(AOF) – US equity markets ended lower, ending a seven-day rally for the Dow Jones. The leading index of the place and the S&P 500 had even reached a new record earlier in the session. The weekly jobless claims had surprised investors favorably, as had the Chicago PMI, but the momentum finally ran out of steam at the very end of the day. At the close, the S&P 500 lost 0.30% to 4,778.73 points, the Dow Jones -0.25% to 36,398.08 points and the Nasdaq -0.16% to 15,741.56 points .
Biogen drops more than 7% to 240 dollars per share after the denial of Samsung Biologics on a possible takeover of the American laboratory. The Korean newspaper Korea Economic Daily, citing anonymous sources in investment banks, said Wednesday that the two groups were in discussions concerning a possible transaction valuing Biogen at 42 billion dollars. This amount represents a premium of more than 20% compared to its current market capitalization which is 34.7 billion.
Today’s economic figures
In the United States, 198,000 weekly jobless claims were recorded during the week of December 25, against a Reuters consensus of 208,000 and after 206,000 the previous week (revised figure of 205,000).
The Chicago Area Purchasing Managers Index stood at 63.1 in December 2021, a figure compared to a Briefing.com consensus of 61.8. In November, the index had reached 61.8.
The values to follow today
Ali Baba
Alibaba is said to be in talks with the state-owned Shanghai Media Group with a view to selling it its 30% stake in the Chinese social network Weibo. According to the Bloomberg agency, which revealed the information citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, this operation would be part of Beijing’s policy to limit the influence of Chinese tech giants in the strategic field of the media. SMG is one of China’s largest public media and culture conglomerates. He is a controlling shareholder of Oriental Pearl and owns 20% of Shanghai Disney Resort.
Biogen
Samsung Biologics has denied press reports according to which the Korean group has approached the American pharmaceutical company Biogen for a possible takeover. The Korea Economic Daily newspaper on Wednesday revealed a potential deal at $ 42 billion, which would have made it the largest acquisition for a Korean group outside its borders. Samsung Biologics called these claims “false”, without providing further explanation.
Kroger
Kroger’s board of directors has approved a $ 1 billion share buyback program, which is about 3% of the supermarket chain’s market capitalization. This new program replaces the previous one, which had approximately $ 157 million remaining.
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Tesla is recalling more than 475,000 vehicles in the United States because of technical faults that could increase the risk of an accident. This recall notably includes more than 350,000 Model 3 vehicles produced between 2017 and 2020.
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