By Shashwat Chauhan, Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A

(Reuters) -European shares hit a one-week high on Wednesday on a boost from energy stocks and as Italian lenders rebounded from the previous session’s sharp losses after the government eased its stance on the windfall tax on banks.

Euro zone banks gained 1.4% after a 3.5% slump a day earlier, as Italy’s government announced late on Tuesday a cap on a windfall tax for the country’s lenders. It clarified that the 40% windfall tax would not amount to more than 0.1% of their total assets.

Italian lenders such as Finecobank <FBK.MI>, Banco BPM and UniCredit added between 4.3% and 7.1%while the banks-heavy FTSE MIB index rose 0.4%.

“We’ve had some watering down of the policy from yesterday, and what it looks like is the impact should be less severe, but still a tax, nonetheless,” said Ankit Gheedia, head of equity and derivatives strategy at BNP Paribas.

The pan-European STOXX 600 ended up 0.4%, with data showing China slipped into deflation also providing a boost to risk sentiment.

“”Equity traders are looking through that disappointing news to think that maybe that brings us closer to getting some meaningful stimulus out of China.” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers.

The oil and gas index advanced 2.3%, posting its best day in two months as oil prices hit their highest levels since April. [O/R]

The focus will shift to U.S. inflation data due on Thursday, with investors looking to see whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again this year.

Meanwhile, earnings for STOXX 600 companies are expected to have fallen 4.8% in the second quarter, according to Refinitiv IBES data, a clear improvement from the 8.2% drop estimated at the start of the earnings season.

Delivery Hero advanced 4.7% after the German online takeaway food company raised its full-year revenue outlook.

Hiscox dropped 6.0% after the Lloyd’s of London insurer’s weaker retail growth outlook overshadowed its profit jump in its first-half results.

Flutter Entertainment lost 4.4% after the world’s largest online betting firm posted a 76% jump in half-year core profit but warned of a weaker Australian market outlook.

The stocks dragged the Irish stock index down 1.3%, making it the only decliner among European bourses.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan, Sruthi Shankar, Amruta Khandekar and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K, Eileen Soreng and Paul Simao)

By Ernest Scheyder

(Reuters) -Piedmont Lithium on Tuesday drew skepticism and anger at a meeting with local North Carolina officials about its plans for a lithium mine that could supply the electric vehicle battery metal to Tesla.

Shares fell more than 3% on Wednesday, the first trading session after the meeting.

The open-pit mine, if approved, would be one of the few lithium-producing sites in the United States, but there has been little progress in gaining approvals for the project, which the company has been trying to get up and running since 2018.

At the public meeting with the Gaston County Board of Commissioners, which controls zoning changes, officials were irked that Piedmont CEO Keith Phillips did not attend and expressed concern that the 500-foot-deep (152 m) mine could cause wells in the area, which many residents rely on, to run dry.

“I don’t want to see any of our citizens ever be put in that position,” Commissioner Allen Fraley said at the meeting, which was webcast. “How would you like to wake up one morning and your well’s dry?”

Piedmont said it would be open to helping its neighbors in those situations dig deeper wells or connect to municipal water supplies.

Piedmont said Phillips did not attend because its technical experts did instead. The company brought staff focused on environmental and legal issues, as well as experts on blasting, water and other technical areas. The informational meeting was a follow-up to a similar one held in 2021.

The project, which has divided the county of roughly 230,000 just west of Charlotte, underscores broader tension in the U.S. as those who are resistant to living near a mine clash with those who believe the United States must lessen its dependence on China for lithium and other strategic minerals to cope with climate change.

Piedmont first signed a deal to supply lithium to Tesla in 2020 from North Carolina. That deal was paused before being renegotiated in January after Piedmont found a temporary source for the metal from a Quebec lithium mine in which it has an investment. Piedmont’s access to that Quebec supply is expected to end by 2026.

In Gaston County, Piedmont will need the board to approve a zoning variance before it can build the project. The board has said it will not consider such a change until the company receives a state mining permit. Piedmont has been seeking a permit for nearly two years.

Piedmont officials said they would aim to not discharge processed water into local waterways. They added that Piedmont was also open to funding a mine reclamation bond “much larger” than the $1 million required by state regulations, though they did not provide a specific amount.

Multiple residents spoke against the proposed mine at the meeting. None spoke for it.

