Closing post
Time to wrap up…
China’s government has said it is “strongly dissatisfied” with the decision to nationalise British Steel this week, 15 months after the UK government intervened to prevent the closure of its steelworks in Scunthorpe and the loss of 4,000 jobs.
On Thursday, British Steel was brought under public ownership to protect “the future of steel production”, the government announced.
The Department for Business and Trade said the move was essential to maintain steel production at the company’s site in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, to protect the company’s future and UK supply chains.
However, China’s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) said the move dealt “a severe blow to Chinese companies’ confidence in investing in the UK”.
South East Water has warned that there is “material uncertainty” over its survival, after a disastrous year in which the lossmaking company paid millions of pounds in fines and its chief executive was forced out.
The water supplier to 2.4 million customers said it had sufficient funds to make it through to July 2027. However, “shortly after” it will need “new loan facilities in order to continue as a going concern,” the company said in its annual report published on Friday.
South East Water, which serves customers across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, added that “discussions with lenders to provide funds are at an advanced stage and are expected to conclude over summer 2026” but were not legally committed.
The start of the peak summer season is set to bring millions of drivers on to British roads, with concerns of traffic chaos as the port of Dover faces its biggest test yet of new EU border controls.
The semi-functioning entry-exit system (EES) is credited, along with the heatwaves and fears about flights after the war in Iran, with helping push British domestic holidays to its highest levels since Covid halted international travel.
Motoring organisations expect this Friday to kick-off the busiest summer weekend for domestic leisure trips.
The port of Dover is bracing for long tailbacks as thousands of holidaymakers join lorries at Britain’s main Channel ferry crossing from 6am.
US chip stocks drop sharply
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a closely watched index of US chip stocks, has dropped 4.8% – giving it a month to date fall of around 20% and taking it into technical bear territory.
Chip companies are being hit particularly hard in the tech sell-off today – Arm is down 7%, Broadcom is down 4.2% and Advanced Micro Devices is down 7.8%.
US stock market sinks in AI sell-off
The stock market sell-off is continuing today in the US, where the blue chip S&P 500 index is now down 1.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has fallen by 2.2%, following a 1.6% drop yesterday.
The sharp falls come as investors grow increasingly nervous about whether the AI-driven rally in the market this year is sustainable.
Shares in the chip designer Nvidia have dropped 3.7% today – and the iPhone maker Apple (which is up 0.4%) has now overtaken it as the world’s most valuable company.
Elsewhere, shares in Netflix have slumped by about 10% after it shared some disappointing growth forecasts with investors last night.
And oil prices are still climbing – Brent crude is now up 2.9% to $86.68 a barrel.
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South East Water warns over survival as funds dry up
South East Water has warned that there is “material uncertainty” over its survival, after a disastrous year in which the lossmaking company paid millions of pounds in fines and its chief executive was forced out.
The water supplier to 2.4 million customers said it had sufficient funds to make it through to July 2027. However, “shortly after” it will need “new loan facilities in order to continue as a going concern,” the company said in its annual report published on Friday.
South East Water, which serves customers across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, added that “discussions with lenders to provide funds are at an advanced stage and are expected to conclude over summer 2026” but were not legally committed.
Andy Burnham says 'top team' not picked yet
Andy Burnham has been confirmed as Labour’s leader, as he prepares to become prime minister next week.
He says that his “top team” has not been picked yet, though the current home secretary Shabana Mahmood is thought to be the frontrunner for chancellor.
Burnham also said in his speech that he will be a “pro business” leader of the Labour party, as he says he was as mayor of Manchester.
You can follow his speech over on our politics blog:
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It is a sea of red across European stock markets. The UK’s blue chip FTSE 100 index has now also slipped into negative territory, down 0.1%.
Its worst performer today is the fashion brand Burberry, which has dropped 5% after it told investors that the impact of the war in the Middle East was affecting tourist spending. Shares in the pharma giant GSK, which has a much higher weighting in the index, are also down 3.6%, after it told investors it would stop development of an experimental drug to treat refractory chronic cough.
The only rising stock market in Europe now is in Switzerland, which is up by a modest 0.1%.
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Rising oil prices are adding to the market volatility today – Brent crude, the international benchmark, is up 1.8% to $85.72 a barrel, as the US and Iran step up their attacks across the Gulf.
There have also been reports that Iran has asked its Houthi allies in Yemen to stand ready to close a key Red Sea oil route if the US strikes its power network, which would put further pressure on the global oil supply.
