Good morning.
There are some early signs of how inflation is affecting retailers after Tesco warned that the cost of living crisis was forcing customers to cut back.
Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco, warned that the company was seeing “some early signs of a change in customer behavior as a result of the inflationary environment” amid “unprecedented” increases in the cost of living.
It came as the grocery chain lost first-quarter expectations, with sales in the UK falling 1.5% from last year’s strong lockout.
Global sales rose 2 per cent to £ 13.6 billion, which Tesco said was 9.9 per cent above pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
5 things to start the day
1) Swiss franc “better than gold” to beat inflation Currency identified as new safe haven after Switzerland offers surprise rate hike
2) The world’s largest hedge fund with a € 6.9 billion bet against Europa Santander and ING is in a mega-short as the eurozone faces recession
3) Gatwick forces airlines to cancel 4,000 summer flights Airport imposes daily limits that will affect 800,000 tourists in the coming months
4) Cryptography Collision Unleashes Food Frenzy for Unemployed Technological Talent Companies Strive to Take Advantage of Current Cryptographic Winter in Hope Recruits Return to Bank
5) Elon Musk tells Twitter staff they expect job cuts at first direct address Tesla boss aims to grow social media platform to 1 billion users
What happened overnight
Tokyo stocks opened lower on Friday after a fall on Wall Street as more central banks raised interest rates in their efforts to control rampant inflation, fueling fears of recession.
The Nikkei 225 benchmark index fell 2.6%, while the broader Topix index fell 2.4%.
Shares of Hong Kong opened with new losses on Friday morning. The Hang Seng index fell 0.7%.
The Shanghai composite index fell 0.4%, while the Shenzhen composite index on China’s second-largest stock market fell 0.8%.
Arrive today
- Corporate: Halfords (annual results); Tesco (trade statement)
- Economy: inflation (EU), industrial production (USA)