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There is a “long way to go” in Asda’s plan to revive the supermarket giant’s fortunes, its boss has said.

However, Allan Leighton, who recently rejoined the UK’s third largest grocery chain after more than 20 years, said it has seen “green shoots” in its turnaround efforts.

The retailer, owned by US private equity firm TDR Capital and petrol forecourt billionaire Mohsin Issa, previously said it could take between three and five years to get fully back on track.

Industry figures released earlier this week showed Asda’s share of the grocery market has shrunk to 12.1% – it’s lowest since Kantar started collecting data in 2011.

The firm has struggled to keep up with larger rivals Tesco and Sainsbury’s and come under pressure from fast-growing discounters Aldi and Lidl since its debt-fuelled takeover in 2021.

On Thursday, Mr Leighton said the retailer’s “prices were too high and availability was woeful” before his appointment, leading shoppers to switch.

Earlier this year, the company reduced the prices of more than 10,000 products in its renewed strategy to win over shoppers.

Bosses said the retailer will still follow through with ambitions to keep pricing low across rafts of products despite accelerating food inflation.

The company said it hopes to win back customers across the board but can benefit from bringing its pricing “closer” to low-priced discounter rivals.

Read the full article here

Shares of cosmetics company e.l.f. Beauty (ELF) rose more than 20% on Thursday on the heels its quarterly results and $1bn acquisition announcement of Rhode, a brand founded by Hailey Bieber.

Bieber, the model wife of pop singer Justin Bieber, launched the company three years ago. She is set to continue as founder and step into an expanded role of chief creative officer and head of innovation.”

Rhodes reported $212m worth in net sales in the year ended in March.

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has welcomed a US trade court ruling against Donald Trump’s tariffs, including some which apply to imports from Canada.

On Thursday he told the Canadian House of Commons that the decision “is consistent with Canada’s long standing position that the tariffs were unlawful as well as unjustified”.

Donald Trump is set to sign three more deals with US trade partners despite the US court recently blocking most of his tariffs.

Kevin Hassett, White House economic adviser, said he was expecting more deals to be signed imminently.

It comes as Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs have been declared illegal by a US trade court.

The US economy shrunk less than expected during Donald Trump’s first three months in office, down 0.2%.

The figure for the first quarter came in slightly better than forecast, marking a 0.1 percentage point upgrade, as companies rushed to import as much as possible in anticipation of tariffs.

However, it comes as a sharp slowdown from the final three months of 2024, when the economy grew by 2.4% in a single quarter.

Meanwhile, separate data showed filings for US jobless claims rose last week. Jobless benefits applications increased 14,000 to 240,000 for the week ending 24 May, according to the US Labor Department. Analysts had forecast 226,000 new applications.

Shein is seeking to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange and turn its back on a planned listing in London, according to reports.

The fast-fashion firm has been looking to float on the London Stock Exchange for the past year but has struggled to get the go-ahead from Chinese regulators for the move.

The company, which was founded in China but is based in Singapore, is planning to file draft papers with Hong Kong’s stock exchange in the coming weeks, according to Reuters.

Sources said the business intends to go public in the Asian financial hub within the year, the reports said.

Shein’s expected London listing was due to be a major boon for the City’s beleaguered equity markets.

The company had reportedly secured approval for the listing from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in March.

Read the full article here

Auto Trader (AUTO.L), the UK's largest digital automotive marketplace, released its full year results on Thursday. It reported a 5% rise in revenue to £601m in the year ended in March, below analyst expectations of £606m.

Operating profit increased 8% and basic earnings per share increased 12%. The company expects a slight improvement in revenue growth in the coming year.

Charlie Huggins, manager of the quality shares portfolio at Wealth Club, said:

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) dipped by around 1% on Thursday, following the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s May policy meeting, which revealed mounting concern over persistent US inflation and the potential for economic slowdown.

Bitcoin was hovering just below $108,000 (£80,244). The dip comes shortly after bitcoin set a new all-time high above $111,000 on 22 May.

The minutes from the 6-7 May Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting showed Fed officials warning they may soon face “difficult tradeoffs” as inflation remains stubbornly high and unemployment begins to rise.