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US stock futures point to painful open
Investors are bracing for a painful US stock market open later this afternoon, as futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq are down by almost 2%. The blue chip S&P 500 is poised to fall by about 1%.
Kathleen Brooks, of the broker XTB, notes several big tech names are suffering in pre-market trading.
SpaceX is extending its decline and is down another 4% in the pre-market, after slipping 12% in the last 5 trading sessions. It is now well below the IPO price of $135 per share and is expected to open below $130 later today at approximately $125.
…There has already been a large decline in chip stocks, and valuations have moderated from elevated levels. For example, although still highly valued, SpaceX’s market cap is now lower by $1 trillion since its peak last month. This suggests that a substantial amount of exuberance has already been worked out of the market, and valuations are less stretched. However, it does not appear that a recovery is on the horizon in the short term.
The other stock to watch today is Netflix. It reported Q2 earnings last night, and even though it reported revenues of $12.56bn, the stock sunk in post market trading. It is currently lower by 9% in the pre-market. Traders are digesting news that forward guidance was weaker than expected. This could be described as Netflix’s ‘naturally maturing growth profile’, after all, the streaming giant is 28 years old.
…Netflix’s share price is already lower by 21% so far this year and is already in bear market territory. However, last night’s results suggest that the sell off is not over yet. Usually Netflix is seen as the start of tech earnings season, this market reaction is not a good omen.
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Suspected pirates on board chemical tanker off southern Yemen coast - reports
Armed assailants have boarded a chemical tanker off the southern coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden and have taken control of the vessel, according to reports.
The small tanker, which had no confirmed flag, had listed the Somali port of Bosaso as its next destination, Reuters has reported.
The British navy agency UKMTO said a vessel was boarded by unauthorised personnel while transiting east in the Gulf of Aden, 65 nautical miles south of Yemen’s Al Mukalla port.
Reuters is reporting that the incident appears to be related to Somali piracy rather than Yemen’s Houthi movement, citing an unnamed maritime security source.
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European stocks are still falling this morning, with the Stoxx Europe 50 – which tracks the biggest 50 companies on the continent – now down by about 1%.
The biggest faller is the chip manufacturing equipment specialist ASML, down 4.6%. That is followed by German chip producer Infineon, also down by about 4.6%, and the tech investor Prosus, down 3.6%.
Overall the European tech sector has shed 3% of its value this morning.
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Burberry boss stands firm on new bonus scheme that could pay him £12.2m
Burberry boss Joshua Schulman said the company would not be changing its new remuneration plan - which could hand him a pay package of £12.2m - despite 35% of shareholders voting against it at this weeks annual meeting.
Schulman said: “We respect all our of shareholders and appreciate their engagement on the matter” and that the British luxury brand had “consulted with many of our shareholders” during the process of coming up with the plan and there would be no change.
His comments came as Burberry unveiled a return to sales growth across all its product categories as strong sales in the US and South Korea were offset by a fall in the Middle East and Europe. The company said tourist numbers in those regions had been hit by the Iran conflict with Asian tourists, many of whom would make connecting flights in the Middle East, cutting back on travel to Europe.
Schulman said Burberry’s store in Europe were seeing a ‘halo effect’ from the American tourists buying Burberry after the success the label’s marketing efforts in their home country. Sales in the London and Paris flagships are doing well, but Schulman said the London store could be doing better if the government brought back the VAT tax break for tourists which was scrapped by the previous government after Brexit.
He said Burberry would like to see new prime minister Andy Burnham introduce “policies that enable competitiveness and make it more enticing for tourists to come to the UK and spend time in this beautiful country and shop here.”
Shares fell about 6% on Friday morning as investors were disappointed that Burberry was not more bullish about the future.
Mortgage rates rise amid renewed Middle East tensions
At least 13 big UK lenders have increased their mortgage rates this week, as a new wave of conflict in the Middle East feeds expectations of higher inflation and higher interest rates.
Barclays, Nationwide Building Society and NatWest have all increased mortgage rates this week, according to the analyst Moneyfacts .It found that on average the market rate for a two-year new mortgage has risen by 4 basis points to 5.5%. The average for a five-year deal is also up by 4 basis points to 5.52%.
Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfactscompare, said:
While these increases may seem fairly modest in isolation, it is a reminder how quickly borrowing costs can move when markets become unsettled.
The latest disruption to shipping in the straits of Hormuz has driven up investor expectations that inflation and interest rates will remain higher for longer, pushing up funding costs. This leaves lenders with little choice but to reprice products, even if the Bank of England hasn’t changed the Base Rate.
