Ryanair Holdings said it would buy back shares after earnings and passengers rose during its fiscal year. The Irish low-cost carrier said that it would buy back 700 million euros worth of shares after average fares, per passenger revenues and ancillary revenues rose. Pre-exceptional profit after tax - the company’s preferred metric - came to EUR1.92 billion for the year ended March 31, a 34% increase from a year ago on revenue that rose 25% to EUR13.44 billion. Analysts’ had expected EUR13.37 billion in revenue, according Visible Alpha consensus. In January, Ryanair guided for pre-exceptional after-tax profit in the range of EUR1.85 billion to EUR1.95 billion. Ryanair’s results come after the carrier had cancelled almost 950 flights in March due to disruption from the Israel-Hamas war and amidst a year marked by European air traffic controller strikes and Boeing plane-delivery delays. Nevertheless, 183.7 million number of passengers flew on Ryanair in the year, a 9% increase, while the company’s load factor - a measure of how full a plane is - stood at 94% compared with 93% a year ago.

Swiss stocks turned in a fine performance on Friday, extending gains from the previous session, as some encouraging earnings updates and possibility of another rate cut from the Swiss National Bank helped underpin sentiment. The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 91.33 points or 0.76% at 12,037.99, slightly down from the day's high of 12,046.39. Richemont shares climbed 5.31% after the company announced several changes to its board and management team. The company said group sales increased by 3% to 20.62 billion euros at actual exchange rates as it returned to a profit for the year ended March 31. Richemont said the record sales were largely driven by the group's Jewellery Maisons, which are composed of the Buccellati, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels brands. The company's board also proposed a 10% increase in the dividend to shareholders, subject to shareholders approval for payment in September. Swatch Group rallied 2.57% and Swiss Re gained about 2.3%. Givaudan ended 1.78% up, and Nestle advanced 1.3%. Roche Holdings, Logitech International, Novartis and Lindt Spruengli gained 0.7 to 1%. Zurich Insurance Group and UBS Group posted modest gains. Swiss Life Holding drifted down 5.43%. Sonova, Straumann Holding, VAT Group, Partners Group and Kuehne & Nagel lost 1 to 2%.

Europe
European stocks closed a bit higher on Monday, edging up slightly after turning in a somewhat weak performance in the previous session. Expectations that the stimulus measures announced by China last week will help revive the property sector in the world's second largest economy, and optimism about interest rate cuts in the coming months helped underpin sentiment in European markets. European sovereign bond yields edged up after ECB Governing Council member Martins Kazaks indicated in a Bloomberg interview that June seems the right moment to start lowering borrowing costs, but future moves will be largely determined by incoming data. Kazaks emphasized that any reduction in rates should be 'cautious' and 'gradual,' and that the process should not be rushed. The pan European Stoxx 600 ended higher by 0.8%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.05%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 both ended up by 0.35%, while Switzerland's SMI climbed 0.76%, extending gains to a third straight session. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher, while Russie ended weak. In the UK market, Rolls-Royce Holdings rallied nearly 4.5%. Fresnillo, Weir Group, Entain and Airtel Africa gained 2.4 to 4%. In the German market, Covestro gained more than 2%. MTU Aero Engines, SAP, Infineon, Deutsche Telekom, Commerzbank, BASF and Henkel also posted notable gains.

United States
After an early advance, the major U.S. stock indexes moved in opposite directions over the course of the trading session on Monday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added to last week's strong gains, reaching a new record closing high, while the Dow gave background after closing above 40,000 for the first-time last Friday. The Nasdaq ended the day up 108.91 points or 0.7 percent at 16,794.87. The S&P 500 also crept up 4.86 points or 0.1 percent to 5,308.13, but the Dow fell 196.82 points or 0.5 percent at 39,806.77. The advance by the Nasdaq reflected strength in the tech sector, with semiconductor stocks turning in a particularly strong performance on the day. Reflecting the strength among semiconductor stocks, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped by 2.2 percent to a two-month closing high. Chipmaker Micron Technology helped lead the way higher, surging by 3.0 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the company's stock to Equal Weight from Underweight. Ai darling Nvidia (NVDA) also shot up by 2.5 percent ahead of the release of its fiscal first quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday. Gold stocks also saw notable strength on the day, as the price of the precious metal reached a new record high, while banking stocks and telecom stocks moved to the downside. A steep drop by shares of JPMorgan Chase weighed on the Dow, with the financial giant tumbling by 4.5 percent after ending last Friday's trading at a record closing high. The pullback by JPMorgan came after CEO Jamie Dimon implied during remarks at the company's annual investor day that he may retire in fewer than five years.

Asia
Smaller losses dominated the stock markets in East Asia and Australia on Tuesday. After the markets had recently benefited from China's announcement of further economic stimulus for the domestic economy, interest rate concerns are now taking center stage again. This is particularly noticeable in Hong Kong. The leading Hang Seng index there fell by 2 per cent, while the sub-index for technology stocks fell by a good 3 per cent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries saw modest weakness, extending the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up 1.7 basis points to 4.437 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises Commerzbank target to EUR 18 (17.90) – Buy
Deutsche Bank raises Standard Chartered target to 900 (860) GBp – Hold
Barclays raises Ceconomy target to 2.60 (2.20) EUR – Underweight

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