UBS: Leadership change in UBS Investment Bank’s Global Equities business. Mike Stewart appointed global head of Equities. Carsten Kengeter, CEO UBS Investment Bank, has today accepted the resignations of Francois Gouws and Yassine Bouhara, co-heads of Global Equities, following the recently announced unauthorized trading incident. Their resignations come as they assume overall responsibility for the effective management of the Equities business. Link: Click Here

Zurich closes the acquisition of 51% participation in insurance operations of Santander in Brazil and Argentina. Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) today announced that as part of its long-term alliance with Banco Santander SA (Santander) in Latin America it has closed the acquisition of 51% participation in the life insurance, pension and general insurance operations of Santander in Brazil and Argentina. Link: Click Here

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX:BSLN) announced today that it has received a request to hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting. Basilea has received a request from its shareholder HBM BioVentures (Cayman) Ltd., which holds more than 15% of Basilea's shares, to convene an extraordinary shareholders meeting and expand the current five member board. Link: Click Here

Sika strengthens position in the Spanish market. Sika acquires Comercial de Preresa, SA (Copsa), a company with a strong position in the flooring, repair and reinforcement markets in Spain and Portugal. Copsa is located in Cobeña (Madrid) with annual sales of approximately CHF 17 million and 60 employees. Link: Click Here

Galenica: The common company of Galenica and Fresenius Medical Care - Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma Ltd. (Vifor FMC Renal Pharma) – has received approval from the responsible antitrust authorities. Achievement of this important milestone allows for Vifor FMC Renal Pharma to proceed with the targeted expansion of its operation in Europe and other countries after the formal closing in November, 2011. Link: Click Here

Economy
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Euro area PMIs soften further in Sept, UK bucks trend. Both manufacturing and services weaken in Sept. The composite Euro Area PMI (manufacturing + services) for September was revised down marginally to 49.1, from the flash estimate of 49.2. That is both the weakest and the first drop below the 50 "no change" level since summer 2009, marking a sharp and unabated slowdown from robust levels of around 58 in the Spring. Both manufacturing and services PMIs weakened over the month, indeed with declines widespread across the major Euro Area economies. Link: Click Here

Italy: Moody's downgrade decision - our thoughts. While a downgrade by Moody's was expected, expectations were probably for two notches instead of three. Now Moody's rating is in line with S&P (both on negative outlook), while Fitch is still at AA-. However, this leaves Italy at a sub AA rating with two of the three main agencies now, which may prove a concern for some investor groups (especially because of the rating limit for some indexes). The decision does not affect the eligibility (in terms of haircut) of the Italian Government bonds at the ECB refinancing operations. The ECB (considered the highest rating among rating agencies) accepts paper with rating up to BBB-, but applies higher haircuts when the rating is in the BBB- to BBB+ range. Link: Click Here

US economy close to faltering. Fed chair Bernanke described the US economy as being close to faltering on Oct 4.  The USD came under some renewed pressure on a pledge that more stimulus would be provided if necessary but clearly the US economy is not the only one on shaky ground; safe have demand is set to ensure that downside potential for the USD in this environment is limited. Link: Click Here