Julius Baer booked another substantial loan loss charge as its new leadership team reviews credit portfolios to move past a scandal that led to a major writedown and cost the former CEO his job. The Zurich-based group announced late Tuesday a 130 million Swiss francs ($157 million) impairment linked to its private debt book and some positions in its mortgage book that it said reflects the application of more prudent criteria to credit quality and client relationships. The bank has been trying to move on from the collapse of Austria’s Signa, the now-insolvent real estate group owned by property magnate Rene Benko. Julius Baer had to write down 586 million francs in loans to this one particular client in its 2023 accounts, causing clients to pull their funds and its then-chief executive Philipp Rickenbacher to step down in early February last year. The bank also said it would close its private debt business. “We are swiftly addressing legacy issues,” said Chief Executive Stefan Bollinger, a former Goldman Sachs partner who took the helm this January. He started a review of the bank’s credit book the following month and has since initiated a cost-saving program and an organizational reshuffle. The board also welcomed former HSBC CEO Noel Quinn as its new chairman on May 1 and plans to unveil a new strategy next month.

The Switzerland market ended lower on Wednesday after languishing in negative territory right through the day's trading session, as concerns about trade and geopolitical uncertainty rendered the mood cautious, prompting investors to refrain from making significant moves. The benchmark SMI ended lower by 27.67 points or 0.22% at 12.380.36, well off the day's low of 12,292.19. Julius Baer ended down 4.85% after saying it has been hit with another large loan loss. The lender reported a 130 million Swiss franc ($156.4 million) charge from a credit portfolio review. Adecco and Sika closed lower by 1.83% and 1.74%, respectively. Sonova, UBS Group, Alcon, Swatch Group, Richemont, Swiss Re and Straumann Holding lost 1 to 1.4%. Geberit, SGS, Holcim and ABB closed modestly lower. Swiss Life Holding climbed 1.57%. Lindt & Spruengli ended up 1.02%, and Sandoz Group closed 0.72% up, while Nestle, Novartis and Logitech International posted modest gains.

Europe
European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday after a cautious session as investors awaited clarity on the trade front. The impasse in Ukraine peace talks and data showing a bigger than expected increase in UK inflation weighed on sentiment. The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.04%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 crept up 0.06%, Germany's DAX gained 0.36%, and France's CAC 40 closed down 0.4%, while Switzerland's SMI ended 0.22% down. Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands and Norway ended higher. In the UK market, SSE plc shares ended down 1.7% after the company reported pretax profit of 1.85 billion pounds for the year ended 31 March 2025 compared to 2.50 billion pounds, prior year. Earnings per share was 108.1 pence compared to 156.5 pence. Shares of drug firm AstraZeneca gained 1% after the company announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of EsoBiotec. Close Brothers shares ended lower by 3.5% after the loan book decreased 0.9% in the third quarter and 3.5% year-to-date to 9.7 billion pounds in its banking division. Severn Trent gained nearly 2.5% as the water utility delivered strong annual profit growth and said it expects EPS to double by 2028. Sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion tanked more than 10% after reporting lower annual profit. Marks & Spencer closed down 2.8% after projecting a 300-million-pound loss due to a recent cyberattack, has recovered well and is currently up nearly 2%.

United States
Following a moderate pullback in the previous session, stocks showed a more substantial move to the downside during trading on Wednesday. The major averages rebounded from an initial decline but once again slumped into negative territory as the day progressed. The major averages ended the day off their worst levels but still sharply lower. The Dow plunged 816.80 points or 1.9 percent to 41,860.44, the S&P 500 slumped 95.85 points or 1.6 percent to 5,844.61 and the Nasdaq tumbled 270.07 points or 1.4 percent to 18,872.64. The weakness on Wall Street came amid lingering uncertainty about the outlook for trade and the global economy following the surge seen over the past several weeks. Stocks have shown a substantial recovery from their early April lows, but traders have recently been questioning the strength of the rebound amid a lack of clear progress on new trade deals. A continued increase by bond yields also generated selling pressure, with the thirty-year bond yield climbing above 5 percent due to concerns a new U.S. tax bill could worsen the country's deficit. President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill is one step closer to a full vote in the House of Representatives, with economists warning the proposal would add more than $2.5 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade. Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, resulting in a 3.7 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Considerable weakness also emerged among banking stocks, as reflected by the 3.1 percent slump by the KBW Bank Index. Oil service, housing and commercial real estate stocks also saw notable weakness, while gold stocks bucked the downtrend amid a continued increase by the price of the precious metal.

Asia
The stock markets in East Asia and Australia join Wall Street's concerns about the financing of US debt and fall on Thursday. A weak auction of 20-year US government bonds illustrates the unwillingness of the financial market to finance Washington at current interest rates.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved sharply lower after ending the previous session roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, surged 11.5 basis points to 4.596 percent.

Analysis
BoA raises target JD Sports to 112 (106) p – Buy
JPM raises the Aegon target to EUR 7.65 (7.20) – Overweight
MS raises the ING target to EUR 23 (22) – Equalw.