Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said late Wednesday on X that preliminary voting results show shareholders currently backing proposals to ratify his pay package and reincorporate the company in Texas by “wide margins.” In the post, he included line graphs showing the cumulative “for” votes on both resolutions above the line needed for approval. The post came ahead of the company’s annual shareholders meeting Thursday, at which the final results are expected to be announced. The results provided by Musk are preliminary, and voters can change their votes until the polls close at the meeting on this Thursday. Musk’s pay package initially passed in 2018, with 73% of voted shares supporting it. But a Delaware judge this year ordered the package rescinded, saying the board’s process was “deeply flawed” and Musk had too much influence over the approval process. To try to overcome the judge’s objections, Tesla put the package up for a fresh vote.

The Switzerland market shrugged off a slightly weak start and climbed higher on Wednesday after soft inflation data from the U.S. raised hopes the Federal Reserve will reduce interest rate a couple of times this year. The benchmark SMI ended up by 94.67 points or 0.78% at 12,167.59. The index, which edged down to 12,061.93 in early trades, climbed to a high of 12,185.77 in the final hour. VAT Group shares rallied 3.77%. ABB gained nearly 3%, while Partners Group, Julius Baer and Holcim climbed 2.2% each. Logitech International ended 1.63% up, while Swatch Group, Swiss Life Holding, Geberit, Roche Holding, Schindler Ps, Richemont and Sika gained 1 to 1.4%. Zurich Insurance Group and Sandoz Group also closed notably higher. Flughafen Zurich gained about 1.3%. The company announced that its May passenger traffic jumped 9.4% year over year to 2,772,182. The Zurich Airport operator's turnover likewise increased by 3.5% to 55.4 million francs.

European stocks closed higher on Wednesday after softer than expected U.S. consumer price inflation data helped ease concerns about the outlook for interest rate. Investors expect a couple of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year, while awaiting the central bank's monetary policy announcement, due later in the day. The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 1.08%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.83%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended higher by 1.42% and 0.97%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI closed 0.78% up. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye all ended higher. In the UK market, Rentokil Initial soared nearly 14% after activist investor Trian Fund Management acquired a substantial stake in the pest-control company. St. James's Place gained nearly 5%. Howden Joinery, Persimmon, 3i Group, RightMove, ICG, Diploma, Halma, Kingfisher, RS Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Ashtead, Standard Chartered, Taylor Wimpey, Experian, Barratt Developments, Schrodders, Informa and Unite Group gained 2.4 to 4.2%. Landore Resources surged 32% after successfully raising £3.683 million through a subscription of new shares. Legal & General ended down by about 5.5% as its new chief executive set out plans to restructure the business into three core units. B&M European Value Retail ended 2.4% down. Vodafone Group, Smurfit Kappa Group, BP, Ocado Group and GSK lost 0.6 to 1.6%. In the German market, HeidelbergCement surged about 4.4%. SAP, Siemens, Siemens Energy, Vonovia, Bayer, MTU Aero Engines, Fresenius Medical Care, Merck, Infineon, Zalando, Fresenius and Adidas gained 2 to 3.5%. Porsche, Sartorius and Volkswagen ended lower by 1.4 to 1.8%. Rheinmetall, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Commerzbank also closed weak. In the French market, Schneider Electric climbed about 4.75%. STMicroElectronics gained more than 3%. Legrand, Vinci, Saint-Gobain, Societe Generale, Eurofins Scientific, Air Liquide, Unibail Rodamco, Publicis Groupe, BNP Paribas, Accor, Credit Agricole, Michelin, AXA, Vivendi, Essilor and Hermes International gained 1 to 2.5%.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed to new records after easing inflation data prompted traders to bolster bets that the Federal Reserve will cut rates this year. The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, bringing its gains to 14% for the year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% lower, shedding 35 points. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a benchmark for borrowing costs, slid. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank would hold interest rates steady and signaled the likelihood of just one interest-rate cut for this year. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images. Data released Wednesday morning ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision showed inflation cooling in May, and that the slowdown in price pressures was broad-based. The consumer-price index rose 3.3% from a year ago, down slightly from April’s reading and lower than the 3.4% economists expected. The prospect of lower rates boosted shares of smaller companies, which tend to direct more of their operating profits toward paying down debt than larger ones. The Russell 2000 index gained 1.6%. Apple shares rose on Wednesday. Gains in the S&P 500 were led by the index’s information technology sector. Apple shares climbed 2.9%. Oracle shares jumped 13%. The company announced new AI deals with Microsoft, Alphabet and OpenAI late Tuesday.

Gains prevailed on the stock markets in East Asia and Australia on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve signaled only one interest rate cut for 2024 on Wednesday. In March, it had signaled the prospect of three. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index is trading at 38,789 points, just below the previous day's level, after starting slightly firmer. The Japanese central bank, which meets on Friday, could provide the next impetus here. Shanghai also fell slightly (-0.3%), but the indices rose in other places. The strongest rise was in Seoul with 1.4 per cent.

In U.S. bond markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.294% from 4.403% Tuesday. The dollar weakened, with the WSJ Dollar Index showing the greenback falling against a basket of currencies.

UBS raises Alstom target to EUR 19 (12.70) – Neutral
HSBC raises Renault target to 63 (57) EUR – Buy
Morgan Stanley lowers Hannover Re target to EUR 252 (253) – Equalweight

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