US tariff war hurting trade with China; M&S tells hundreds of warehouse agency staff not to come to work after cyber-attack – business live
M&S ‘tells hundreds of agency staff not to come to work’
Sky News are reporting that hundreds of agency staff at Marks & Spencer’s main clothing and home warehouse in the East Midlands have been told not to come in.
That highlights the disruption being cause by the huge M&S cyber-attack, which has led to the suspension of online orders last week.
Exclusive: Marks & Spencer has told hundreds of agency workers at its huge Castle Donington distribution centre in the East Midlands not to come into work as Britain’s best-known retailer grapples with the unfolding impact of a major cyberattack. https://t.co/hBK3eUvbiU
— Mark Kleinman (@MarkKleinmanSky) April 28, 2025
Key events
Travel companies are among the top risers on the S&P 500 in early trading, with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings up 3.5%, and Southwest Airlines gaining 2,8%.
Wall Street opens higher
The New York stock market has begun the week with some small gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average has risen by 184 points, or 0.5%, to 40,297 points. The broader S&P 500 has gained a more modest 0.1%.
Despite its recent recovery, the Dow is still down 3% over the last month.
But even so, only Richard M. Nixon’s second term has offered a worse return from US equities, 100 days in, than Donald Trump’s second stint
That’s according to AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould, who explains:
As President Trump approaches 100 days in office, an 11% rally in America’s S&P 500 index from its closing low on 8 April may just stop his second term in office from offering investors the worst start of any post-war American leader, in terms of stock market returns.
“The S&P 500 is down by 7.9% since Trump’s inauguration on 20 January and only Richard M. Nixon’s second term offered a tougher start for investors, as the index fell by 9.9% in the first 100 days of his second term back in 1973.”
“The rough start to Trump’s second presidency, so far as share prices and the dollar is concerned, represents a remarkable shift in sentiment, given the rapturous welcome given to Trump’s election victory last November, when the S&P 500 (and the greenback) soared, while US Treasury yields remained stable.
“The imposition of blanket tariffs, an escalation of tensions with China and then a flurry of sidesteps and backtracks, as additional reciprocal levies are delayed, exemptions are provided for technology hardware and tentative olive branches are offered to Beijing leave everyone confused and seem to be shaking markets’ prior strong faith in American exceptionalism.
Despite all the anxiety about the economic damage of the US trade war, European markets are higher today.
In London, the FTSE 100 index is now up 30 points or 0.36% at 8445 points, on track for its highest close in over three weeks.
Germany’s DAX is 0.7% higher, while France’s CAC 40 index is up 1%.
In Madrid, the stock market is still operating despite the massive power outage hitting Spain, and Portugal, with the Spanish IBEX up 0.6%.
Tom Stevenson, investment director at Fidelity International, says markets are in limbo:
“Investors are stuck in an uneasy place between optimism about the so-called Trump put and anxiety about what looks like an increasingly likely economic slowdown or recession.
“The Trump put refers to the idea that there is a point at which the US President will respond to market weakness and reverse trade and tariff measures. Sharp rallies in both bond and equity markets in the past couple of weeks suggest that this put exists and that it will kick in at close to the recent market lows.
“That’s the optimistic argument. It is supported by still reasonable earnings growth expectations (albeit slowing in future quarters) and valuations which have fallen from their recent highs.
“The earnings picture will become clearer this week as a swathe of results emerge across a range of key sectors. Most important of all will be tech stock results from Meta, Microsoft and Amazon. At the same time, valuations of those Magnificent Seven shares have come back from elevated levels to more reasonable multiples. The Mag Seven as a whole is now priced at 25 times expected profits, compared with 40 only a few months ago.
Germany’s Merz: Will suggest to US that all tariffs are zeroed
Germany’s Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has declared today that he will urge Donald Trump to “go to zero” on all tariffs.
Merz declared:
“We will offer the United States of America that it would be best if we go to zero for all customs duties in the mutual exchange of goods.”
He also suggested “the mutual recognition of technological standards” between Germany and the US, explaining:
“What we have seen in recent years and decades are increasingly divergent technical barriers between the individual major trading nations of the world, which we must overcome, and this can also contribute to the sustainable reduction of bureaucracy.”
