European shares tick higher after Friday selloff; Swiss stocks slump
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab rose 0.2% by 0720 GMT, after logging its biggest daily drop in more than three months on Friday. Switzerland's benchmark SMI index (.SSMI), opens new tab fell 1.5% as trading resumed after a long weekend.
Switzerland could revise its offer to the United States after being hit by a staggering levy late last week that experts warned could trigger a recession, Business Minister Guy Parmelin said.
Swiss pharma stocks Novartis (NOVN.S), opens new tab and Roche (ROG.S), opens new tab slipped 1.3% and 2.3%, respectively, after U.S. President Donald Trump sent letters to the leaders of 17 major pharmaceutical companies directing them to slash U.S. prescription drug prices.
Swiss luxury companies Richemont (CFR.S), opens new tab and Swatch (UHR.S), opens new tab, among the most exposed to tariffs, fell more than 1.5% each.
UBS (UBSG.S), opens new tab slipped 2.5% after the bank said it would pay $300 million to resolve U.S. mortgage securities cases related to misselling of mortage-linked investments.
Lloyds (LLOY.L), opens new tab was a bright spot, gaining 6.3% to the top of the Stoxx 600 index after the UK's Supreme Court overturned a ruling on motor finance commissions in positive news for banks.
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Reuters
22 minutes ago
- Reuters
From ingredient costs to sagging demand, tariffs further pinch company earnings
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Companies across the corporate spectrum revealed more pain from the cost of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff war, with bellwethers Caterpillar, Marriott and others on Tuesday noting weaker demand and higher prices. All told, global companies that have reported earnings this quarter are looking at a hit of around $15 billion to profits in 2025, Reuters' global tariff tracker shows. A majority of these come from industrial, manufacturing and automotive sectors, while financial and tech sectors are less affected. Trump has said the tariffs are necessary to resolve U.S. trade imbalances and declining manufacturing power; he has said the levies on imports will bring jobs and investment to the United States. "I think we're just getting started," said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers in Greenwich, Connecticut. "The tariffs are still in their infancy, especially with major trading partners like Canada, China and India still in flux." Tuesday's round of earnings illustrates the different ways trade policy is affecting companies, from the rising costs of imported materials like metals to the slippage in consumer confidence that has sapped demand. Caterpillar (CAT.N), opens new tab, for instance, saw a 0.7% hit to revenue, while its cost of goods rose by 6.5%, and CEO Joe Creed told investors that tariffs are "likely to be a more significant headwind to profitability in the second half of 2025." Beer maker Molson Coors (TAP.N), opens new tab said it was expecting costs of between $20 million and $35 million in the second half of the year due to a tariff-driven rise in the price of aluminum delivered to the U.S. Midwest . Tariffs on aluminum shipped into the United States were doubled to 50% in June from the previous 25% duty imposed in March. The markets, however, have remained resilient even as Trump's policies continue to change. He said on Tuesday that he would raise tariffs on goods imported from India from the current 25% as part of an ongoing spat with the country over its purchases of oil from Russia. U.S. equities rebounded sharply from their April lows following what Trump deemed "Liberation Day," when he unleashed a wave of global tariffs. The S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab hit all-time highs last month on the back of strong earnings, led by the so-called Magnificent Seven, a group of tech companies that have benefited from surging investment in artificial intelligence. Of the 370 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 80.3% have reported quarterly earnings above analyst estimates, with their earnings growth rate at 11.9%, according to LSEG data. "We are figuring out that some industries may be affected, but they also might gain because (new) markets are open to them that may have been closed in the past. We're going to have to have a couple more quarters to see how this actually plays out," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners. Several market strategists of late have warned that a correction could be in the offing, but are broadly optimistic about the market. Evercore ISI analysts believe the market could dip between 7% and 15% in the September-October period as growth slows and inflation increases, though the AI-driven bull rally should continue. Higher ingredient costs ate into profits of Taco Bell parent Yum Brands (YUM.N), opens new tab, which, like McDonald's (MCD.N), opens new tab and other fast-food chains, leaned on budget-friendly meal deals to boost demand as U.S. consumers pull back on eating out due to worries about rising costs. Hotel operator Marriott International (MAR.O), opens new tab cut its 2025 forecast on softening travel demand, while agribusiness giant Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM.N), opens new tab posted its lowest profit in five years. While some market participants noted that tariff-led uncertainty was likely to persist this year, with over 100 global companies withdrawing or cutting financial guidance, others said in the longer run, companies and investors would be able to see some green shoots. "It seems that companies themselves are a little more optimistic about the outlook now that the Liberation Day tariffs are in the rearview mirror," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. "Companies are going to have to be really deft in how they navigate this (tariffs), but obviously there's no choice but to pass some of this on to the consumer. We see S&P margins hovering around record highs, and it wouldn't surprise me if that ticked down a little bit in the coming quarters."