Officials also highlighted risks to financial stability, pointing to recent bond market volatility and cautioning that shifting perceptions of the US dollar’s safe-haven status could have lasting repercussions for the global economy.

The broader cryptocurrency market also fell on Thursday, with total market capitalisation falling more than 2% to around $3.54tn, according to data from CoinGecko.

“This week’s FOMC minutes and the upcoming Core PCE inflation data arrive at a fragile moment for macro-driven assets like Bitcoin,” Bitfinex head of derivatives Jag Kooner said.

“Traders aren’t just watching for signals on interest rates, they’re looking for insight into how the Fed interprets inflation risks in light of new tariff policies, particularly after the US imposed a 50% levy on EU imports.”

Read more here

The ongoing trade war may get worse after the recent US court ruling, according to analysts at Rabobank.

They said:

Oil prices jumped on Thursday morning, after a US court blocked US president Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs.

The US Court of International Trade ruled that Trump exceeded his authority when he used an emergency law to issue global reciprocal tariffs on US trading partners.

Brent crude futures (BZ=F) were up 1.5% to $65.30 a barrel, at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) gained 1.7% at $62.87 a barrel.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said:

Fears that Trump's tariffs could lead to an economic slowdown and impact demand for fuel have weighed on oil prices, so the ruling appears to have helped ease investor concerns.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

UK car production hit its lowest monthly output in more than 70 years last month thanks to US tariffs and the later timing of Easter.

According to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), car and commercial vehicle production fell 15.8% to 59,203 in April.

Monthly vehicle output has not been that low since 1952, excluding 2020 when the pandemic shut down most manufacturing.

The April figure was also 16% lower than the same month last year, and a quarter lower than March, when numbers were likely to have been boosted by manufacturers shipping more cars to the US before Trump's 25% tariff on steel, aluminium, and cars kicked in.

The SMMT added that car production for exports fells by 10.1% driven by falls in demand from the UK's biggest export markets the US and EU. The total number of vehicles manufactured in the UK for the first four months of the year was the lowest since 2009.

The government has said it will require the largest UK pension funds to invest in British assets.

It “will take a reserve power in the Pension Schemes Bill to set binding asset allocation targets” for investments in private markets, the Treasury said. It will also secure £27.5bn for “local investment priorities” for Local Government Pension Scheme authorities.

The chancellor said the overhaul, designed to follow the example of Australia and Canada's pension investment funds, would also boost pension pots.

It comes as seventeen of the UK's largest pension firms have already approved the outline of these reforms in a voluntary agreement earlier this month.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

Mortgage deals under 4% are quickly vanishing as lenders adjust to higher inflation and lower expectations that the Bank of England (BoE) will cut rates aggressively this year, while almost half a million homeowners face a £510 monthly rise as five-year fixed mortgage deals end.

The average rate for a two-year fixed mortgage stands at 4.90%, while five-year fixed deals average 5.24%, according to data from Uswitch.

The Bank of England has cut interest rates from 4.5% to 4.25%, meaning the average homeowner on a tracker mortgage will see their monthly repayments fall by nearly £29, after the quarter-point snip to the base rate.

However, nearly half a million UK homeowners who secured mortgages at the height of the pandemic are now bracing for a steep rise in monthly payments, as their five-year fixed-rate deals end amid significantly higher interest rates.

Research from price comparison site Compare the Market shows that 469,192 borrowers who took out mortgages in 2020, when the average fixed interest rate stood at 2.11%, could see their monthly repayments surge by hundreds of pounds if they revert to their lender’s standard variable rate (SVR).

Based on current market conditions, borrowers transitioning to an SVR, now averaging 7.13% according to the latest Bank of England data, would face average monthly payments of £1,227. That marks a £510 increase from the £717 they paid under their original fixed-rate terms, assuming an average mortgage debt of £178,523.

Annually, this equates to a jump from £9,195 to £15,319 — an increase of nearly 67%.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

India has demonstrated a good performance in venture capital (VC) funding activity in early 2025, recording a significant increase in both deal volume and value.

The total number of VC deals announced in India surged around 19% during January to April compared to the same period in the previous year. Meanwhile the total funding value of these deals experienced a year-on-year growth of around 20%, according to GlobalData.

Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData, said:

For instance, the US and the UK registered growth in VC funding value but a fall in deal volume during the period compared to the same time the previous year. Meanwhile, China experienced a decline in both VC deal volume and value during the same period.

India continues to be a key global market for VC funding activity and remained among the top five countries in terms of both deal volume and value during the first four months of 2025.

The analysis revealed that India accounted for more than 8% of the total number of VC deals announced globally during this period, while its share of the corresponding funding value was more than 3%.

Bose added:

Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang touted the company's plans to manufacture its AI chips in the US, while warning against export controls that limit its ability to ship products to China.

Huang made the comments during Nvidia's fiscal first quarter earnings call on Wednesday, saying that he expects the company to build everything from chips to supercomputers in America by the end of the year.

To do that, Huang explained, Nvidia is working with Taiwanese companies ranging from TSMC and Foxconn to Winstron to manufacture its various components.

"To encourage and support these investments, we've made substantial long-term purchase commitments, a deep investment in America's AI manufacturing future," Huang said during the call.

Huang's statements come after President Trump criticized Apple for not moving iPhone manufacturing to America and threatened to add a 25% tariff to the company's products if it doesn't commit to such a move.

While Huang said he agrees with Trump's desire to bring manufacturing back to the US, he warned against the administration's decision to ban Nvidia chip sales to China, saying that the AI platform that wins China is positioned to lead globally.

“China is one of the world’s largest AI markets and a springboard to AI success,” Huang said, adding that China’s AI will move on with or without US-made chips like Nvidia’s.

Read more here

News of the US Court ruling has helped lift stocks in Asia and in Europe on Thursday, however it may be short-lived seeing as we have yet to hear directly from president Trump.

Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis, said:

Meanwhile, Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said:

Elon Musk has announced that he is leaving the Trump administration after leading the push to reduce the size of US government, which saw thousands of federal jobs axed.

In a post on X, he thanked Trump for the opportunity to help run the Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk's 130-day mandate as a special government employee in the Trump administration was set to expire about 30 May. Reports reveal that the White House began "offboarding" Musk as a special government employee on Wednesday night.

An estimated 260,000 out of the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce have had their jobs cut or accepted redundancy deals as a result of Doge.

Stocks in Asia were higher overnight as the US Court of International Trade ruled that the Trump administration did not have the authority to impose most of the tariffs that have been announced.

It said the administration had exceeded their legal authority, and that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) “does not authorize the President to impose unbounded tariffs.”

The court gave the administration 10 days in order to “effectuate” the judgement — the ruling covers the 10% baseline tariffs, the 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products, the extra 20% on China, as well as all the reciprocal tariffs that have been paused until 9 July.

However, there are a few exceptions not covered by the ruling, including the tariffs on steel, aluminium and automobiles.

The Nikkei (^N225) rose 1.9% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) gained 1.4% in Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.7% up by the end of the session.

The Kospi (^KS11) was also up 1.9% after the Bank of Korea delivered a 25bp rate cut overnight, in line with expectations, taking the policy rate down to 2.5%. They also cut their growth forecast for this year to 0.8%.

Across the pond on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped 0.6%, falling back after the previous day’s 2.05% surge, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) was 0.5% down. The Dow Jones (^DJI) fell 0.6%.

Good morning, and welcome back to our markets live blog. As usual we will be taking a deep dive into what's moving markets, and happening across the global economy.

Coming up today we have US data releases which include the weekly initial jobless claims, the second estimate of Q1 GDP, and pending home sales for April. Otherwise, Central bank speakers include the Fed’s Barkin, Goolsbee, Kugler, Daly and Logan, along with Bank of England (BoE) governor Andrew Bailey.

Here's a snaphot of what's on the agenda:

• 7am: Trading updates: Nationwide (NBS.L), Helios Underwriting (HUW.L), Braemar (BMS.L), Hollywood Bowl (BOWL.L), AutoTrader (AUTO.L)

• 9:30am: ONS estimates of inflation for different household types

• 1:30pm: Second reading of US GDP

• 1:30pm: US weekly jobless claims