Uber Technologies swung to a first-quarter profit as riders ordered more trips on the digital taxi service, but missed Wall Street revenue estimates. The San Francisco ride-hailing and food-delivery app owner swung to a profit of $1.78 billion, or 83 cents a share, from a loss of $654 million, or 32 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings surpassed the 81 cents a share targeted, on average, by analysts surveyed by FactSet. First-quarter revenue rose 17% to $11.53 billion, compared to the mean analyst estimate of $11.63 billion. The number of trips for the company whose name has become a verb rose 18% to 3 billion. In dollar terms, gross bookings rose 14% to $42.8 billion. The company estimated 8.5 million drivers and couriers earned an aggregate $18.6 billion during the period. For the second quarter, Uber forecast gross bookings in a range between $45.75 billion and $47.25 billion. Uber projected adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in a range between $2.02 billion and $2.12 billion.

Swiss stocks opened on a weak note on Wednesday and languished in negative territory right through the day's session as investors stayed cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England's monetary policy announcements, due later in the day, and on Thursday, respectively. The benchmark SMI closed down 116.82 points or 0.96% at 12,113.76, slightly off the day's low of 12,100.07. Kuehne + Nagel and Lonza Group lost 2.77% and 2.5%, respectively. Partners Group, Adecco, Roche Holding, Swatch Group, Richemont and Alcon ended down by 1.6 to 2.2%. Julius Baer, Sika, Novartis, Givaudan and Swisscom also closed notably lower. Straumann Holding (up 0.5%) and UBS Group (up marginally) were the only gainers in the SMI index. In economic news, the Swiss National Bank's foreign exchange reserves fell to CHF 702.895 billion in April 2025, the lowest since August 2024, from CHF 725.551 billion in the previous month. This marked the third consecutive decline.

Europe
The major European markets closed weak on Wednesday as investors reacted to earnings announcements, and awaited the monetary policy announcement from the Federal Reserve later in the day. The Bank of England's policy announcement is due on Thursday. Upbeat economic data from Germany, and optimism surrounding upcoming U.S.-China trade talks helped limit markets' downside. The pan European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.32%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.31% and 0.51%, respectively. Germany's DAX edged down by 0.04%, while Switzerland's SMI ended down 0.96%. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Sweden ended higher. Belgium, Spain and Turkiye closed weak, while Denmark and Netherlands ended flat. In the UK market, Entain, JD Sports Fashion, Intercontinental Hotels, Glencore, Prudential, Admiral Group, Rio Tinto, M&G, Howden Joinery and Imperial Brands closed on a firm note, gaining 1 to 2.3%. GSK closed down nearly 5%. Rentokil Initial, Vistry Group, Associated British Foods, BAE Systems, Segro and Rolls-Royce Holdings closed lower by 1.9 to 3.3%. In the German market, Fresenius Medical Care climbed nearly 4%. Infineon gained about 3% and Porsche ended nearly 2.7% up. Vonovia gained more than 2.5%. The company reported that its profit, including valuation, for the first quarter of 2025 climbed to 515.4 million euros from 335.5 million euros in the previous year. BMW moved up 1.7% after the company confirmed its fiscal 2025 outlook, citing the sustained demand for its premium vehicles. In the first quarter, Group net profit totalled 2.17 billion euros, down 26.4% from last year's 2.95 billion euros.

United States
After moving mostly lower over the two previous sessions, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged, particularly in the latter part of the session. The major averages eventually ended the day in positive territory. The Dow advanced 284.97 points or 0.7 percent to 41,113.79, the S&P 500 climbed 24.37 points or 0.4 percent to 5,631.28 and the Nasdaq rose 48.50 points or 0.3 percent to 17,738.16. The higher close on the day partly reflected a late-day by rally by semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.7 percent. The strength in the sector came after a report from Bloomberg said the Trump administration plans to rescind Biden-era AI chip curbs as part of a broader effort to revise semiconductor trade restrictions. Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the repeal seeks to refashion a policy that created three broad tiers of countries for regulating the export of chips from Nvidia (NVDA) and others. Airline stocks also ended the day notably higher after an early rally, resulting in a 1.2 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The volatility on the day also came as traders reacted to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement. While the Fed left interest rates unchanged as widely expected, the central bank also warned of increasing risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation.

Asia
A cautiously optimistic mood dominates the stock markets in East Asia and Australia on Thursday. Investors are betting on positive results from the talks between representatives of the USA and China announced for the weekend: in Switzerland, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with Chinese Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng. On the Tokyo stock exchange, the Nikkei 225 index is up 0.4 per cent at 36,920 points.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries extended the upward move seen over the course of the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 3.3 basis points to 4.275 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises Hugo Boss target to EUR 39 (38) – Neutral
UBS raises Intesa target to EUR 5.35 (5.25) – Buy
UBS lowers Philips target to EUR 26 (29) – Buy

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