FT : European Commission raids drinks groups over possible competition law breac

European Commission raids drinks groups over possible competition law breaches
Officials said that suspected breaches in the ‘non-alcoholic drinks sector’ could still be ongoing

The European Commission has raided the offices of a number of soft drinks companies over possible competition law breaches, after dropping a similar inquiry into the sector two years ago.

On Monday, the Commission said it was investigating companies in the “non-alcoholic drinks sector” in several countries over concerns they may have “violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive practices, and abuses of a dominant position”.

It added that it was investigating “restrictions on the trade of goods” and “market segmentation”. The Commission did not name the companies whose premises were raided but an EU official said the inspections related to the soft drinks sector.

The Commission said the raids related to conduct “that may potentially still be ongoing”, adding that its officials had been accompanied by national competition authorities in the countries involved.

Unannounced inspections of companies’ offices are a preliminary step in investigations into suspected competition law breaches.

The Commission said it had also sent a request for information to an unnamed company in the personal care sector. Such requests are another mechanism used to gather evidence related to suspected anti-competitive practices.

Companies found to have breached European competition law may face hefty fines, but can apply for leniency if they report the misconduct to authorities or co-operate with the Commission’s investigations.

Two years ago the Commission carried out a preliminary investigation into potentially anti-competitive practices by Coca-Cola and its bottlers in Europe — Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Coca-Cola Hellenic.

At the time, the Commission said it had concerns that Coca-Cola and the bottlers were abusing their position by offering incentives to retailers that blocked new drinks makers from entering the market.

The Commission announced in 2023 that after reviewing evidence submitted by the companies, their competitors and the retailers, it had found there were insufficient grounds to continue the investigation.

FT : Keir Starmer calls for ‘positive’ US-Ukraine talks in call with Donald Trum

Keir Starmer calls for ‘positive’ US-Ukraine talks in call with Donald Trump
UK prime minister says he hopes negotiations will lead to resumption of US aid and intelligence sharing

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has told Donald Trump he wants to see “positive” talks between top US and Ukrainian officials that would pave the way for a resumption of Washington’s military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

Starmer’s plea for an improvement in ties between the US and Ukraine came during a call with the US president on Monday, as Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, arrived in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah for high-level talks.

“The prime minister said he hoped there would be a positive outcome to the talks that would enable US aid and intelligence sharing to be restarted,” a Downing Street spokesperson said on Monday. The White House has not released its account of the conversation.

Tuesday’s talks in Saudi Arabia come at a pivotal moment, about 10 days after a public spat in the White House between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump over the origins of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the future of US aid as Washington tries to broker an end to the conflict.

Trump has since cut off military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv, but Zelenskyy has made some overtures to the White House over the past week, including a pledge to sign a deal giving the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, causing some of the friction to ease. Speaking to reporters on his flight to Saudi Arabia on Monday, Rubio said he hoped military aid could be restored.

“I think the notion of the pause in aid, broadly, is something I hope we can resolve. Obviously what happens tomorrow will be key to that,” Rubio said.

Trump has faced criticism domestically and internationally for putting too much pressure on Ukraine to make concessions and giving an advantage to Russia in the talks over a peace deal that Washington is running on parallel tracks. Russian and Ukrainian officials have not launched direct negotiations.

While Trump threatened Russia with additional sanctions and tariffs last week, he has remained publicly critical of Zelenskyy — including calling for elections in Ukraine that could lead to his ousting. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida on Sunday, He kept up the pressure on Kyiv.

“I want them to want peace, right?,” the US president said.

“Well, right now they haven’t shown it to the extent that they should. I think right now they haven’t, but I think they will be, and I think it’s going to become evident over the next two or three days,” he said.

Starmer has positioned himself as one of Europe’s crucial players in the conflict, helping together with France’s Emmanuel Macron to smooth Zelenskyy’s relations with Trump and to assemble a coalition of European powers willing to deploy troops to Ukraine to guarantee a peace deal.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister told Trump that UK officials had spoken to Ukrainian representatives at the weekend, receiving assurances from Kyiv that they “remain committed to a lasting peace”.

