Rio Tinto said iron ore shipments from its Australian mining operations are likely to be at the lower end of guidance following disruptions from four cyclones during the first quarter of the year. The world's second-biggest miner by market value said it shipped 70.7 million metric tons of the steel ingredient from pits in Australia's minerals-rich Pilbara region in the three months through March. That was 9% lower than the year-prior period and 17% below shipments in the quarter immediately prior. Rio Tinto had projected it would ship between 323 million and 338 million tons from the operations in 2025. Last month, the company estimated it lost about 13 million tons in shipments due to tropical cyclones Tahlia, Vince, Zelia and Sean. "Mitigation plans are in place to offset around half of this and will require an additional investment of around A$150 million [US$95 million] for rectification works and contracting mining activities," the company said. "Lower volumes and recovery costs will be offset by a weaker than expected Australian dollar."

The Swiss market, which recovered after a weak start on Tuesday, stayed sluggish and moved along the flat line till well past noon, but gained in strength in the closing hour to end the day's session on a firm note. The benchmark SMI closed up 110.38 points or 0.96% at 11,609.84, the day;s high. The index touched a low of 11,444.90 in early trades. Logitech International rallied 6.6%. VAT Group, Partners Group, Sandoz Group, Roche Holding, Adecco and Novartis gained 3 to 3.5%. UBS Group, SIG Group, Swiss Re, ABB, Holcim, Kuehne + Nagel and Alcon closed higher by 2.4 to 2.9%. Zurich Insurance, Straumann Holding, Swatch Group, Geberit, Swiss Life Holding, Lindt & Spruengli, Sonova, Schindler Ps and Lonza Group also posted strong gains.

Europe
European stocks closed higher on Tuesday, extending recent gains, as investors indulged in some strong buying after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled temporary exemption of tariffs on auto and auto parts imports. The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.63%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.41%, Germany's DAX surged 1.43% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.86% up. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden closed with strong gains. In the UK market, 3i Group climbed about 5.8%. St. James's Place, Intermediate Capital Group, Segro, Fresnillo, Standard Chartered, M&G, Unite Group, Kingfisher, Persimmon, Barclays, Intertek Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings and BAE Systems closed higher by 3 to 4.2%. In the German market, Rheinmetall, Heidelberg Materials, Vonovia, Commerzbank, Henkel, Continental, Deutsche Bank, E.ON, Siemens Energy, Fresenius, RWE, BMW, Sartorius, Fresenius Medical Care, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Hannover Rueck, Munich RE, Zalando and Infineon gained 1.5 to 4.3%. Adidas ended down by about 2% and Porsche closed 1% down. Siemens ended modestly lower. In the French market, Saing Gobain, Stellantis, Societe Generale, Publicis Groupe, Schneider Electric, Unibail Rodamco, Veolia, BNP Paribas, Thales, Bouygues and Michelin gained 2.4 to 6%. LVMH tumbled nearly 8% after the company reported a 3% drop in first-quarter sales, as against expectations for a 2% increase.

United States
After ending Monday's volatile session notably higher, stocks continued to show a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower. The Dow fell 155,83 points or 0.4 percent to 40,368.96, the S&P 500 dipped 9.34 points or 0.2 percent to 5,396.63 and the Nasdaq edged down 8.32 points or 0.1 percent to 16,823.17. The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to digest the latest earnings news as well as developments on the volatile tariff front. President Donald Trump has indicated a potential temporary tariff exemption for the auto industry, especially for counties like Mexico and Canada. At the same time, there were reports that the U.S. was kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as part of a bid to impose tariffs. On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing import prices edged slightly lower in the month of March. While most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, banking stocks saw notable strength, resulting in a 1.7 percent gain by the KBW Bank Index. Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) ended the day firmly positive after reporting better than expected first quarter results. Networking stocks also saw some strength on the day, while transportation stocks moved to the downside, dragging the Dow Jones Transportation Average down by 1.1 percent. In the global trade war, Boeing is a big loser. Chinese officials told domestic airlines not to place new orders for Boeing jets and are requiring carriers to seek approval before taking delivery of already-ordered aircraft, according to people familiar with the matter.

Asia
The Asian markets fall significantly in midday trading on Wednesday. The Chinese stock markets in particular are back on the slide: although new economic data is better than expected, the Hangseng in Hong Kong is down 2.5 per cent. In Japan, the Nikkei-225 fell by 0.9 per cent and in South Korea the Kospi fell by 0.6 per cent. In China, economic growth accelerated unexpectedly strongly to 5.4 per cent in the first quarter. However, this was due to special effects: In anticipation of the tariffs, the USA in particular imported large quantities of Chinese products.

Bonds
In the U .S. bond market, treasuries saw continued strength following the notable rebound seen on Monday. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 4.1 basis points to 4.323 percent.

Analysis
UBS lowers LVMH target to EUR 569 (650) – Neutral
Barclays lowers Barry Callebaut to Equalweight (Overweight) – Target 900 (1,415) CHF
Goldman Sachs lowers DHL target to 48 (52) EUR/Buy – Trader