Carvana Stock Heads for Record Closing High. There's More to Story Than S&P 500 Inclusion. — Barrons.com

The FTSE MIB was flat on Monday in a muted session as investors stayed cautious ahead of a widely expected 25 bp Fed rate cut this week.

A pause would shock markets, shifting attention to potential dissents among increasingly divided policymakers.

Focus also turned to the ECB, with markets now assigning a small chance of a hike next year, after ECB hawk Isabel Schnabel said the next move could be an increase rather than a cut.

Italian financials gained, led by MPS (+4.36%) after a report that Consob found no evidence of a secret pact among its top shareholders to seize control of Mediobanca (+1.7%).

UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo rose 0.2%, while BPM added 2% and Unipol 1%.

Leonardo gained 2.1% amid the lack of progress on a Ukraine–Russia peace plan.

On the downside, autos fell, with Ferrari down 3.5% after a Morgan Stanley downgrade and Stellantis down 1.3%.

Utilities also slipped, including Enel (-0.1%), Snam (-1.1%) and Terna (-0.6%).

The CAC 40 slipped 0.1% to close at 8,108 on Monday, extending last Friday’s modest losses as investors stayed cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Wednesday and weighed an uncertain 2026 outlook.

Markets are pricing a third rate cut, yet attention has shifted to the ECB after Isabel Schnabel said she is comfortable with bets that the central bank’s next move could be a rate increase.

L’Oréal retreated 2% despite strengthening its partnership with Swiss dermatology group Galderma by buying an additional 10% stake and lifting its total holding to 20%.

Other consumer names fell, with Hermès down 1.5%, Kering off 1.2%, Pernod Ricard down 2.2% and Essilor slipping 0.3%.

Financials led gains as Société Générale rose 1.8% and BNP Paribas added 1.4%, while aerospace stocks also advanced, led by Thales up 1.3%, Safran up 0.7% and Airbus up 0.7%.

By Nate Wolf

Shares of Air Products & Chemicals fell sharply Monday after the world's largest hydrogen supplier said it was in talks with ammonia company Yara International to form a production and distribution partnership.

The collaboration would encompass two ongoing projects. First, Yara would acquire the ammonia facilities at Air Products' low-carbon energy complex in Louisiana for an estimated $8 billion to $9 billion. In turn, Air Products would supply 80% of the hydrogen to Yara to support its ammonia production under a 25-year agreement.

The second prong of the agreement would be the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to begin commercial production in 2027. Air Products and Yara plan to reach an agreement in which Yara would sell the ammonia not sold by Air Products on a commission basis.

Air Products stock dropped 7.5%, making it the worst performer in the S&P 500 on the day. Monday was the stock's largest single-day decline since Feb. 5, 2024, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The two companies explained the partnership as a way to "meet increasing demand for low-emission ammonia in the coming years." Air Products produces hydrogen and ammonia at scale, while Yara is the world's largest trader and shipper of ammonia.

Investors likely want to see the details of the agreements, though, to understand the benefits each side will realize and the risks they will assume.

Norway-traded shares of Yara closed trading up 0.9% on Monday.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

The STOXX 50 ended Monday near the flat line at 5,725 points, while the broader STOXX 600 edged down 0.1%, as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of a key week of global central bank decisions, including the Federal Reserve meeting.

The Fed is widely expected to deliver a 25bp rate cut, with market focus on updated FOMC projections amid ongoing uncertainty over its 2026 policy path.

In Europe, ECB's Isabel Schnabel indicated she is comfortable with market expectations that the central bank’s next move could be a rate hike.

On the corporate front, Unilever shares tumbled 6.2% after completing the long-awaited spinoff of the Magnum Ice Cream Company.

Ageas rose 0.6% after securing full ownership of AG Insurance, agreeing to acquire the remaining 25% stake from BNP Paribas for $1.9 billion.

TKMS climbed 2.9% despite issuing a muted earnings outlook for 2026, while UBS gained 1.8% following reports it may cut an additional 10,000 jobs by 2027.

London’s FTSE 100 closed about 0.3% down at 9,641 on Monday, the lowest since November 25, extending losses from the previous session.

Traders focused on this week’s US Fed policy announcement while awaiting a batch of domestic data due December 12, including GDP, industrial production, and trade figures.

Among single stocks, Barratt Redrow underperformed, sliding 3.8%, after Citigroup cut its target price to 506 pence from 530 pence.

Persimmon fell 3.1% and Berkeley, which is due to report annual results on Wednesday, lost nearly 2.8%.

Unilever slipped 1.9% following the demerger of its Magnum ice cream division.

On the flip side, top gainers were defense companies, with Babcock up 3.3%, Rolls-Royce up 2% and BAE up 1.6%.

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks have given back ground over the course of the trading day on Monday. The major averages have pulled back well off their early highs and into negative territory.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses. The Dow is down 132.66 points or 0.3 percent at 47,822.33, the Nasdaq is down 45.77 points or 0.2 percent at 23,532.36 and the S&P 500 is down 20.64 points or 0.3 percent at 6,849.76.

The modest pullback on Wall Street may partly reflect profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which saw the Nasdaq and S&P 500 reach their best closing levels in a month last Friday.

Overall trading activity remains somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts next year.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 89.6 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point on Wednesday but a 70.3 percent chance the central bank will leave rates unchanged in January.

'Markets may not rally if we get a 25 basis-point cut, given how investors are already expecting it to happen,' said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

He added, 'Instead, markets are only likely to move in a large way up or down if we don't get a cut or if the cut is much bigger than expected.'

Reflecting the lackluster performance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.

Networking stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, however, with the NYSE Arca Networking Index climbing by 1.7 percent.

Notable strength is also visible among software stocks, while healthcare, housing and retail stocks have moved to the downside.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index crept up by 0.2 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped by 1.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is just below the unchanged line, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are both down by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downward move seen over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 4.3 basis points at 4.182 percent.

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