BP expects a boost to first-quarter profit from higher oil, gas and low-carbon energy production, while lower natural-gas prices will temper gains. The British energy major on Tuesday backed its guidance of higher upstream production—the extraction of raw crude oil and natural gas—in the first quarter, with higher output in oil production and operations and slightly higher production of gas and low-carbon energy compared with the previous quarter. In the fourth quarter, BP’s oil production was 1.42 million of oil-equivalent barrels a day, while it produced 899,000 BOE a day of gas and low-carbon energy. Its shares were up 1.7% to 518.00 pence at 0743 GMT, having climbed 13% over the past three months. The update follows that of BP’s closest rival Shell, which on Friday lifted its guidance for first-quarter production of integrated gas and liquefied natural gas.

After swinging between gains and losses till the penultimate hour of the day's session, Swiss stocks ended on a weak note on Tuesday as selling intensified a bit in the closing minutes. The benchmark SMI ended with a loss of 41.10 points or 0.36% at 11,506.04, nearly 20 points off the session's low of 11,486.67. Swiss Re and Lonza Group lost 2.44% and 2.29%, respectively. Holcim ended down 1.64%, Alcon closed lower by 1.42% and UBS Group ended 1.28% down. According to Bloomberg News, UBS is contemplating whether to acquire complete ownership of its China platform by engaging in a stake swap deal with a Beijing government investment fund. Zurich Insurance Group, Richemont, Geberit, Kuehne & Nagel and Logitech International lost 0.6 to 1%. Roche Holding gained nearly 1%. Swisscom, Nestle and Sonova posted modest gains. In the Mid Price index, Avolta, PSP Swiss Property, Adecco, Clariant, Georg Fischer, Belimo Holding, Helvetia and Temenos Group lost 0.8 to 1.7%. Meyer Burger Tech gained about 5.3%. ams OSRAM AG, BKW and Straumann Holding gained 1 to 1.5%.

Europe
European stocks closed lower on Tuesday as investors stayed cautious ahead of crucial economic data, including reports on U.S. consumer and producer price inflation, the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement, and the release of the Fed minutes, for more clues about the outlook for interest rates. Geopolitical tensions and comments from some Fed officials that it's premature to consider cutting interest rates weighed on sentiment. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.61%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.11%, Germany's DAX dropped 1.32% and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.86%. Switzerland's SMI ended lower by 0.36%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended weak. Finland, Greece, Norway, Portugal and Russia closed higher. In the UK market, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Standard Chartered and Melrose Indsutries lost 3 to 4.5%. RightMove, B&M European Value Retail, Barclays, Beazley, ICP, Whitbread, Lloyds Banking, Imperial Brands and Barratt Developments also ended notably lower. Fresnillo rallied about 4%. St. James's Place, Antofagasta, Weir Holdings, Anglo American Plc, Croda International, Halma, WPP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, RS Group, BT and Convatec Group gained 1 to 2.5%. In Germany, Rheinmetall tumbled nearly 9%. MTU Aero Engines, Daimler Truck Holding, Munich RE, HeidelbergCement, Hannover Rueck, SAP and Siemens Energy lost 2 to 4%. Deutsche Bank, Covestro, Siemens Healthineers, Allianz, Volkswagen, Fresenius, BMW and Commerzbank also closed weak. Infineon rallied 4%. Fresenius Medical Care, Sartorius, Merck, RWE and Qiagen ended with moderate gains. In the French market, Thales, Airbus Group, Hermes International, Essilor, Safran, LVMH, Legrand, AXA, Bouygues and Saint Gobain ended with sharp losses.

United States
Following the lackluster performance seen on Monday, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading session on Tuesday. The major averages fluctuated as the day progressed, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 eventually closing in positive territory. While the Nasdaq rose 52.68 points or 0.3 percent to 16,306.64 and the S&P 500 inched up 7.52 points or 0.1 percent to 5,209.91, the narrower Dow ended the day slightly lower, edging down 9.13 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 38,883.67. The volatility on Wall Street came as traders continued to look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation on Wednesday. Economists currently expect consumer prices to rise by 0.3 percent in March following a 0.4 percent increase in February. Stepping up its push to compete with Nvidia in the market for chips used for artificial-intelligence training and inference applications, Intel this morning unveiled the Gaudi 3, an AI accelerator chip. The company contends it’s both faster and more efficient than Nvidia’s H100 GPUs—and “highly competitive” with Nvidia’s recently unveiled Blackwell class GPUs. Gaudi 3 will start shipping later this year, replacing Intel’s current Gaudi 2 chip. Intel says it has commitments from four of the most important players in AI servers—Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Super Micro Computer and Lenovo—to build Gaudi 3-based systems. A veteran Boeing engineer has filed a complaint with federal regulators alleging the company dismissed quality and safety concerns during production of its troubled 787 Dreamliner jets. Lawyers for the engineer, Sam Salehpour, said Tuesday that Salehpour observed Boeing using shortcuts during the 787 assembly process that placed excessive stress on important joints and embedded drilling debris between joints on more than 1,000 planes.

Asia
In the middle of the week, the stock markets in East Asia and Australia are once again showing no clear trend. The Hang Seng Index recorded the most significant increase, rising by 1.9 per cent. This was driven by the strong increase in Alibaba shares, which rose by 5.2 per cent. In contrast, the Shanghai composite lost 0.3 per cent. Participants point to caution ahead of the announcement of Chinese consumer prices for March on Thursday.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries regained ground after moving notably lower over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 5.6 basis points at 4.368 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises Kion to EUR 63 (47)/Buy – Traders
UBS lowers Pernod Ricard to EUR 158 (163) – Neutral
UBS raises Hellofresh to EUR 5.90 (5.80) – Sell

Produced by MBI Martin Brückner Infosource GmbH & Co. KG on behalf of Swissquote. All news is acquired with journalistic accuracy. No liability is assumed for delays or errors.