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The United States and China slashed 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 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 came 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 have 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.

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)

Wall Street stocks mostly rose Tuesday while oil prices advanced, extending a rally as the improved state of US-China trade boosts the economic outlook. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished solidly higher following benign US inflation data while the Dow retreated after weakness in UnitedHealth Group shares.Markets continued to cheer the US-China announcement Monday of a de-escalation of trade tensions. The two countries agreed to significantly lower levies for 90 days while they work to hash out an agreement.The tech-rich Nasdaq led major US indices, winning 1.6 percent.Oil prices also climbed more than two percent as traders pencil in more oil demand.”It seems as if the euphoria that was ignited yesterday or over the weekend has continued into today at least for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq,” said Sam Stovall of CFRA Research.The consumer price index eased to 2.3 percent in April from a year ago, a tick below the 2.4 percent figure recorded in March.Some analysts cautioned that it was still too early to see the implications of US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, some of which have been rolled back or suspended.But the weaker inflation data put pressure on the dollar, with more traders betting the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates.In Europe, London closed barely changed, while Paris and Frankfurt both ticked up 0.3 percent.Asian equities had finished with strong gains, in their catch-up session digesting Wall Street’s jump on Monday, although Hong Kong dropped nearly two percent on profit-taking.On the corporate front, the big focus was on the auto sector after major news out of Japan.Nissan posted an annual net loss of $4.5 billion, confirmed plans to slash 15 percent of its global workforce and warned about the possible impact of US tariffs.The carmaker, whose mooted merger with Honda collapsed this year, is heavily indebted and engaged in an expensive business restructuring plan.For its part, Honda on Tuesday forecast a 70-percent drop in net profit for the 2025-26 financial year.”The impact of tariff policies in various countries on our business has been very significant, and frequent revisions are being made, making it difficult to formulate an outlook,” said Honda chief executive Toshihiro Mibe.- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 42,140.43 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 5,886.55 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.6 percent at 19,010.08 (close)London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,602.92 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 7,873.83 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 23,638.56 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 38,183.26 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.9 percent at 23,108.27 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,374.87 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1189 from $1.1087 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3304 from $1.3176Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.47 yen from 148.46 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 84.07 pence from 84.14 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 2.6 percent at $66.63 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.8 percent at $63.67 per barrelburs-jmb/jgc

Stocks traded mixed and the dollar dipped on Tuesday as the rally from the previous day faded despite cool US inflation data easing concerns about the economy.Temporary US-China tariff reductions announced on Monday still firmed up oil prices, however. They extended gains as investors’ fears of blocked trade between the world’s two largest economies were quelled.But “the US dollar rally seems to be momentarily running out of steam,” said Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst for trading platform IG.In midday New York trading, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were trading in positive territory, while the Dow was showing small losses.In Europe, London closed barely changed, while Paris and Frankfurt both ticked up 0.3 percent.Asian equities had finished with strong gains, in their catch-up session digesting Wall Street’s jump on Monday, although Hong Kong dropped nearly two percent on profit-taking.”Both the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 are trading back in positive territory for the year as US inflation unexpectedly slows and China lowers tariffs on US goods,” said Rudolph.Data released on Tuesday showed US consumer inflation cooled slightly in April, despite financial markets that month being spooked by President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.The US consumer price index eased to 2.3 percent in April from a year ago, a shade below the 2.4 percent figure recorded in March, the Labor Department said in a statement. “This data suggests that the US economy was in good shape in April, that tariffs are not showing up in the inflation data yet, and that demand for services remains strong,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said investor sentiment has also been comforted by progress made by US lawmakers on their budget plans, which include tax cuts.”The stock market finds itself in a hopeful state that is allowing for a better-than-feared economic and earnings outlook,” he said.But eToro market analyst Lale Akoner said stubbornly high housing and other sticky core elements in US inflation shored up a wait-and-see stance by the US Federal Reserve while it weighs a possible rate cut.”For now, this mixed bag validates the Fed’s cautious stance,” she said. “There’s no urgency to cut, but no clear case for tightening either.”Investors are now pricing in a first-quarter percentage point rate cut in September. On the corporate front, focus was on the auto sector after major news out of Japan.Nissan posted a annual net loss of $4.5 billion, confirmed plans to slash 15 percent of its global workforce and warned about the possible impact of US tariffs.The carmaker, whose mooted merger with Honda collapsed this year, is heavily indebted and engaged in an expensive business restructuring plan.For its part, Honda on Tuesday forecast a 70-percent drop in net profit for the 2025-26 financial year.”The impact of tariff policies in various countries on our business has been very significant, and frequent revisions are being made, making it difficult to formulate an outlook,” said Honda chief executive Toshihiro Mibe.- Key figures at around 1530 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 42,277.05 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.9 percent at 5,896.01New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.6 percent at 19,007.40London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 8,602.92 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 7,873.83 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 23,638.56 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 38,183.26 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.9 percent at 23,108.27 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,374.87 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1177 from $1.1089 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3279 from $1.3173Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.83 yen from 148.38 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 84.15 pence from 84.18 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.9 percent at $66.17 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.2 percent at $63.28 per barrelburs-rmb/rl