On Saturday Starmer will host a virtual meeting of a group of mainly European and Commonwealth countries willing to help secure a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.

WWD : Orlebar Brown Accelerates Retail Strategy

Orlebar Brown Accelerates Retail Strategy
The luxury men’s resortwear brand owned by Chanel is doubling down on Asia-Pacific, the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

LONDON — Orlebar Brown, the luxury men’s resortwear brand owned by Chanel, is always following the sun.

The brand is expanding its retail operations by 18.8 percent by opening nine new stores in sun-drenched locations such as Mexico, Monte Carlo and Thailand.

The brand is making its Asia-Pacific debut with a store in central Phuket on March 14, followed by two more openings in Bangkok at the shopping malls EmQuartier and Icon Siam. And it will also be venturing into retail in Singapore next year.

“We had a digital foray into China, Japan and South Korea,” said Trevor Hardy, Orlebar Brown’s chief marketing officer. But despite that, there are no grand plans or an aggressive expansion strategy for China or Japan at this stage.

Instead, the U.S. market is Orlebar Brown’s top priority as it’s growing, and the brand is chasing American customers who travel regularly to the south of France or Italy.

“We invest in physical retail based on where our customers live and where they go on holidays,” said Hardy.

He added that the brand is heavily investing in California. It opened a store in Montecito last year and two additional units recently debuted in Orange County and Newport Beach. A unit in Palo Alto is in the cards for the coming months, followed by another in Brentwood next year.

Orlebar Brown is expanding in the U.S.’s neighboring country Mexico, too, with a store slated to open in Los Cabos later this year. In December 2024, the brand opened a cute hut that could have been plucked out of a Disney cartoon on the beach of the St. Regis Kanai Resort in Riviera Maya.

When it comes to expansion in Europe, Orlebar Brown is doubling down on areas visited by high-earning individuals.

In April, it will be opening a store in Monte Carlo and will add a second store in Marbella at the Kimpton Los Monteros.

Hardy has nearly all continents covered, even the Middle East, which is becoming an increasingly important market for Orlebar Brown, he said. The brand has five stores in Dubai and by the end of the year, will have two stores in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

“We’re looking at other parts of the region, too, and there’s a lot of growth in that market because of the locals and the tourists coming in,” said Hardy.

Even so, the development of the Middle East has been a slow and steady one — taking the brand five years to acheive.

“Dubai has been important because it’s a good holiday destination for British people and they have a local audience that comes to London,” said Hardy.

In London, Orlebar Brown has retail spaces in Chelsea, Notting Hill and Mayfair, and the brand is also stocked in Harrods and Selfridges.

The brand’s rigorous retail plan means that its signature soft colors and patterns will be appearing everywhere and if that’s hard to miss, it has been a constant fashion brand on three seasons of “The White Lotus,” which is on TV every Sunday.

>>> US Close Dow -2.08% S&P -2.70% Nasdaq -4% Russell -2.72%

Closing Stock Market Summary
The stock market started the new week with sharp declines after Friday's rebound. Technical factors were in play as the Nasdaq Composite (-4.0%) moved further into correction territory (i.e. a 10% decline from its high) and the S&P 500 (-2.7%) dropped below its 200-day moving average (5,734) again. It's the first time the index closed below that key level since November 2023, marking a 8.7% decline from its all-time high.

Another factor that contributed to the selling activity was ongoing fears about economic growth after President Trump said in a weekend interview that the economy is going through a "period of transition" and he declined to answer directly if the U.S. will experience a recession.

Continued fallout in the mega cap space played a big role also. Tesla (TSLA 222.15, -40.52, -15.4%) tumbled 15% after Bloomberg reported sales are struggling in China and after UBS lowered its price target to $225 from $259. This left shares 53.7% lower than their record closing high of $479 on December 17.

NVIDIA (NVDA 106.98, -5.71, -5.1%), Microsoft (MSFT 380.16, -13.15, -3.3%), and Apple (AAPL 227.48, -11.59, -4.9%) were also among the losing standouts in the space.