A more volatile world is a more expensive world, and recent months and years are clear evidence that borrowers cannot simply assume mortgage rates will continue moving in one direction. Inflation shocks and shifts in market sentiment can alter expectations overnight. While competition between lenders is still strong, volatility has quickly brought the latest rate cutting cycle to a halt. In the meantime, it is essential prospective borrowers stay on top of their options and seek independent advice.”
Mortgage rates are also rising in the US – hitting their highest level in almost a year, the lender Freddie Mac said in a statement yesterday.
It said the average for a 30-year fixed loan, the US benchmark, was 6.55%, up from 6.49% a week earlier. The last time rates were that high was in August.
Christopher Forbes, head of Asia and Middle East at CMC Markets, told Reuters that he thought that recent tech earnings had been robust, despite the market reaction.
But it just shows how much was baked into the price. SpaceX is a pretty good proxy for market sentiment right now, and it’s below the IPO price.
I’m still not seeing any panic — people are buying gold and silver and those have been losing trades.
But the reality is that the world is watching yields go higher...hence the market is selling off.
Kei Okamura, a portfolio manager at Neuberger Berman in Tokyo, added that the Federal Reserve may also have been a trigger for the sell-off in tech stocks.
Kevin Warsh and his comments and changing views towards what appears to be quite hawkish Fed policy started a cascading effect towards taking chips off the table.
We started to get a lot more momentum in terms of the selling pressure, first off with the very high profile names like SK Hynix and Samsung, but from there it has kind of spread.
So the Nikkei is trending as bad, if not a little bit worse. The word ’bloodbath’ is accurate because it is across the board.
European stock market joins global tech sell-off
The tech sell-off has spread to European stock markets this morning: the Stoxx Europe 600 is down 0.5%, led by a 1% decline in its tech sector.
ASML, a Dutch business which specialises in making chip manufacturing equipment, is down 4%. Infineon Technologies, a German chip producer, is also down by about 4%. STMicroelectronics is down 4.7%.
The UK’s blue chip FTSE 100 is bucking the trend given its low exposure to the tech sector. It is one of the only markets rising in Europe this morning, up by a modest 0.2%.
The sell-off has spread from the US to Asia to Europe, as investors grow increasingly nervous about whether the AI-driven rally in the market this year is sustainable.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped almost 5%, with the Japanese chipmaker Kioxia slumping 16%. The Chinese SSE Composite is down 3.3%. Markets in South Korea, which have been extremely sensitive to the chip sell off, are closed today.
It follows steep falls in memory and computer storage makers in the US yesterday, with Sandisk, Western Digital and Seagate all down more than 9%. Chip companies Intel and Micron both fell by about 6%.
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China ‘strongly dissatisfied’ with nationalisation of British Steel
The Chinese government has said it is “strongly dissatisfied” with the decision to nationalise British Steel this week, 15 months after the UK government stepped in to prevent the closure of its steelworks in Scunthorpe and the loss of 4,000 jobs.
Yesterday British Steel was brought under public ownership to protect “the future of steel production”, the government announced. The company was previously owned by the Chinese group Jingye.
The Department for Business and Trade said the decision to nationalise the business was essential to maintain steel production at its site in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire and to protect its future and UK supply chains.
However, China’s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) said in a statement that the move dealt “a severe blow to Chinese companies’ confidence in investing in the UK”.
The Labour government took operational control of British Steel in April last year, after Jingye threatened to walk away without taking steps to preserve the blast furnaces in Lincolnshire.
EU border chaos feared at Dover crossing as busiest summer weekend looms
And to those of you preparing to kick off the summer holiday season this weekend – Gwyn Topham reports that millions of drivers are expected on British roads, with concerns of traffic chaos as the port of Dover faces its biggest test yet of new EU border controls.
The semi-functioning entry-exit system (EES) is credited, along with the heatwaves and fears about flights after the war in Iran, with helping push British domestic holidays to its highest levels since Covid halted international travel.
Motoring organisations expect this Friday to kick-off the busiest summer weekend for domestic leisure trips.
The port of Dover is bracing for long tailbacks as thousands of holidaymakers join lorries at Britain’s main Channel ferry crossing from 6am.
Read the full story here:
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As Reid points out, downbeat earnings report from the streaming giant Netflix last night is also feeding some of the negativity in the stock market today.
Its shares fell more than 8% in after-hours trading, after the company forecast revenue growth of 11.7%, which would be its smallest year-on-year quarterly increase in more than two years.
Investors are also growing fearful around increased competition for engagement, as viewers’ attention can be easily snapped up by short-form video content on their phones.