European stock markets and the dollar steadied Tuesday after kicking off the week with strong gains as investors basked in the glow of the China-US tariff suspension.Asian equities, catching up with big advances Monday on Wall Street, saw further rallies Tuesday, although Hong Kong dropped nearly two percent on profit-taking.Oil prices firmed further on hopes that the global economy would avoid a tariffs-fuelled recession.”European markets are making moderate gains… as stocks take a breather after yesterday’s widespread exuberance,” noted Joshua Mahony, analyst at Scope Markets.”The tariff breakthrough seen over the weekend managed to outperform even the most optimistic.”The United States agreed to temporarily reduce its 145-percent duties on China to 30 percent, while Beijing cut its retaliatory measures to 10 percent from 125 percent.Wall Street’s main indices surged by an average of around 3.5 percent Monday, while a gauge of US-listed Chinese stocks surged more than five percent.”Clearly, US-China trade talks have yielded much faster success than many had expected,” HSBC strategists concluded in a note to clients.They cautioned that “things could easily turn out a bit bumpier in future trade negotiations”.- Auto sector -On the corporate front, focus was on the auto sector after major news out of Japan.Nissan posted a annual net loss of $4.5 billion, confirmed plans to slash 15 percent of its global workforce and warned about the possible impact of US tariffs.The carmaker, whose mooted merger with Honda collapsed this year, is heavily indebted and engaged in an expensive business restructuring plan.For its part, Honda on Tuesday forecast a 70 percent drop in net profit for the 2025-26 financial year.”The impact of tariff policies in various countries on our business has been very significant, and frequent revisions are being made, making it difficult to formulate an outlook,” said Honda chief executive Toshihiro Mibe.French automaker Renault said it expects to book a 2.2-billion-euro ($2.4-billion) hit in the first quarter owing to partner Nissan’s turnaround plan, which sees 20,000 jobs axed.- Key figures at around 1035 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,616.31 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,854.70Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 23,601.09 Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 38,183.26 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.9 percent at 23,108.27 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,374.87 (close)New York – Dow: UP 2.8 percent at 42,410.10 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1106 from $1.1089 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3214 from $1.3173Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.02 yen from 148.38 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 84.05 pence from 84.18 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.7 percent at $65.42 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $62.45 per barrelburs-bcp/ajb/lth

