to Arizona, while stores in the Buffalo, N.Y., area have seen a shake-up in leadership amid the union drive there. Employees at one of the coffee chain’s stores in Mesa, Ariz., have formed an organizing committee to consider unionization. In a letter addressed to the company, the workers said they shared many of the views of employees now voting whether to unionize in the Buffalo area. “We are forming a union to bring out the best in all of us,” the workers said in the letter, released by Starbucks Workers United on Thursday. “We want the company to succeed and we want our work lives to be the best they can be.”

The stock markets in East Asia and Australia show a mixed trend at the beginning of the week. The Nikkei-225 recovered from initial losses and was up 0.1 per cent at 29,785 points. Slightly supportive is the fact that the Japanese government, as expected, has put together an extensive economic stimulus package to support the economic recovery after the Corona pandemic.

Yields for U.S. government debt moved higher in Asia after saw their sharpest slide in more than a week on Friday, as Austria's Covid-19 lockdown unnerved markets.

JP Morgan raises Flutter target to 17,190 (17,090) p – Overweight
UBS raises Banco BPM to Buy (Neutral) – Target EUR 3.70 (2.95)
IR raises Daimler target to EUR 90 (89) – Hold

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