Piedmont said it thought the meeting went well. “Our goal was to answer questions and open a dialogue,” said spokesperson Erin Sanders.

Brown, who has been a commissioner since 2010 and is a candidate for North Carolina secretary of state, described the meeting as a “mixed bag.”

“I want to be pro-economic development,” Brown said. “But I’m worried about the environmental impact of the mine and the economic impact after it closes.”

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and David Gregorio)

By Allison Lampert and Shivansh Tiwary

(Reuters) -Wheels Up Experience said on Wednesday there was “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operations, even as it disclosed short-term funding from Delta Air Lines, sending its shares plunging 42%.

The company, which charters planes by the hour, has taken a slew of restructuring measures this year including job cuts and management changes as private jet traffic, which soared on demand from wealthy travelers during the pandemic, has slowed.

North American business flights were down 3.6% compared with July 2022, according to data from Argus International.

Delta said in a statement that it was providing a short-term capital infusion in the form of a secured promissory note to Wheels Up, which is pursuing strategic partnerships. It did not disclose the size of the funding.

There was a huge growth in private jet travel because people avoided commercial airlines during the pandemic, but as commercial travel has recovered, it has hit private operators, Delta CEO Ed Bastian told Reuters in an interview last month.

Wheels Up, which canceled an earnings call scheduled for Wednesday, said U.S. private jet operator Airshare had entered into a non-binding agreement with the company to acquire its non-core aircraft management business.

Airshare said with this potential acquisition it would have aircraft management customers across the U.S.

(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar SinghEditing by Vinay Dwivedi and Mark Potter)

By Simon Jessop, Alessandro Parodi and Laura Lenkiewicz

LONDON (Reuters) -Insured losses stemming from natural catastrophes rose to $50 billion in the first half of 2023, the second highest reading since 2011, reinsurer Swiss Re said on Wednesday.

Severe thunderstorms accounted for 70% of total insured losses, while the February earthquake in Turkey and Syria was the single costliest disaster, the company said in a report.

In the United States alone, thunderstorms caused insured losses of $34 billion, the highest ever in a six-month period, while extreme weather conditions in Florida and California forced some insurers to stop sales in the states.

“The effects of climate change can already be seen in certain perils like heatwaves, droughts, floods and extreme precipitation,” Jérôme Jean Haegeli, Swiss Re’s Group Chief Economist, said in the report.

Overall global economic losses totalled $120 billion, 46% above the ten-year average, Swiss Re added, with the insured losses up from $48 billion in the first six months of 2022.

“The above‑average losses reaffirm a 5–7% annual growth trend in insured losses, driven by a warming climate but even more so, by rapidly growing economic values in urbanized settings, globally,” Martin Bertogg, Head of Catastrophe Perils at Swiss Re, said.

As insuring against natural catastrophe grows more expensive, underwriters issued a record amount of insurance-linked securities in the first half of the year, including catastrophe (cat) bonds, which pay the issuer in the event a predefined disaster occurs.

Cat bond issuance spiked to a total of $40 billion – twice that of a decade ago – as insurers hedged against natural disasters and large funds with a higher risk/reward appetite sought attractive investments, Morningstar said in a separate note last week.

Wind events in the U.S., including tornadoes and hurricanes, accounted for almost 70% of the total issuance of the securities in the first half of 2023, the Morningstar report showed.

Funds such as French asset manager Amundi, Zurich-based GAM group, Britain’s Schroders, and Switzerland’s Twelve Capital are among the top investors in this market, Morningstar said.

However, primary insurers are also starting to look at the capital market, mostly driven by capacity issues, Dennis Sugrue, senior director at S&P Global, told Reuters.

Traditionally less prominent markets are opening to natural cat bonds, such as Europe, where the risk transfer needs of insurance and reinsurance companies are driven especially by inflation, Andy Palmer, EMEA & APAC head of ILS structuring at Swiss Re Capital, said

Should natural disasters become more common and intense, large funds will be drawn to the promise of higher returns, Morningstar analyst Paul Olmsted told Reuters, as more dangers will present them with more opportunities.

(Reporting by Simon Jessop in London, Alessandro Parodi and Laura Lenkiewicz in Gdansk; additional reporting by Diana Mandiá Álvarez, Jakub Olesiuk and Elizaveta Gładun; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Amanda Cooper)