Japan’s Nissan posted an annual net loss of $4.5 billion on Tuesday while saying it plans to cut 15 percent of its global workforce and warning about the possible impact of US tariffs.The heavily indebted carmaker, whose mooted merger with Honda collapsed this year, is slashing production as part of its expensive business turnaround plan.”Nissan must prioritise self-improvement with greater urgency and speed,” CEO Ivan Espinosa told reporters.”The reality is clear. We have a very high cost structure. To complicate matters further, the global market environment is volatile and unpredictable, making planning and investment increasingly challenging.”Nissan reported a net loss of 671 billion yen ($4.5 billion) for the financial year to March 2025.Its worst ever full-year net loss was 684 billion yen in 1999-2000, during a crisis that birthed its rocky partnership with French automaker Renault.Renault, which has nearly a 36 percent stake in Nissan, said Tuesday it expects to take a 2.2-billion-euro ($2.4-billion) hit in the first quarter due to Nissan’s turnaround plan.Nissan did not issue a net profit forecast for 2025-2026, only saying that it expects to see sales of 12.5 trillion yen.”The uncertain nature of US tariff measures makes it difficult for us to rationally estimate our full-year forecast for operating profit and net profit, and therefore we have left those figures unspecified,” Espinosa said.Nissan’s shares closed three percent higher Tuesday after reports, later confirmed by the company, that it planned to slash a total of 20,000 jobs worldwide.”We wouldn’t be doing this if it was not necessary to survive,” Espinosa said of the cuts.- Junk ratings -Nissan, as part of recovery efforts, also said it would “consolidate its vehicle production plants from 17 to 10 by fiscal year 2027″.”In China, we will strengthen our market performance by unleashing multiple new-energy vehicles,” it added.Like many peers, Nissan is finding it difficult to compete against Chinese electric vehicle brands.A merger with Japanese rival Honda had been seen as a potential lifeline but talks collapsed in February when the latter proposed making Nissan a subsidiary.Espinosa said Tuesday that Nissan remained “open to collaborating with multiple partners”, including Honda.Nissan has faced numerous speed bumps in recent years — including the 2018 arrest of former boss Carlos Ghosn, who later fled Japan concealed in an audio equipment box.The automaker, whose shares have tanked nearly 40 percent over the past year, appointed Espinosa CEO in March.Ratings agencies have downgraded the firm to junk, with Moody’s citing its “weak profitability” and “ageing model portfolio”.And this month Nissan shelved plans, only recently agreed, to build a $1 billion battery plant in southern Japan owing to the tough “business environment”.Of Japan’s major automakers, Nissan is likely to be the most severely impacted by US President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tatsuo Yoshida told AFP ahead of Tuesday’s earnings report.Its clientele has historically been more price-sensitive than that of its rivals, he said.So the company “can’t pass the costs on to consumers to the same extent as Toyota or Honda without suffering a significant loss in sales units”, he added.

Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group, a major player in the US Stargate artificial intelligence drive, on Tuesday posted a $7.8 billion annual net profit, its first in the black for four years.Global market rallies were a boon to SoftBank, which reaped gains from its investments in the likes of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and US telecom firm T-Mobile.Its 1.15 trillion yen ($7.8 billion) net profit for the 12 months to March 2025 was up from a net loss of 227 billion yen in the previous financial year.The company’s earnings often swing dramatically because it invests heavily in tech start-ups and semiconductor firms, whose share prices are volatile.Tuesday’s result marked its first full-year net profit since the 2020-21 financial year.The group’s Vision Fund investment vehicle also saw the values of its stakes in Tiktok operator ByteDance and South Korean e-commerce service Coupang jump.SoftBank has been betting big on AI under its flamboyant founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who has repeatedly said “artificial superintelligence” will arrive in a decade — bringing new inventions, medicine and ways to invest.The company is leading the $500 billion Stargate project to build AI infrastructure in the United States along with cloud giant Oracle and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.But Bloomberg News reported this week that uncertainty fuelled by US trade tariffs has delayed financing talks for the project, citing people familiar with the matter.- AI push -SoftBank and OpenAI also announced in February that the Japanese giant would spend $3 billion annually to deploy OpenAI’s technologies across its group companies.SoftBank’s Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto told reporters that it enjoys strong ties with OpenAI and said trade tariffs should not hinder the group’s operations.In March, SoftBank said it had reached a deal to buy US semiconductor firm Ampere for $6.5 billion, reinforcing its aggressive push into AI. The purchase is expected to close in the second half of the year.The Japanese company is a majority shareholder in Arm Holdings, whose technology is used in 99 percent of smartphones.Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at brokerage Toyo Securities, told AFP ahead of Tuesday’s announcement that he expected the firm to reveal strong figures.”The market was not bad from January to March, so I think (the results) will land relatively well,” he said.”The market environment only worsened from the end of March to the beginning of April when the tariffs were announced,” he said, referring to US President Donald Trump’s multi-pronged free trade war.Son, 67, made his name with successful early investments in Chinese ecommerce titan Alibaba and internet pioneer Yahoo.But he has also bet on catastrophic failures such as office-sharing firm WeWork.”For the last 20 years, the US market has been outstanding, so I don’t think there was an option to not invest in the United States” for SoftBank, Yasuda said.During that time the Chinese market was also growing, “so they invested in China — but China has tightened up a lot of controls, so not much has been invested in China since then”, he added.

