That is all from us today, but do follow our US blog for everything moving markets across the pond.

Thanks,

PHG

Switzerland is the place to be this summer, with the alpine country hosting both the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest in Basel and the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 football tournament.

Known as the "Land of Milk and Honey" due to its prosperity and beautiful landscapes, and reputedly the "Playground of Europe" as a top destination for outdoor pursuits, Switzerland regularly features highly in global quality of life indices.

However, the high standard of living, high wages and strong economy that Switzerland is renowned for are matched by correspondingly high prices — meaning it can be costly to visit.

But with a little creativity, some planning and a willingness to embrace the great outdoors, it is possible to enjoy everything Switzerland has to offer while sticking to a budget.

Here is how...

The dollar extended declines on Wednesday morning, following a significant move lower overnight, as inflation and trade tensions eased.

The US dollar index (DX-Y.NYB), which tracks the dollar against a basket of currencies, fell 0.41% to 100 as the Japanese yen and South Korean won strengthened.

Reuters reports:

Tesla (TSLA) stock chugged higher at the open on Wednesday after a Financial Times report that the EV maker's board is once again exploring how to compensate CEO Elon Musk.

But while a new pay package may be in the works, it doesn't come without controversy surrounding the CEO and Tesla board of directors, as Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian reports:

Read more here.

In the afterglow of the US-China trade agreement, stocks are back up on the year. Portfolios are close to where they started before "Liberation Day." And investors who stood their ground might feel vindicated, relieved, or just exhausted.

For all the vibrancy in the air, the return to previous levels is another reminder of how expectations have shifted. If the most extreme elements of a manufactured trade conflict have been settled or at least placed on hold, investors will turn their attention to what's next: the struggle to get inflation under control, the Fed's rate-setting predicament, and the challenge of navigating policy uncertainty.

"The transition from tariff rates, retaliation, and ultimately to trade deals is an important sequence for the recovery in US equity markets," said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, in a note this week.

While economists and other market observers have applauded the progress in trade negotiations, so much still needs to be ironed out with so many other governments. Meanwhile, the 90-day reciprocal tariff pause is more than one-third used up.

In recent weeks, as optimistic tariff news was sprinkled into the wider, more pessimistic discussions about trade woes, it's become clearer that positive trade headlines alone may not be sufficient to power the next leg upward.

"The lack of investor response could partially be due to the likelihood of the 10% universal tariff rate being maintained," said Turnquist.

Find out more here

Bank of England interest rate-setter Catherine Mann told CNBC today that she voted to hold UK borrowing costs last week because Britain’s labour market has been more resilient than she expected.

In the BoE's February meeting, Mann voted for a big 50-basis pointcut but in the May meeting she was one of two policymakers who voted to hold interest rates at 4.5%.

A majority of five members voted to cut by a quarter point to 4.25%, while two voted for a steeper half-point reduction.

Mann, a former chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said:

She added that retailers and consumer goods companies will need to show that they are keeping a lid on prices before there can be further interest rate cuts.

UK property platform Rightmove (RMV.L) and building society Nationwide (NBS.L) have launched an online feature that allows potential homebuyers to understand if a specific property is likely to be eligible for mortgage lending.

They said that the new digital "property lending check" is a global first, in enabling homebuyers to receive real-time information about the likelihood of getting a mortgage on a house before viewing it and make an offer. The feature aims to give "home-hunters more mortgage confidence, much earlier in their moving journey," they said.

According to the announcement on Wednesday, Nationwide will assess typical risks on a listing, such as flooding or short lease lengths, to determine if mortgage lending would be likely on the property.

Previously, a house buyer would apply for a mortgage in principle, to find out how much they might be able to borrow from a lender. However, this would not allow them to find out if a specific property they wanted to view was likely to be eligible for a mortgage.

It typically takes more than five months to complete a home sale, Rightmove said.

The property lending check feature is in an addition to Rightmove's mortgage in principle, which is powered by Nationwide. They said that this can help agents identify more proceedable buyers, cut down on wasted time and reduce the risk of deals falling through later in the process.

Matt Smith, head of mortgages at Rightmove, said:

Henry Jordan, director of home at Nationwide, said:

Read the full article here

Britain’s biggest pawnbroker H&T (HAT.L) has been acquired by a US firm in a deal worth £297m.

The pawnbroking chain agreed to sell to Texas-based FirstCash (FCFS) for 650p a share plus a final dividend of 11p a share.

The deal will create the largest publicly traded pawn business in the US, Latin America and the UK, the two companies said, allowing FirstCash to expand into the UK.

FirstCash chief executive Rick Wessel said the move “provides an entry into a significant new market, which we believe will unlock additional growth opportunities”.

Founded in 1897 as Harvey & Thompson, H&T runs 285 shops across England, Scotland and Wales, and has already received several offers from FirstCash. The firm welcomed record new customer numbers in the final months of last year.

