Business
Markets responded positively to Donald Trump’s victory in America’s election. The dollar soared, rising by the most in a day against a basket of currencies for two years. The Mexican peso and the Chinese yuan tumbled amid fears of higher tariffs and more trade protectionism. The “Trump trade” also lifted stockmarkets. The biggest winners were companies thought to be favoured by Mr Trump. Tesla’s stock jumped, as did shares in banks, which will profit from Mr Trump’s promise to overhaul America’s regulatory agencies; he has said he will fire the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bitcoin surged to almost $75,000, beating its previous record in March. Mr Trump wants to make America the “crypto capital of the planet”.
An eight-week strike by Boeing’s west-coast workers came to an end, after they voted to accept a new contract, which includes a 38% pay increase spread over four years and improved pension contributions. By some estimates the strike cost Boeing around $100m a day in lost revenue. The company recently raised $21bn in equity markets.
Apple’s annual report conceded that its future products may not be as profitable as the iPhone, as it invests billions in artificial-intelligence-based services. Meanwhile, speculation mounted that Apple is set to be fined by the European Union’s competition regulator for restrictions at its App Store, which would make it the first tech company to be fined under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reduced its stake in Apple further. It now has a $70bn holding in the company, down from $178bn in 2023. After the sale of this and other stock, Berkshire is now sitting on a cash pile of $325bn, its largest ever.
Nvidia replaced Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a stockmarket index of 30 blue-chip companies. Intel, which joined the Dow in 1999, has seen its share price fall by 50% this year and it recently reported a $16.6bn quarterly loss. Nvidia’s stock is up by 190% on record revenues and it has surpassed Apple to become the world’s most valuable company. Meanwhile Palantir, a software firm and another winner in the AI boom, raised its annual revenue forecast again, which pushed its stock up by 35% over three days.
Giving more than it receives
Saudi Aramco booked a third-quarter net profit of $27.6bn, down from $32.6bn a year earlier. The Saudi state-controlled oil giant pays out a quarterly dividend of $31bn, almost all of which goes to the government. Other oil companies have also reported smaller quarterly profits on weaker oil prices and smaller refining margins. Chevron’s plunged by 31%, to $4.5bn, and ExxonMobil’s fell by 2% to $8.6bn.
OPEC+ made another attempt to try to lift oil prices when it delayed until the end of the year a scheme to raise output. It had planned to increase production by 180,000 barrels a day by December. Oil prices have fallen this year amid forecasts of lower global demand, especially in China. Prices rose after OPEC+ made its announcement, but then fell back again.
UniCredit, an Italian bank that wants to take over Commerzbank, Germany’s second-biggest lender, reported a higher quarterly net profit and lifted its profit forecast for the year. Andrea Orcel, the chief executive of UniCredit, said his bank would decide within a year whether to pursue a full takeover, which is fiercely resisted in Germany.
China advanced its complaint at the World Trade Organisation against the EU’s imposition of stiff tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. The EU says that unfair state aid to Chinese carmakers is undercutting their European rivals, but in its complaint China argues that the new levies are protectionist and “an abuse of trade remedies”.
Uniper, which was Europe’s biggest importer of Russian natural gas until the invasion of Ukraine brought it to the brink of collapse, said it had started to repay the bail-out it received from the German government. In 2022 the German state nationalised Uniper with a €13.5bn ($14.5bn) rescue package after Russia cut its gas supplies to Europe.
Ballot initiative
Tech employees at the New York Times went on strike, threatening to disrupt the newspaper’s online coverage of election results. The 600-stong workforce of software engineers, data analysts and product managers is in a long-running dispute with management over pay and conditions, including remote working. The Grey Lady put a “robust” plan in place to cope with the walkout and in the end its famous Needle was able to forecast the election result. Workers say the company now needs to “move the needle” on negotiations.