Matt Britzman, a senior equity analyst at the broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said the company is finding out that while its second quarter performance was in line with expectations, “good is no longer good enough”.
He said:
Pressure had been building ahead of the results, with investors questioning whether Netflix can keep viewers engaged as YouTube and short-form platforms compete for attention. Viewing hours actually grew 2% in the first half, despite major sporting events elsewhere, while the drop-off between first and second seasons improved slightly. That should ease the most bearish fears, but Netflix’s decision to publish its detailed engagement report annually rather than twice a year is unhelpful.
Netflix remains the dominant long-form streaming platform, with a powerful content engine and an advertising business that continues to scale. But the investment case is becoming more complicated as revenue growth moderates and competition for viewers’ time intensifies.
Live events, partnerships, video podcasts and potentially a free tier in selected markets could broaden the audience, but these initiatives are still developing, and their financial impact is far from clear. The market’s message is that solid financial delivery alone may no longer be enough.
Investors want clearer evidence that Netflix can sustain engagement, and scaling back the disclosure of one of the few measures that offers a window into viewing habits makes that harder to judge.”
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Japanese stock market 'on course for worst day since March'
Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank says that the Japanese Nikkei index is now on course for its worst day in more than three months.
The Nikkei is currently likely on course for its worst day since March, and also leaves the index on track for technical correction territory, having now shed over 12% since its peak less than a month ago.
There wasn’t a single catalyst behind the selloff, but we had TSMC’s earnings shortly after we went to press yesterday, and their share price is down -5.26% this morning after they said that capital expenditure would be higher than previously forecast.
Meanwhile, Netflix’s earnings disappointed after the close last night, pushing their shares almost -9% lower in after-hours trading. And in the background, fears about rate hikes and more persistent inflation are still there, with Brent crude oil up another +1.06% this morning to $85.12/bbl. That would be its first close above $85/bbl in over a month, and that combination of concerns around tech and inflation has really put a dent in the more buoyant narrative after the soft US CPI report earlier this week.
Before the slump accelerated overnight, US equities had already seen a rough session yesterday thanks to the fresh slide in chip stocks. In fact, the Philly semiconductor index (-4.29%) hit an 8-week low, having now shed -18.91% from its peak less than a month ago. So that now leaves it close to the -20% mark that would mark a technical start of a bear market, which is a big turnaround from Q2, when it posted its best quarterly performance since the index began in the early 1990s.
Introduction: Global tech stocks fall as chip sell-off deepens
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
It’s been a brutal 24 hours for some of the world’s biggest tech stocks, with markets in Asia falling today as a sell-off in US chip and memory stocks spread overnight.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped almost 5%, with the Japanese chipmaker Kioxia slumping 16%. The Chinese SSE Composite is down 3.3%. Markets in South Korea, which have been extremely sensitive to the chip sell off, are closed today.
It follows steep falls in memory and computer storage makers in the US yesterday, with Sandisk, Western Digital and Seagate all down more than 9%. Chip companies Intel and Micron both fell by about 6%.
The sell-off comes as investors grow increasingly nervous about whether the AI-driven rally in the market this year is sustainable.
Mohit Kumar, of the broker Jefferies, says the dominating theme in markets has been weakness in chip and tech stocks after chip manufacturer TSMC reported “underwhelming” results and guidance.
TSMC’s focus on increased capex raised market concerns around valuations and the returns on capex. The sector has been under pressure with position unwinds as it was one of the most crowded sectors in the market in June.
In our view, the market moves have been driven by high expectations and position unwinds rather than underwhelming earnings. Our positioning indices suggest that semis was one of the most crowded trades in June, with positioning of over +6.5 in the third week of June. Sharp unwinds have seen that positioning drop to +1.3 (on a scale of -10 to +10) as of yesterday close.
Elsewhere this morning, FTSE 100 fashion brand Burberry has said its retail sales rose 5% in the first quarter, led by strength in its markets in America and Greater China – and its gen Z shoppers are up by a “double digit” percentage.
Chief executive Joshua Schulman adds that for the first time in three years, the company has reported growth across all of its product categories: womenswear, menswear, accessories and children. He says:
Our strategy is working . We are attracting a broad range of luxury customers across product categories, channels and geographies , reinforcing my confidence in the opportunities ahead.
The agenda
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Today: Andy Burnham to be named Labour leader
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7am BST: Burberry Q1 update
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9am BST: EU current account figures for May
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10am BST: EU harmonised CPI inflation figures for June
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11am BST: United Utilities AGM
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1.30pm BST: US housing starts and building permits for June
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