Nearly half of UK motorists (48%) have returned to a dealership to buy another car, according to new research by AA Cars.

• Nearly three in 10 drivers (28%) have bought two cars from the same dealer, while 11% have purchased three and a further 9% have bought four or more.

• When asked about their next car purchase, over two thirds (68%) of motorists say finding a competitively-priced car is the main thing that would encourage them to buy from a dealer they haven’t used before.

• This is closely followed by a good warranty of 12 months or more (65%) and a dealer’s reputation as part of a trusted franchise (55%).

• Nearly half (45%) of consumers said knowing that a car has been independently inspected would be an important factor in using a dealership for the first time, while two fifths (42%) cited approval or accreditation by an independent organisation such as Trading Standards.

• Almost a third (32%) of drivers said independent reviews would encourage them to shop from a new dealer, while over a quarter (26%) said the opportunity to give the vehicle an extended test drive would make a difference.

AA Cars has launched a new incentive to help dealers strengthen long-term customer relationships. Dealers can now offer a £75 voucher with every sale, redeemable at any AA-approved garage towards the cost of servicing and MOTs.

James Hosking, managing director of AA Cars, said:

Economists at Goldman Sachs (GS) have upped their economic growth forecasts for both the UK and the eurozone thanks to the US-China trade deal.

The investment bank praised the “meaningful” easing in global financial conditions over the last month.

Goldman lifted its UK forecast to a cumulative 0.6% increase in GDP between the second and four quarters, versus 0.4% previously, and nudged up its inflation forecast. It also forecast GDP growth of 0.1% in the eurozone in the third and fourth quarters, compared to stagnation previously.

It comes a a day after it also upgraded its outlook for the US and China.

The US bank also nudged up its inflation projections to 2.1% in the final quarter of this year, falling to 1.8% at the end of 2026.

Empty Co-op shelves should start returning to relatively normal levels this weekend, the company said, after it announced it was switching its online ordering system for suppliers back on after a cyber-attack two weeks ago.

Co-op said it was bringing its systems "gradually back online in a safe and controlled manner."

A spokesperson for Co-op said:

The hackers, who use the name DragonForce, also claim to be responsible for a similar attack on Marks and Spencer (MKS.L) (M&S) and an attempted hack of Harrods earlier this month.

It said all forms of payment are being accepted in stores and it will provide further updates on progress.

Oil prices (BZ=F, CL=F) fell back slightly as traders braced for a potential rise in US crude inventories, even as the market remained buoyed by easing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Brent crude futures were down 0.6%, to trade at $66.21 a barrel on Wednesday, while West Texas Intermediate futures lost 0.7%, hitting $63.25 a barrel.

Both contracts have been hovering near two-week highs, underpinned by optimism after the US and China temporarily agreed to scale back reciprocal tariffs.

Markets were focused on preliminary figures from the American Petroleum Institute, which indicated US crude stocks had risen by 4.3 million barrels in the week to 9 May. Official data from the US Energy Information Administration is expected later on Wednesday.

In a separate note, analysts at Goldman Sachs (GS) pointed to Trump's apparent preferences for oil prices, derived from his prolific social media activity.

The president’s “inferred preference for WTI appears to be around $40 to $50 a barrel, where his propensity to post about oil prices bottoms,” the team wrote. Trump “has always been focused on oil and on US energy dominance, having posted nearly 900 times,” on the topic, Bloomberg reported.

UK garden centres experienced a significant surge in activity and sales in April, driven by exceptionally warm and dry spring weather, which created strong consumer demand as people returned to their gardens.

The latest data from the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) May Market Update and Q1 2025 business barometer reveals a robust start to the year for the environmental horticulture sector as a whole.

Following an already buoyant March, April delivered exceptional performance, with total garden centre sales soaring by 22% compared to April 2024, and up 12% on April 2023.

Core gardening categories such as bedding plants, plant care products and gardening tools, as well as garden furniture and barbecues, were the primary drivers of this growth, with gardening category sales overall showing remarkable increases of +32% in value and +27% in volume year-on-year.

The percentage hike is particularly large due to the exceptionally wet weather impacting sales in April 2024.

This month’s uplift was also supported by higher average transaction values per visit in the garden store, which rose by 12%. Year-to-date overall sales for garden centres are up 15% compared to both 2024 and 2023.

Fran Barnes, chief executive of the HTA, said:

TUI (TUI1.DE) has published its H1 results this morning, which came in below expectations at revenue level, but above forecasts for underlying EBIT.

The travel operator said people had booked their summer holidays later this year because of the late Easter holidays. Summer bookings dipped by 1%, but it raised its prices by 4%. Meanwhile, winter bookings were up 2% with prices also 4% higher year-on-year.

The company expects revenues to grow by 5% to 10% this year, resulting in underlying profit growth of 7% to 10%.

The Canary Islands, Egypt, mainland Spain and the Cape Verde Islands remained the most popular short- and medium-haul destinations, while Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates were the main winter destinations.

