Key events
Sainsbury’s is the FTSE 100’s lead performer this morning, with its share price up 3.9%.
That means that it has recovered all of the lost value last month when its share price plunged following Asda’s announcement that it intended to cut prices.
Sainsbury’s share price was last at £2.57, compared with under £2.55 before Asda’s comments. It fell as low as £2.23 during the Donald Trump-induced stock market turmoil.
Key Taiwanese chipmaker beats profit estimates despite Trump tariff uncertainty
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, one of the world’s key chipmakers, has warned that uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs are clouding its outlook, even as it beat profit forecasts.
The company, TSMC, said that it had seen strong demand for the most advanced chips it makes for other companies: those with transistors between 3 nanometres and 5 nanometres in size.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s net profit for January-March climbed to T$361.6bn (£8.4bn), its fourth straight quarter of double-digit growth, Reuters reported. That was ahead of a T$354.6bn estimate drawn from 18 analysts.
TSMC is the leading chip fab, or fabricator, producing semiconductor chips according to other companies’ designs. Its products are crucial to products ranging from Apple’s iPhones to chip designer to the racks of chips used to train artificial intelligence large language models.
The US has threatened steep 32% tariffs on Taiwanese exports, but backed down as part of Trump’s tariff “pause”. The US has also exempted semiconductors from some tariffs, but Trump could re-impose tariffs at any time.
Wendell Huang, TSMC’s chief financial officer, said:
Moving into second quarter 2025, we expect our business to be supported by strong demand for our industry-leading 3nm and 5nm technologies. While we have not seen any changes in our customers’ behaviour so far, uncertainties and risks from the potential impact from tariff policies exist. We will continue to closely monitor the potential impact on the end market demand, and manage our business prudently.
The FTSE 100 is the worst of the European stock market performers on this sunny Thursday morning in London: it is down 0.6% in the early trades.
Germany’s Dax index is up 0.3%, while France’s Cac 40 is down 0.4%.
Across the indices larger stocks are down, with the Euro Stoxx 50 down 0.2%.
Sainsbury’s says profits to be flat after breaking £1bn; Fed warns on inflation
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of business, economics and financial markets.
Sainsbury’s has made underlying retail operating profits of more than £1bn for the first time, but the British supermarket chain suggested it will not beat that this year as it battles with rivals on price.
UK supermarkets are locked in a battle for market share, trying to entice shoppers with lower prices – or trying to defend their turf against cheaper rivals.
Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s share prices slumped last month after Asda said it would cut prices. Price cuts look like they will continue to hit profits in the current year, with guidance kept at £1bn.
Sainsbury’s pre-tax profits rose 38.6% to £384m but underlying operating profit hit £1bn if one-off items, such as those related to the closure of cafes and hot food counters announced in January, were excluded, retail correspondent Sarah Butler reports.
Federal Reserve’s inflation warning
If it’s price cuts that are worrying British supermarket investors, price rises are the focus of the US Federal Reserve.
Jerome Powell, the Fed’s chair, said that Donald Trump’s tariffs were causing a “challenging scenario” for the central bank and were likely to increase inflation.
Chinese online retailers Shein and Temu last night gave a clear indication of how tariffs will increase inflation: they said that they will increase prices for US customers, although they did not say how much. Economists are expecting a big jump in the prices of the billions of dollars of goods imported from China in particular, after Trump raised tariffs on most products to 145%.
Powell’s comments caused US stock markets to drop last night, and the FTSE 100 has followed suit on Thursday morning, down 0.8% in the early trades.
And happy ECB day to those who celebrate! The European Central Bank is expected to cut interest rates for the seventh time in a year later today in an effort to prop up the European economy, under pressure from the chaos across the Atlantic.
The agenda
-
1:15pm BST: European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision
-
1:30pm BST: US initial jobless claims (week ending 12 April; previous: 223,000; consensus: 225,000)
-
1:45pm BST: ECB press conference with Christine Lagarde
Source link
