Another tumultuous week for global markets is drawing to a close after Donald Trump issued more furious tariff threats. His actions followed a US Supreme Court ruling that struck down last year’s “liberation day” tariffs as unlawful.
In a heated and often confusing response to the court ruling, Trump pledged to hike global tariffs to 15% “where appropriate”. Writing on his Truth Social platform, he suggested that far from constraining his presidential powers on tariffs, the Supreme Court had ‘‘accidentally and unwittingly” expanded them.
Unsurprisingly, the move sparked more market rumblings around the world, even after some of the tariffs came into effect at a lower rate of 10%. In the EU, officials were immediately concerned about the new tariffs leaving about €4.2bn (£3.6bn) of its exports facing levies above the 15% ceiling agreed in the EU-US trade accord.
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British officials, however, played down the impact of new tariffs, saying they were not expected to have much impact on an economic deal between the UK and the US, which was negotiated last year.
Meanwhile, data compiled from a survey of 2,000 firms showed that UK companies have loosened ties with the US, as a result of last year’s tariffs. Instead, they targeted new territories including China, Japan, Australia and several EU countries.
At the end of the week, Wall Street analysts were digesting the news that Netflix (NFLX) had backed out of its Warner Bros (WBD) takeover deal after its rival Paramount Skydance (PSKY) swooped in with a superior offer.
The latter company raised its bid for the entirety of Warner Bros Discovery to $31 per share, which compared unfavourably with Netflix’s proposal of $27.75 per share for the target’s streaming and studio assets.
Netflix shares jumped by 13% in after-hours trading. Many investors at the streaming service appeared increasingly unhappy about getting into a bidding war for Warner Bros. The immediate spike in shares after Netflix dropped out hinted at a collective sense of relief.
On the earnings front, Nvidia’s (NVDA) was the main event this week. While the company beat expectations, investors were distinctly underwhelmed, showing that doubts about the huge rise in AI spending by the megacaps are ever-present.
In good news for British Airways, its parent company AIG (AIGI.L) reported a rise in operating profit of 17.3% last year to a record €5bn (£4.3bn), up from €4.3bn in 2024. Fellow UK airline EasyJet (EZJ.L) had a more turbulent week after it emerged that the company, along with Rightmove (RMV.L), is poised to be kicked out of the FTSE 100 (^FTSE). EasyJet’s shares have fallen 7% over the past six months.