The disappointing price action became its own downside catalyst, drawing in more selling interest that impacted many stocks. Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors registered declines and the equal-weighted S&P 500 slid 1.4%.
Some individual stocks avoided selling due to specific catalysts. Redfin (RDFN 9.77, +3.95, +67.9%) shares surged after news that Rocket Companies (RKT 13.35, -2.42, -15.4%) is acquiring RDFN for $12.50 per share in a stock transaction.

Expand Energy (EXE 99.09, +3.06, +3.2%) was another outperformer after news late Friday that it will replace FMC Corp. (FMC 41.58, +0.29, +0.7%) in the S&P 500, effective prior to the open of trading on Monday, March 24.

Treasuries saw some safe-haven buying in another manifestation of growth concerns. The 10-yr yield fell ten basis points to 4.21% and the 2-yr yield fell ten basis points to 3.90%. The rally in the Treasury market resulted in the lowest settlement for the 2-yr yield since early October while the 10-yr yield returned back below its 200-day moving average (4.234%).

There was no US economic data of note today.
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average: -1.5% YTD
  • S&P 500: -4.5% YTD
  • S&P Midcap 400: -6.4% YTD
  • Nasdaq Composite: -9.5%
  • Russell 2000: -9.5% YTD

Looking ahead to Tuesday, market participants receive the following economic data:
  • 6:00 ET: February NFIB Small Business Optimism Index (prior 102.8)
  • 10:00 ET: January job openings (prior 7.600 mln)

>>> US Research Calls II

Research Calls II
  • Upgrades:
    • Credo Technology Group (CRDO) upgraded to Positive from Neutral at Susquehanna; tgt $60
    • Mid-America Aptmt (MAA) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies; tgt raised to $190
    • Paycom Software (PAYC) upgraded to Overweight from Sector Weight at KeyBanc Capital Markets; tgt $245
    • Pembina Pipeline (PBA) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup
    • ProQR Therapeutics (PRQR) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $4
    • Trevi Therapeutics (TRVI) upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James; tgt raised to $29
    • XPeng (XPEV) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; tgt raised to $29
  • Downgrades:
    • APA Corp. (APA) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James; tgt lowered to $32
    • Marex Group plc (MRX) downgraded to Hold from Buy at HSBC Securities; tgt raised to $36
    • Methanex (MEOH) downgraded to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform at Scotiabank; tgt $53
    • Neumora Therapeutics (NMRA) downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at William Blair
    • Occidental Petro (OXY) downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James; tgt lowered to $64
    • Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Compass Point; tgt lowered to $15
    • PPG Industries (PPG) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Argus
    • Sherwin-Williams (SHW) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies; tgt lowered to $380
    • UDR (UDR) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Truist; tgt raised to $46
  • Others:
    • Karman Space and Defense (KRMN) initiated with an Outperform at Evercore ISI; tgt $38
    • Karman Space and Defense (KRMN) initiated with an Outperform at William Blair
    • Karman Space and Defense (KRMN) initiated with a Buy at Citigroup; tgt $42
    • Karman Space and Defense (KRMN) initiated with an Outperform at Robert W. Baird; tgt $40
    • Karman Space and Defense (KRMN) initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts; tgt $35
    • Pulmonx (LUNG) initiated with a Buy at D. Boral Capital; tgt $17
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with a Buy at BTIG Research; tgt $27
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with a Buy at Truist; tgt $29
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with a Buy at BofA Securities; tgt $27.50
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with an Outperform at RBC Capital Mkts; tgt $27
    • SailPoint (SAIL )initiated with an Overweight at Piper Sandler; tgt $30
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with a Neutral at Goldman; tgt $23
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with an Overweight at Barclays; tgt $27
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with a Neutral at JP Morgan; tgt $25
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with a Buy at TD Cowen; tgt $30
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with an Outperform at Evercore ISI; tgt $29
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with a Neutral at Mizuho; tgt $25
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies; tgt $26
    • SailPoint (SAIL) initiated with an Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley; tgt $26
    • Sandisk (SNDK) initiated with an Outperform at Mizuho; tgt $60
    • Super Micro Computer (SMCI) initiated with a Buy at Rosenblatt; tgt $60