Swisscom: impairment of Fastweb - net income reduced by CHF 1.2 billion. Difficult economic situation in Italy and lower future growth lead to an impairment of Fastweb - Swisscom's net income reduced by CHF 1.2 billion. The difficult economic situation and increasing interest rates have lead to reduced prospects for growth and higher cost of capital in Italy. Link: Click Here

Evolva Holding SA (SIX: EVE) today announced that the Russian Patent Office has granted patent protection for EV-077 in the treatment of complications of diabetes for a term extending to 2026. This is the first patent granted covering EV-077. EV-077 patent applications are currently pending in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico and the USA. Link: Click Here
 

Barry Callebaut, the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, announced that today Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P), one of the most important providers of credit ratings, assigned a BBB- credit rating to Barry Callebaut AG, up from BB+. The rating's outlook is stable. Standard & Poor's also upgraded Barry Callebaut's unsecured bonds and revolving credit facility to BBB-. Link: Click Here

Sika acquires Axim from Italcementi Group. Sika AG acquires the global concrete admixture and cement grinding aid business of the Italcementi Group, which are on the market under the brand Axim. Axim generated sales of around CHF 75 million (EUR 61 million) in 2010. Link: Click Here

Zurich Airport Key Figures - November 2011. Traffic Figures. 1,798,174 passengers were handled at Zurich Airport during November 2011, a gain of 1.4% versus November 2010. The year to date passenger growth stands at +6.6%. O&D or local passengers (originating or departing from Zurich) increased by 0.9% to 1,114,297 compared to previous November (YTD +7.7%). Link: Click Here

Novartis pivotal study of Exjade shows significant reduction of iron overload in patients with non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia. Results from THALASSA, the first pivotal placebo-controlled study examining the benefit of iron chelation with Exjade® (deferasirox) in patients with non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia (NTDT), show that Exjade can significantly reduce iron overload. These data were presented today at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Diego. Link: Click Here



Economy
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New year, more event risk. The market reaction to the December 9 EU summit has been relatively subdued so far, as investors seem to be repeating the "buy the rumour, sell the fact" pattern. It is not yet clear that the market is interpreting the summit as a failure; the current risk asset jitters may be partly due to the apprehension ahead of this week's Italian and Spanish government bond supply, as well as the residual uncertainties over the effectiveness of the summit measures. Link: Click Here

Bank Sarasin's sustainability study on the banking industry: Plenty of mediocrity and hardly any lessons learned - the big Swiss banks are not sustainable. The public image of banks has slumped to a record low. But despite all the criticism, banks play a pivotal role in managing the money flows that keep the wheels of the economy turning. It is crucial for the future of the industry that banks manage to exercise this function with more sustainable business models. Link: Click Here

The ZEW German economic sentiment index surprised to the upside, rising slightly to -53.8 in December from -55.2 in November, somewhat better than the consensus (-55.8) expected. However, the current reading remains far below the long-term average of about +25 points and continues to reflect the low expectations among the financial experts that take part in this survey for German economic activity over the next six months. Link: Click Here

Global investors are looking to U.S. equities as they prepare themselves for a year of low growth and low inflation in 2012, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for December. The survey of 190 institutional investors indicates a growing majority, almost two-thirds of the panel, predict 2012 will be a year of below-trend growth and below-trend inflation. It is the highest such reading since October 2010 and up from 52 percent in November. Link: Click Here

Progress in Europe Lifts Sentiment. A Volatile, but Positive, Week for the Markets. Markets traded in a volatile fashion last week, with investors quickly reacting to news and rumors surrounding responses to the ongoing European debt crisis. Thanks to a rally on Friday, markets ended the week in positive territory, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 1.4% to 12,184, the S&P 500 Index climbing 0.9% to 1,255 and the Nasdaq Composite advancing 0.8% to 2,646. Link: Click Here