Merz also announced some early cabinet picks – utility executive Katherina Reiche was named as his likely economy minister, and foreign policy expert Johann Wadephul, a former soldier and trained lawyer, gets the nod as foreign minister.
M&S have confirmed that agency staff at its Castle Donington clothing and homewares logistics centre in the East Midlands were told not to come in today.
Workers employed by M&S at the site are still working, PA Media reports.
The retailer’s stores are still open and operating, and shoppers are still able to browse its website and app.
Contactless payments are also back online in stores after these were originally impacted by the cyber issue.
The company has taken action to protect its network and has also reported the incident to data protection supervisory authorities and the National Cyber Security Centre.
Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon to step down after nearly eight years
Mark Sweney
The chief executive of Channel 4, Alex Mahon, is to step down after eight years and will leave the broadcaster in the summer.
During her tenure Mahon, who joined in 2017 as the first female CEO in the broadcaster’s four-decade history, helped fight off two attempts to privatise Channel 4.
The 51-year-old, who faced criticism when she took home the biggest pay packet of any chief executive in Channel 4 history, will be replaced on an interim basis by the chief operating officer, Jonathan Allan.
“She has been one of the most impactful chief executives since Jeremy Isaacs’ founding of Channel 4 more than 42 years ago,” said Dawn Airey, interim chair at the broadcaster.
Fast food chain Domino’s Pizza has reported a drop in US sales in the last quarter – a potentially worrying sign for the economy.
Like-for-like store sales at Domino’s US outlets fell by 0.5% in the first three months of this year, the company reports, taking the shine off a 3.7% rise in international same store sales growth.
Investec analyst Kate Calvert has pointed out that the longer it takes for online sales to resume, the worse the hit would be for M&S.
She says:
“There will be a short-term profit impact without a doubt.”
The gold price is slipping away from its recent record high today.
Bullion is down 0.85% at $3,290 per ounce, as investors favour riskier assets.
Last Tuesday gold hit a new alltime high of $3,500 per ounce, but has eased back since as trade war anxiety in the markets has eased (despite signs that the conflict is causing economic harm).
Achilleas Georgolopoulos, senior market analyst at Trading Point, says:
It is a rather steady start to the trading week, as market participants are mostly preparing for what lies ahead. Risk appetite appears to be on the mend though, with US equity indices experiencing a rather positive performance last week and the US dollar erasing its early-week losses. The Nasdaq led the rally on the back of commentary, and partly wishful thinking, that the US-China trade war might gradually de-escalate, with technology products being the first beneficiaries of a lower tariff regime.
The path, of course, towards a US-China agreement will not be straightforward, despite some positive commentary from both sides, mostly from US Treasury Secretary Bessent. Both governments are unwilling to make the first significant step and open the door to proper negotiations, as such a move might be seen as a sign of weakness, a perception President Trump is unlikely to accept.
UK retailers have reported that sales volumes fell for the seventh month running in April, according to the CBI’s latest Distributive Trades report.
A net balance of -8% of retailers reported that sales volumes fell this month, rather thn rising – an improvement on the -41% balance reported in March.
However, retailers expect sales to fall at a quicker pace next month.
Martin Sartorius, principal economist at the CBI, blames the tax rises announced in last year’s budget, which came into effect this month, saying:
“Annual retail sales volumes fell more slowly in April, but firms remain pessimistic about the outlook due to the impact of Autumn Budget measures, persistently weak consumer sentiment, and global economic uncertainty.
These themes were echoed in the wholesale sector, which reported one of the sharpest sales declines in the past four years.
The CBI’s survey paints a more downbeat picture than the official retail sales report from the Office for National Statistics, which shows that sales rose in the first quarter of this year (on a seasonally-adjusted basis….)
Global economy recession risks surge on US tariff shockwaves
Oof! There’s a high risk that the global economy will slip into a recession this year, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll.
Asked about the risk of a global recession this year, a 60% majority – 101 of 167 – said it was high or very high. Sixty-six said low including four who said very low.
Many of the economists polled by Reuters also believe that Donald Trump’s tariffs have damaged business sentiment.
Reuters explains:
Showing an uncommon unanimity, none of the more than 300 economists polled April 1-28 said tariffs had a positive impact on business sentiment, with 92% saying negative. Only 8% said neutral, mostly from India and other emerging economies.