The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Spotify's price is going up again, here are 6 cheaper music streaming services
Spotify is one of the most expensive music streaming services in the world, and it's about to get even pricier. On 4 August, Spotify announced it would be increasing prices in a number of regions, though it didn't elaborate on which countries would be affected. In a blog post, Spotify said individual premium subscriptions would be going up from €10.99 per month to €11.99 per month in September, including Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific. If the price hike comes to the UK, Spotify subscribers could be asked to pay £12.99 per month. The streamer already increased the price of an individual subscription by £1 last year to £11.99, and raised the price of its other plans, like the family and duo subscription, by £2 per month, leaving many disgruntled users looking for cheaper alternatives to the platform. According to Reuters, despite increasing its user base and subscriber numbers, Spotify is having to pay more tax on employee salaries, which is the reason for the price hike. If you've started looking at switching away from the music platform and want to cancel your Spotify Premium membership, we've rounded up the best, cheaper Spotify alternatives to subscribe to right now. Amazon Music Unlimited is the retail giant's premium music streaming service tier. With a subscription, you can listen to more than 100 million songs ad-free, offline and with unlimited skips. You also get access to Amazon Music's HD CD-quality tracks, lossless hi-res tracks and spatial audio. At the start of the year, Amazon hiked the price of its Amazon Music Unlimited streaming service, increasing the individual membership fee to £11.99, the same price as Spotify. But – and this is a big but – its individual subscription is £1 cheaper than Spotify's if you're subscribed to Amazon Prime (£10.99, and you get access to lossless audio. If you're a Prime member and don't subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, you get free access to all of Amazon Music's catalogue already, but you can only listen in shuffle mode and usually have to pick songs from Amazon's all-access music playlists. If you own a Fire TV stick or an Amazon Echo smart speaker, there is also a single-device subscription available for £5.99 a month. Individual plan: £10.99 per month Student plan: £5.49 per month Family plan: £16.99 per month (up to five additional members) Free trial: A one-month free trial is offered with a paid subscription Strip out all the cat videos, low-res vlogs and memes but keep all the songs, albums, remixes, live performances and music videos, then throw in some recommended playlists. That's YouTube Music Premium in a nutshell. If you subscribe to the service, you'll be able to play music in the background whenever your phone's screen is locked or you're using a different app. It also removes the ads and enables offline play. For an extra £2 per month (£1 more than Spotify Premium) you can get full YouTube Premium, which removes ads from all YouTube videos, watch using picture-in-picture mode, and listen to YouTube videos with your screen switched off. A subscription to YouTube Music Premium is cheaper than all of Spotify's plans, with the individual plan costing £1 less, and the family plan costing £3 less. Individual plan: £10.99 per month Student plan: £5.49 per month Family plan: £16.99 per month (up to six members) Free trial: A one-month free trial for new subscribers DJ extension: £9 extra on Individual and Student plans, for mixing music with stem separation Tidal sets itself apart as a streaming service with high-fidelity sound. The brainchild of the rapper Jay-Z, it bills itself as offering lossless music that sounds the way the artists intended it, and it pays artists one of the best fees per play. The streaming service features more than 110 million tracks, exclusive releases, interviews and music videos. Tidal simplified its pricing structure in April 2024, combining its two former tiers (HiFi and HiFi Plus) into a single subscription. All users pay £10.99 per month and get access to the platform's full suite of premium features, including high-fidelity FLAC audio, Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) tracks, and immersive formats like Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio, making it one of the best value music streaming services around. Last year, Tidal launched the DJ Extension, which lets users mix songs and separate stems, giving them access to enhanced BPM metadata within apps like rekordbox, Serato and DJ Pro. It costs an additional £9 on top of a regular Tidal subscription. Individual plan: £10.99 per month Student plan: £5.99 per month (with the first six months free) and a free subscription to Apple TV+ Family plan: £16.99 per month (up to six members) Free trial: A one-month free trial is available for new members, and six months free with the purchase of an eligible device Apple Music is, unsurprisingly, Apple's ad-free music streaming service. It has more than 100 million tracks, over 30,000 curated playlists, live radio and original shows, concerts and exclusives. Its entire catalogue can be listened to in lossless hi-res