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European stock markets closed higher on Tuesday, with the regional Stoxx 600 index provisionally up 0.07%.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 ended 0.02% lower, while France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX closed 0.3% and 0.23% higher, respectively.

The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, fell again on Tuesday, bringing it back below 18 for the first time since March 27. The index, which is seen by many as a measure of fear in the market, last traded around 17.82.

The VIX had soared as high as 60.13 in early April as investors worried that rising trade tensions would knock the economy into a recession.

The Trump administration on Tuesday said Saudi Arabia has committed to investing $600 billion in the U.S., with the funds focused on segments including technology and defense.

“The deals celebrated today are historic and transformative for both countries and represent a new golden era of partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” the White House said in a statement.

— Brian Evans

The S&P 500 opened near the flatline on Tuesday as investors slowed down bets on risk assets following a strong rally to start the week.

The broad market index gained 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 198 points, or 0.4%.

— Brian Evans

Inflation was slightly lower than expected in April as President Donald Trump’s tariffs just began hitting the slowing U.S. economy, according to a Labor Department report Tuesday.

The consumer price index, which measures the costs for a broad range of goods and services, rose 0.2% for the month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The monthly reading was in line with the Dow Jones consensus estimate and slightly below the annual forecast for 2.4%.

Read the full story here.

— Jeff Cox

Seventeen U.K. pension funds agreed on Tuesday to allocate at least 5% of their default defined contribution (DC) funds to domestic private markets by 2030.

In the U.K., a DC pension is a retirement savings plan built with financial contributions from an individual and sometimes their employer. Those contributions are invested by a fund manager until the holder withdraws money in retirement, with the final pension amount depending on the value of the contributions and how well the investments have performed over time.

Signatories to Tuesday’s Mansion House Accord pledged to allocate at least 10% to private markets by the end of the decade, half of which would go specifically to British markets. Private markets were defined as unlisted equities, property, infrastructure and credit.

The investment in the U.K. was contingent upon “a sufficient supply of suitable investible assets for providers,” the accord, seen by CNBC, said.

Signatories to the agreement were Aegon UK, Aon, Aviva, Legal & General, LifeSight, M&G, Mercer, NatWest Cushon, Nest, now:pensions, Phoenix Group, Royal London, Smart Pension, the People’s Pension, SEI, TPT Retirement Solutions and the Universities Superannuation Scheme.

Collectively, their pension assets amount to £252 billion ($333.4 billion).

— Chloe Taylor

The U.K. unemployment rate hit 4.5% in the January to March period, the highest rate since August 2021.

Vacancies dropped by 42,000 across February to April, falling for the 34th consecutive quarter.

“There are clear signs of loosening in the labor market – even before the double whammy of the hike in minimum wage and employer [National Insurance Contributions] kick in,” Deutsche Bank’s chief U.K. economist Sanjay Raja said by email.

— Jenni Reid

Shares of German chemicals giant Bayer rose by 9% after beating the top and bottom line on its first-quarter results.

The company, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies, reported 13.74 billion euros ($15.27 billion) in first-quarter sales, more than the 13.52 billion euros expected by analysts.

Bayer also reported adjusted profits of 4.09 billion euros, down by 7.4% year on year but higher than the 3.75 billion euros expected.

The company said it may be able to offset any impact from tariffs through mitigation measures, which analysts view as “positive.”

“All in all, it was encouraging to see Bayer beat expectations and confirm its constant currency guidance, despite the uncertain tariff environment,” said Falko Friedrichs, equity analyst at Deutsche Bank. “However, we caution that the underlying results continued to be weak, with significant earnings declines and ongoing high legal risks.”

— Ganesh Rao

Softbank’s Vision Fund business on Tuesday posted a loss in the fiscal year that ended in March as it booked slowing gains at its massive tech investment arm.

SoftBank said it notched a gain on investment at its Vision Funds of 434.9 billion yen in the fiscal year, a 40% fall from the 724.3 billion yen booked in the previous year.

The Vision Fund segment overall logged a pretax loss of 115.02 billion yen, or $777.7 million, versus a profit of 128.2 billion yen in the previous fiscal year.

Read the full story.

— Arjun Kharpal

German reinsurers reported a hit of nearly $2 billion on their first-quarter earnings following the Los Angeles wildfires.

Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company, said it anticipated all claims attributable to the wildfires will total around 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in the first quarter of 2025 due to the wildfires in California earlier this year.

Reinsurance firms offer policies to primary insurance providers, who typically deal directly with customers on the ground. Reinsurance policies usually only kick in after about 400 million euros worth of losses are absorbed by the primary insurance provider.

“The devastating wildfires in Los Angeles resulted in the [property-casualty segment’s] largest single claims event, totalling approximately €0.8bn (nominal),” the company said in its quarterly statement. Despite the hit, the group reported a net profit of 1.1 billion euros, down 48% from the previous year.

Hannover Re, the world’s third largest reinsurer, said its largest net individual loss was 631.4 million euros from the California wildfires.

“Payments for large losses reached EUR 764.7 million in the first quarter – driven above all by the California wildfires – and thus came in significantly higher than the envisaged large loss budget of EUR 435 million,” Hannover said in its quarterly statement. Net profit for the firm fell by 14% to 480 million euros.

— Ganesh Rao

Correction: The total cost of the wildfires to the German insurers was $1.9 billion. A previous version of this post misstated the figure.

European markets are expected to open in mixed territory Tuesday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 4 points lower at 8,591, Germany’s DAX up 23 points at 23,569, France’s CAC 3 points lower at 7,834 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 30 points lower at 39,222, according to data from IG.

Earnings come from Softbank, Tata Motors, Metro Bank and Bayer. Data releases include U.K. retail sales and unemployment figures. Germany’s ZEW survey of economic sentiment is also due to be released.

— Holly Ellyatt