Japanese entertainment and electronics giant Sony on Wednesday reported an 18 percent jump in annual net profit but issued a cautious forecast for the current financial year.The firm logged a net profit of 1.14 trillion yen ($7.7 billion) for the 2024-25 financial year, but said it expects that to fall 13 percent to 930 billion yen in 2025-26.It comes as US President Donald Trump’s sweeping, on-and-off tariffs threaten the bottom line of companies worldwide.”We are responding quickly to the additional US tariffs that have already been implemented and are considering responses to multiple possible future scenarios,” the company said in a note alongside its profit forecasts.”We currently expect to be able to manage the impact on the profitability to approximately 100 billion yen, or less than 10 percent of the operating income forecast.”Sony had in February hiked its annual forecasts, following robust sales of games, music and other products in the October-December holiday shopping season.Its “video game, music and film businesses are showing steady performance”, Rakuten Securities chief analyst Yasuo Imanaka said in a note last month.For the key gaming sector, “the next fiscal year to March 2026 is also expected to see steady growth”, he added.”Regarding the rise in US tariffs, (Sony) will likely be able to deal with it for the time being as it has stockpiled inventory in the United States,” Imanaka said.”But if high tariffs continue, the longer term impact is unclear,” he warned.Sony in April said it had hiked the price of some PlayStation 5 consoles in select markets, but not the United States, because of “challenging” global economic conditions.But it has not touched the cost of the higher-priced, higher-spec PS5 Pro console, which hit shelves in November.Masahiro Wakasugi of Bloomberg Intelligence also said ahead of Wednesday’s earnings that “tariffs are likely to be a headwind next year”.But “the music and picture division’s earnings can also expand strongly thanks to the high popularity of its streaming music and movies”.Music streaming is a money-spinner for Sony, which has an impressive back catalogue and a current roster that includes artists such as Beyonce and Lil Nas X.

The United States and China will lift sweeping tariffs on each others’ goods for 90 days on Wednesday, after a temporary ceasefire in a brutal trade war that roiled global markets and international supply chains.Washington and Beijing had agreed to drastically lower skyhigh tariffs in a deal that emerged from pivotal talks at the weekend in Geneva.US President Donald Trump said Washington now had the blueprint for a “very, very strong” trade deal with China that would see Beijing’s economy “open up” to US businesses, in an interview broadcast Tuesday on Fox News.”We have the confines of a very, very strong deal with China. But the most exciting part of the deal…that’s the opening up of China to US business,” he told the US broadcaster while aboard Air Force One on the way to the start of his Gulf tour.”One of the things I think that could be most exciting for us and also for China, is that we’re trying to open up China,” he added, without elaborating on details.Trump had upended international commerce with his sweeping tariffs across economies, with China hit hardest. Unwilling to budge, Beijing had responded with retaliatory levies that brought tariffs on both sides well over 100 percent.After billions were wiped off equities and with businesses ailing, negotiations finally got underway at the weekend in Geneva between the world’s trade superpowers to find a way out of the impasse. Under the deal, the United States agreed to lower its tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 percent while China will reduce its own to 10 percent — down by over 100 percentage points.The reductions will come into effect just after midnight Washington time (0401 GMT) on Wednesday, a major de-escalation in trade tensions that saw US tariffs on Chinese imports soar to up to 145 percent and even as high as 245 percent on some products.Markets rallied in the glow of the China-US tariff suspension.Chinese officials have kept their cards closer to their chests, pitching themselves at a summit in Beijing with Latin American leaders this week as a stable partner and defender of globalisation.”There are no winners in tariff wars or trade wars,” Xi told leaders including Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, while his top diplomat Wang Yi swiped at a “major power” that believed “might makes right”.- ‘Risk of renewed escalation’ -Deep sources of tension remain, too — the US additional tariff rate remains higher than China’s because it includes a 20 percent levy over Trump’s complaints about Chinese exports of chemicals used to make fentanyl.Washington has long accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to the fentanyl trade, something China denies.And while the US said it sees room for progress on the issue, Beijing on Tuesday warned Washington to “stop smearing and shifting blame” onto it.Analysts also warn that the possibility of tariffs coming back into force after 90 days simply piles on more uncertainty.”Further tariff reductions will be difficult and the risk of renewed escalation persists,” Yue Su, Principal Economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told AFP.Trump’s rollercoaster tariff row with Beijing has wreaked havoc on US companies that rely on Chinese manufacturing, with a temporary de-escalation only expected to partially calm the storm.And Beijing officials have admitted that China’s economy — already ailing from a protracted property crisis and sluggish consumer spending — is likewise being affected by the trade uncertainty.”Both sides have endured a good deal of economic pain and they can still endure a little bit more,” Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, told AFP.

Asian stocks fluctuated Wednesday, with investors struggling to track a strong day on Wall Street as euphoria over the China-US trade detente petered out.But while the days of breathtaking volatility seen through April appear to be over for now, analysts warned that more work was needed for Washington to reach tariff deals with countries and instill a sense of stability.Data showing US inflation unexpectedly slowed last month provided some cheer, though observers pointed out that the real impact of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tolls will not likely be felt until May’s readings.The US president on Tuesday played up a deal with Beijing.”We have the confines of a very, very strong deal with China. But the most exciting part of the deal… that’s the opening up of China to US business,” he told Fox News.His remarks were made aboard Air Force One as he headed off on his Gulf tour, with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday pledging $600 billion worth of US investments in a range of sectors from defence to artificial intelligence.The agreements — including a huge chip deal for Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices — would boost US jobs, and the stock market is “gonna go a lot higher”, Trump said, citing an “explosion of investment and jobs”.The tech-rich Nasdaq rallied with the S&P 500, which broke back into positive territory for the year, helped slightly by the inflation data.But Asia struggled to extend the rally.Hong Kong, Seoul, Jakarta and Taipei rose more than one percent but Wellington and Manila were flat, while Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney and Singapore fell.Oil, which had enjoyed a four-day rally on demand optimism and Trump’s warnings to Iran over a nuclear deal, also edged down.Analysts said that while the China deal was welcome, investors were now bracing for the next developments in the US president’s trade standoff with the world as countries look to strike deals with the White House to avert stiff tariffs.”Remember it’s an armistice not a peace treaty — and the tariffs are still at these levels worse than we had before,” Neil Wilson at Saxo Markets said.”Let’s be honest, the market knows this script by heart: Trump escalates. Markets tumble. Back-channels open. China blinks. A deal gets made. Risk rallies,” added Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”The fog has lifted — for now. Whether this cycle brings more sustainable upside or just sets up the next tantrum remains to be seen,” he said.Still, the dialling down of tensions with China saw JPMorgan Chase predict the US economy would grow this year, reversing its earlier forecast for a contraction caused by the tariffs.Investors are also awaiting the release of earnings from Chinese tech titans Alibaba and Tencent, which could provide an idea about how the market heavyweights are coping with the trade upheaval and uncertainty in the world’s number two economy.- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 37,874.59 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.2 percent at 23,390.30Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,372.40Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1186 from $1.1189 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3308 from $1.3304Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.21 yen from 147.47 yenEuro/pound: UP at 84.08 pence from 84.07 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.4 percent at $63.44 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.4 percent at $66.39 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 42,140.43 (close)London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,602.92 (close)