audio, and spatial audio can be enabled on its tracks. You can download up to 100,000 songs to play offline, and you also get access to Apple Music Classical – the new classical-only service – as well as Apple Music Sing, which is Apple's karaoke mode. In October 2022, Apple increased the price of its Apple Music subscription. An individual membership currently costs £1 less than a Spotify individual membership, while the family tier is £3 cheaper. It's good to note that you do get lossless hi-res audio and spatial audio with Apple Music, and students get a subscription to Apple TV+ for free. There is, of course, the Apple One subscription, which gives you up to six Apple subscriptions for one lower monthly price, including up to 2TB of iCloud+ storage and access to Apple Music. Individual plan: £11.99 per month (£8.99 per month if paid annually) Student plan: £5.99 per month Duo plan: £15.99 per month (£14.58 per month paid annually) Family plan: £19.99 per month (£18.25 per month paid annually), up to five additional members Free trial: A one-month free trial for new users In an alternate reality, Deezer could have been the Spotify of today, having launched a year before the Swedish company and featuring the same rich library of music and features. Deezer is free if you're prepared to put up with the ads, but the good stuff is all in its premium tier. It has more than 90 million tracks, and Deezer Premium gets rid of the ads, adds offline listening and high-fidelity FLAC audio, which Spotify lacks. As well as music, there are podcasts and radio stations, personalised recommendations and a Shazam-style SongCatcher feature to help identify tracks around you. Deezer also works on smartwatches, smart speakers and car audio systems. While Deezer is as expensive as Spotify, if you pay for a full-year subscription, you'll get a 25 per cent discount, making it significantly cheaper than Spotify. SoundCloud Go plan: £5.99 per month SoundCloud Go+ plan: £10.99 per month Student plan: Go+ for £5.49 per month Free trial: 7-day trial with Go, 30-day trial with Go+ Underground music fans will be very familiar with the music distribution platform SoundCloud. Launched in 2007, SoundCloud is a music streaming service for music producers, independent up-and-coming artists, podcast producers and their listeners, hoping to discover new music. It also has a giant library of 180 million tracks, mostly uploaded directly by artists. There are two premium SoundCloud tiers. SoundCloud Go costs £5.99 per month – it gets rid of all the ads and you get unlimited offline downloads. However, Go+ costs £10.99 per month and gets you access to SoundCloud's entire library, as well as higher-quality audio. SoundCloud Go+ is still significantly cheaper than Spotify. While it doesn't have a family plan, there is a student plan for £5.49 per month. The Go+ plan also lets you listen on up to three devices at once.
Reuters
24 minutes ago
- Reuters
Tesla, Elon Musk sued by shareholders over Robotaxi claims
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Elon Musk and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab were sued by shareholders who accused them of securities fraud for concealing the significant risk that the company's self-driving vehicles, including the Robotaxi, were dangerous. The proposed class action was filed on Monday night, following Tesla's first public test of its robotaxis in late June in the company's Austin, Texas, hometown. That test showed the vehicles speeding, braking suddenly, driving over a curb, entering the wrong lane, and dropping off passengers in the middle of multilane roads. Tesla's share price fell 6.1% over two trading days after the test began, wiping out about $68 billion of market value. Musk and his electric vehicle maker were accused of repeatedly overstating the effectiveness of and prospects for their autonomous driving technology, inflating Tesla's financial prospects and stock price. Shareholders said this included Musk's assurance on an April 22 conference call that Tesla was "laser-focused on bringing robotaxi to Austin in June," and Tesla's claim the same day that its approach to autonomous driving would deliver "scalable and safe deployment across diverse geographies and use cases." Tesla did not immediately respond on Tuesday to requests for comment. Chief Financial Officer Viabhav Taneja and his predecessor Zachary Kirkhorn are also defendants. Expanding robotaxis is crucial for Tesla as the company faces falling demand for its aging electric vehicles and a backlash over Musk's politics. Musk, the world's richest person, wants to offer the service to half the U.S. population by year end, but must convince regulators and assure the public his technology is safe. Monday's lawsuit in Austin federal court is led by Tesla shareholder Denise Morand, and seeks damages for shareholders between April 19, 2023 and June 22, 2025. A Florida jury on August 1 found Tesla 33% responsible for a 2019 crash involving its self-driving software, which killed a 22-year-old woman and injured her boyfriend, and ordered it to pay about $243 million in damages to victims. Tesla blamed the driver and plans to appeal. The case is Morand v Tesla Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, No. 25-01213.
