European stocks logged their first day of gains in three sessions on Wednesday, with shares of car makers driving higher, as investor appeared, for now, to set aside the geopolitical worries emanating from Syria.

U.S. stocks closed modestly lower on Wednesday as investors remained cautious amid persistent geopolitical risks. The main indexes briefly trimmed losses as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with the Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss the civil war in Syria and nuclear capabilities of North Korea, then ticked back toward the low end of the daily range after President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he felt the dollar was "getting too strong."

China's trade balance returned to a surplus in March, helped by renewed strength in exports after a surprise deficit in February. The balance between exports and imports came to a surplus of $23.93 billion in March, compared with a deficit of $9.15 billion in February, the General Administration of Customs said Thursday.