Swiss Re returned to profit in the first quarter despite a high volume of natural catastrophes. Higher productivity and price increases more than offset claims from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Cyclone Gabrielle and flooding and New Zealand. The Swiss group reaffirmed its full-year profit outlook. Swiss Re earned $643 million in the three months, following a loss of $248 million in the year-earlier period. In property-casualty reinsurance, profits climbed to $369 million from $85 million. Net losses from the earthquake for Swiss Re were $426 million on an estimated market loss of $5.3 billion. Swiss Re is targeting a profit of more than $3 billion for the current year. CEO Christian Mumenthaler pointed to the successful treaty renewals since the beginning of the year in non-life reinsurance and the good start in life reinsurance. The Group should also benefit from rising interest rates, its cost discipline, and a solid capital base.

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The Switzerland stock market ended notably higher on Wednesday after staying firm right through the day's session. Optimism about the Federal Reserve signaling a pause in policy tightening sometime soon helped underpin sentiment. The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 82.86 points or 0.73% at 11,506.19, just below the day's high of 11,508.78. Lonza Group surged 5.2%. Richemont, Alcon and Sonova gained 2.27%, 2.05% and 1.94%, respectively. Nestle, Partners Group, Swiss Re, Geberit, Zurich Insurance Group, Swisscom, Holcim and Sika ended higher by 0.7 to 1.4%. Swiss Life Holding ended lower by about 4.3%. UBS Group drifted down by about 2.7% and Credit Suisse lost nearly 2%, while Logitech ended 1.46% down. Among the stocks in the Mid Price Index, Straumann Holding climbed nearly 6%. Tecan Group gained about 2.2%, while SIG Combibloc, Georg Fischer and Kuehne & Nagel gained 1 to 1.2%. Zur Rose plunged more than 10%. AMS ended lower by 5.79%, Baloise Holding lost 3.97% and Helvetia closed 3.6% down. Adecco ended down 2.36%.

Major European markets closed higher on Wednesday amid speculation the Federal Reserve, which is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points later in the day, might soon signal a pause in its tightening cycle. Investors tracked quarterly earnings announcements for some direction, and looked ahead to the European Central Bank's policy announcement, due on Thursday. The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.31%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.2% up, Germany's DAX rose 0.56% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.28%, while Switzerland's SMI climbed 0.73%. Other markets in Europe ended on mixed note. Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland and Sweden ended higher. Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Turkiye closed weak, while Netherlands and Spain ended flat. In the UK market, Pearson rallied more than 10%. Vodafone Group, Melrose Industries, Burberry Group, Scottish Mortgage and Coca-Cola gained 2 to 3%. Fresnillo, Anglo American Plc, Spirax-Sarco Engineering and Legal & General also ended sharply higher. Lloyds Banking Group, Haleon, Croda International Group, RS Group, Kingfisher, IAG, Ocado Group and Associated British Foods lost 1.5 to 3.6%. In Paris, Bouygues and Teleperformance drifted down 4% and 3.3%, respectively. Carrefour, Unibail Rodamco, Vivendi, Renault, BNP Paribas and Publicis Groupe lost 1 to 2.5%. Stellantis shed nearly 2% despite the company reporting a 14% rise in first-quarter revenues. Hermes International, Dassault Systemes, Essilor, LVMH, Eurofins Scientific, Capgemini, Schneider Electric and ArcelorMittal gained 1 to 2%. In the German market, Sartorius climbed more than 5%. Merck surged 3.1% and BASF gained 2.6%, while Fresenius, Siemens, Brenntag, Siemens Healthineers and Munich RE moved up 1.3 to 1.5%. Zalando, Siemens Energy and Adidas lost 1.6 to 2.2%.

U.S. stocks closed near session lows on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised rates as expect by another 25 basis points, bringing the policy rate to its highest level since 2007. The S&P 500 slipped 0.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.8%, or 270 points, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.5%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell wouldn't rule out additional rate hikes, but said the central bank will continue to monitor tightening credit conditions following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in early March. First Republic Bank also was seized by regulators on Monday and its assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), putting a spotlight on the costs of helping alleviate stress at banks as deposits flee. Markets were relatively quiet leading up to the release of the Fed's interest-rate decision. Stocks were then volatile in afternoon trading, with major indexes hitting session highs and then erasing gains altogether as Fed Chair Jerome Powell addressed reporters at the post-meeting press conference. Pizza Hut parent Yum Brands fell 3.9% after reporting worse-than-expected earnings for the first three months of the year, in part because of fluctuations in currency markets. Clorox, which shared results after the closing bell Tuesday, jumped 4.7%. The maker of its namesake bleach and cleaning products, as well as Pine-Sol, raised its sales outlook for the rest of the year. Advanced Micro Devices slipped 9.3% after issuing guidance for the current quarter that disappointed analysts Tuesday evening.

On the Asian stock exchanges no clear trend prevails in the course on Thursday. While the stock exchange in Japan remains closed for the rest of the week, trading on the Chinese mainland is resuming for the first time after a three-day holiday break.

U.S. government bonds strengthened. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, which affects everything from mortgage rates to student loans, fell to 3.401% from 3.438% Tuesday.

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