Tui chief executive, Sebastian Ebel, said:

Gold (GC=F) has had an extraordinary rally over the past few months against a backdrop of inflation, geopolitical tensions and the Trump trade war.

Experts are divided as to whether we are now at the peak or if the yellow metal could in fact hit a record $4,000.

One trader, David Belle, founder of Fink Money, claimed “we are at the top for gold”.

He said:

However, Anita Wright, chartered financial planner at Bolton James, believes a $4,000 gold price is still possible. She said:

Aviva's (AV.L) £3.7bn takeover of Direct Line (DLG.L) is set to be reviewed by the UK's competition watchdog, it has been revealed.

The Competition Markets Authority (CMA) said it was investigating whether a merger would result in a "substantial lessening" of competition in the insurance sector.

Any interested parties have been asked to provide feedback to the CMA by 29 May and the watchdog will report its findings in July.

If the Aviva and Direct Line (which owns the Churchill and Green Flag brands), deal goes ahead, its size would rival other insurers like Legal & General and Prudential in terms of market value.

Aviva shareholders would own around 87.5% of the new company while Direct Line shareholders would own about 12.5%.

The combined company would result in an insurer with more than 20% of the share of home and motor insurance in the UK.

If you closed your eyes for a little over a month, you might have missed the bear market.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) has nearly wiped out all of its losses so far this year as markets rebound on a 90-day tariff pause between the US and China that dropped duties by 115 percentage points.

While tech stocks are rallying across the board, Wedbush analyst and tech stock watcher Dan Ives sees one clear winner in the easing of trade tensions.

“It would have to be Nvidia,” Ives told Yahoo Finance in an interview just before the chipmaker's market capitalization broke above $3 trillion for the first time since February. According to Ives, the broader tariff relief rally in tech, coupled with an artificial intelligence investment cycle that remains intact, creates a "dream scenario" for the AI chip leader.

Nvidia stock (NVDA) surged over 5% on Monday following the US-China deal and by as much on Tuesday, though shares are still down 3% year to date.

“I think [the stock] makes ... new all-time highs because there's only one chip in the world fuelling the AI revolution, and that's led by [the] godfather of AI, Jensen, and Nvidia,” Ives said.

Read the full article here

Burberry (BRBY.L) is set to cut 1,700 jobs worldwide by 2027 as part of its turnaround plan to cut costs and reach savings of £100m a year.

The move will affect jobs around its global offices. Burberry employed around 9,300 people around the world last year.

The UK fashion brand is battling with a downturn in luxury spending after it posted a pre-tax loss of £66m for the year to 29 March against a profit of £383m the previous year. Meanwhile, revenues fell 15% to £2.5bn.

It comes as the company hired Joshua Schulman, former boss of the US fashion brands Michael Kors and Coach, as chief executive last July in a bid to revive its fortunes.

Burberry’s shares jumped more than 10% following the job cuts announcement on Wednesday morning, making it the best performer on the FTSE 250 (^FTMC).

Stocks in Asia were mostly higher overnight but the Nikkei (^N225) lost 0.1% on the day in Tokyo despite data showing Japan’s PPI inflation coming in at 4.0% in April as expected.

The Hang Seng (^HSI) rose 2.2% in Hong Kong and the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.9% up by the end of the session. The Kospi (^KS11) also rose 1.2%

Elsewhere, Australia’s Q1 wage index came in stronger than anticipated, up 0.9% quarter-on-quarter, compared to the 0.8% expected, and yields on 10-year Australian government bonds are up 4.1bps this morning.

Across the pond on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.7%, which has only just turned positive for 2025 again, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) was 1.6% higher. The Dow Jones (^DJI) slipped 0.6%.

It comes as markets continue to dial back expectations for cuts from the US Federal Reserve this year, driven by the broader risk-on tone and lower recession fears, rather than the soft inflation print.

Futures were only expecting 53bps of cuts by the December meeting, which was -3.2bps lower on the day, and the fewer cuts priced for this year since February.

President Donald Trump continued to call for lower rates, saying in a post that “THE FED must lower the RATE, like Europe and China have done.”

Economists will be watching tomorrow’s PPI data closely for categories that feed through into core PCE, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. Deutsche Bank said it now sees April core PCE tracking at +0.23% month-on-month, which would be consistent with the year-on-year rate remaining at 2.6%.

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.

To the day ahead, data releases include Canada March building permits.

For Central Bank speakers, expect Fed’s Waller, Jefferson and Daly speak, ECB’s Nagel and Holzmann speak, and BOE’s Breeden speak.

Earning releases in the US include Tencent, Cisco, Sony, and Coreweave.

Here's a quick look at what else is on the agenda for today:

• 7am: Trading update: Burberry, Compass Group, Victorian Plumbing, Spirax-Sarco

• 7am: Germany Consumer Price Index

• 12.00pm: US MBA mortgage applications

• 3.30pm: US EIA crude oil stocks