Most stocks extended gains Tuesday as investors basked in the glow of the China-US tariff suspension that has fuelled hopes the world’s two economic superpowers will step back from a punishing trade war.Equity markets across the world rallied with oil and the dollar Monday after the two sides said they would slash most of their eye-watering tit-for-tat levies and hold talks to end a standoff that has stoked recession fears.The news raised hopes that deals can be done with Washington to cut or even remove some of the tolls unveiled by Donald Trump on his “Liberation Day” on April 2 that sent shivers through trading floors and raised concerns about the global trading system.Top-level negotiators said after two days of talks in Geneva at the weekend that the United States would reduce its 145 percent duties on China to 30 percent for 90 days, while Beijing would cut its retaliatory measures to 10 percent from 125 percent.The US president described the move as a “total reset” and said talks with counterpart Xi Jinping could soon follow, while US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC he expected officials would meet again in the coming weeks to reach “a more fulsome agreement”.After piling higher on the news Monday, most of Asia’s markets started Tuesday on the front foot. Tokyo was up more than one percent, while Shanghai, Sydney, Taipei, Singapore, Seoul, Wellington, Bangkok and Manila were also well up.London, Paris and Frankfurt edged up in early trade.However, Hong Kong dropped nearly two percent, having surged three percent the day before. Mumbai also slipped.The dollar also pulled back from the previous day’s rally, though oil reversed early losses to extend Monday’s advance.The broad gains in Asia came after Wall Street greeted the announcement with open arms.The tech-heavy Nasdaq rocketed more than four percent, the S&P 500 jumped 3.3 percent and the Dow 2.8 percent, while a gauge of US-listed Chinese stocks surged more than five percent.”Clearly, US-China trade talks have yielded much faster success than many had expected,” strategists at HSBC wrote in a note.”There’s very clearly upside risk for the broader risk asset spectrum now as markets will likely extrapolate a higher likelihood of further deals in the coming weeks.”However, nervousness remains.The HSBC strategists added: “These may not move in a straight line. Things could easily turn out a bit bumpier in future trade negotiations.”IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said the talks show “both sides are aware of the need to repair their relationship, and avoid further damage from the imposition of such huge tariffs”. “But even at the pause levels of 10 percent and 30 percent, these tariffs are still much higher than anything imagined by investors just a few months ago. “It is not quite six weeks since these tariffs were introduced — the impact has yet to really appear in both economic data and company earnings. The full impact will only become clear with time.”Federal Reserve governor Adriana Kugler warned that even with the reduction in tariffs, Trump’s trade policies will likely push inflation higher and weigh on economic growth.- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 38,183.26 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.9 percent at 23,108.27 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,374.87 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 8,608.90 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.91 yen from 148.38 yen on MondayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1114 from $1.1089Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3210 from $1.3173Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.14 pence from 84.18 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $62.06 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1 percent at $65.04 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 2.8 percent at 42,410.10 (close)