BP expects to book an impairment of up to $2 billion for the second quarter, and warned that weak oil trading and lower refining margins would hurt earnings. The British energy company said Tuesday that it expects its second-quarter results to be hit by after-tax asset impairments and one-off contract provisions of between $1 billion and $2 billion, including charges relating to a review of its Gelsenkirchen refinery in Germany. BP said in March that it planned to close a third of the crude-processing refinery’s 265,000-barrels-a-day capacity due to a weakened demand outlook. The London-based company also took a $1.34 billion impairment related to the refinery last year due to a change in the economic outlook, it said in its annual report.

Save for a few minutes early on in the session, and a very brief while before the closing bell on Tuesday, the Switzerland market stayed in positive territory, but still ended the day's session with a marginal loss. The benchmark SMI started off on a slightly weak note, but recovered soon and climbed to 12,151.28 around noon, but kept edging lower as the day progressed and eventually settled at 12,037.36 with a loss of 14.30 points or 0.12%. SIG Group ended down 1.82%. Swatch Group, VAT Group, Holcim, UBS Group, Sonova and Alcon lost 0.6 to 1%. Geberit, ABB, Sika, SGS and Nestle also closed weak. Givaudan climbed 1.56% and Roche Holdings gained about 1.5%. Roche announced that it secured a CE Mark for its artificial intelligence-enabled Accu-Chek SmartGuide real-time continuous glucose monitoring system. Swisscom, Lonza Group and Logitech International posted moderate gains.

Europe
European stocks closed weak on Tuesday as uncertainty about the outlook for interest rate and the change of guard in the U.K. and France after the recently concluded elections in the two countries rendered the mood cautious, prompting investors lighten commitments. A slew of disappointing corporate updates weighed on sentiment. Fed chair Jerome Powell's statement that the central bank does not plan to reduce interest rates until it is confident that inflation is sustainably moving toward 2%, weighed as well. Traders also awaited comments from European Central Bank board (ECB) member Piero Cipollone for further direction. The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 0.9%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down 0.66%, Germany's DAX dropped 1.28% and France's CAC 40 ended down 1.56%, while Switzerland's SMI edged down 0.12%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye ended weak. Poland closed higher, while Greece and Portugal settled flat. In the UK market, BP ended lower by about 4% after the company warned of 'significantly lower' refining margins and flagged impairment of $1 billion to $2 billion on the value of a plant in Germany. Burberry Group, Next, Persimmon, Melrose Industries, B&M European Value Retail, Frasers Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Associated British Foods, Barratt Developments, Barclays, Marks & Spencer, Centrica, Lloyds Banking Group and Natwest Group lost 2 to 4.5%. Severn Trent rallied 2.5%. Pershing Square Holdings, BT Group, Smith & Nephew, Haleon, Entain, Endeavour Mining, Halma and United Utilities gained 1 to 1.8%.

United States
Financial firms nudged the S&P 500 to a fresh record Tuesday, a rare day lately when a sector other than technology led the broad stock index higher. Shares of Goldman Sachs Group and Intercontinental Exchange ended the session at all-time highs, while another six banks and finance companies in the S&P 500 closed at their highest price in at least a year. JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America are among the big firms scheduled to disclose spring-quarter earnings on Friday. The S&P 500 gained less than 0.1% to set its 36th new record this year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added a little more than 0.1%, to also notch a new all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.1%, or about 53 points. Tuesday started out as another day with chip makers and other firms with an angle on the artificial-intelligence boom leading the way. Technology stocks turned lower, while Treasury yields and shares of banks rose following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s midmorning remarks to Congress. Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that recent employment data suggest the labor market has “cooled considerably.” He said the central bank is weighing the potential that high rates wreck the economy and cause excessive unemployment against the risk of reigniting inflation with rates cut too soon. U.S.-listed shares of BP shed 4.8% after the British energy giant warned that weak oil trading and lower refining margins would hurt earnings and that it would book an impairment of up to $2 billion for the second quarter. Railroad CSX lost 2.7% after Wall Street analysts trimmed earnings estimates. “Rail volumes continue to track below pre-Covid levels,” analysts with TD Cowen wrote in a note to clients.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia and Australia are more or less treading water on Wednesday. Market participants point to dampened US interest rate cut hopes.

Bonds
U.S. treasury yields rose following Powell’s remarks but eased in afternoon trading. The yield on benchmark 10-year notes ended Tuesday at 4.297%, up from 4.267% on Monday. Yields rise as prices fall.

Analysis
Barclays lowers Stellantis target to EUR 23 (24) per share – Overweight
UBS raises ING target to EUR 20 (19.80) – Buy
HSBC lowers Porsche SE target to 35 (45) EUR – Hold

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