Zurich — Richemont and Swatch Group shares rose on Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump said he was working with Switzerland on a deal to lower the 39% tariff rate it faces on exports.
Swatch shares gained 4.2% in early trading, while Richemont shares were 2% higher. Both companies’ shares had fallen after Trump announced the import duties on Swiss products, which went into effect in August.
The US is working with Switzerland on a deal to lower the 39% tariff rate it faces on exports to America, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.
“We’re working on a deal to get their tariffs a little bit lower,” Trump said. “I haven’t set any number, but we’re going to be working on something to help Switzerland.” Reuters
German court rules OpenAI must pay for song lyrics use
Munich — A German court on Tuesday sided with the country’s music rights society, GEMA, in a closely watched copyright case against US-based artificial intelligence firm OpenAI.
The court in Munich ruled that OpenAI could not use song lyrics without a licence, and presiding judge Elke Schwager ordered the firm to pay damages for the use of copyrighted material.
GEMA had argued OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT reproduces lyrics from copyrighted German songs without authorisation and that its AI was trained on protected content from the repertoire of its roughly 100,000 members, who include best-selling musician Herbert Groenemeyer.
OpenAI responded by saying that GEMA’s arguments reflected a misunderstanding of how ChatGPT works. Reuters
China’s CO₂ emissions flat for 18 months, report finds
Beijing — China’s carbon dioxide emissions were flat year-on-year in the third quarter, extending a now 18-month streak of flat or falling emissions, an analysis for climate publication Carbon Brief found.
The trend, which started in March 2024, means CO₂ emissions could fall this year in the absence of any year-end spike, showed the analysis by Lauri Myllyvirta of the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
CO₂ output rose 0.8% in 2024 after a post-pandemic rebound at the start of the year, a previous Carbon Brief analysis found. Reuters
UK grocery inflation eases to 4.7%, providing consumer relief
London — British grocery inflation slowed to 4.7% in the four weeks to November 2, industry data showed on Tuesday, providing a little relief to consumers bracing for further tax rises in this month’s government budget.
The figure from Worldpanel by Numerator (formerly Kantar), which provides an early indication of pricing pressures ahead of official UK inflation data on November 19, compared with 5.2% in last month’s report.
Official data published last month showed overall British inflation held steady at 3.8% in September, with food inflation slowing.
Worldpanel said prices are rising fastest in markets such as chocolate confectionery, fresh meat and coffee and are falling fastest in household paper, sugar confectionery and dog food. Reuters
Microsoft plans $10bn AI data centre investment in Portugal
Bengaluru — Microsoft will spend $10bn on an artificial intelligence data centre along the Portuguese coast, marking one of its largest European investments this year, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. Reuters
SKF targets higher margins after automotive spinoff plan
Stockholm — Swedish industrial group SKF, the world’s biggest maker of bearings, said on Tuesday it expects to raise its adjusted operating margin over time after spinning off its Automotive unit.
SKF last year announced plans to spin off the automotive business, which makes seals and bearings for vehicles, and said last month it expected to be ready to list the unit on Nasdaq Stockholm by mid-2026.
SKF in a statement on Tuesday said it will target an adjusted operating margin for its remaining business, known as Industrials, of more than 17% in the mid-term and above 19% in the long term.
The Industrials unit reported an adjusted operating profit margin of 16.3% for the first nine months of 2025. Reuters
Vodafone lifts dividend as German growth boosts outlook
London — Vodafone’s shareholders will be rewarded with the first rise in its dividend in eight years as the European broadband and mobile operator upgraded its earnings outlook on Tuesday after it returned to top-line growth in Germany.
Shares in the British company, which are trading at two-and-a-half-year highs, rose 5% to 94 pence in early deals.
It slashed its dividend by 40% in May 2019 after the cost of buying 5G spectrum in Europe caused its debt to balloon.
CEO Margherita Della Valle said, as well as an improved performance in Germany, where it had been hit by a change in TV subscription rules, Vodafone had made a fast start in bringing together the Vodafone and Three networks in Britain. Reuters
Google to invest €5bn in Germany for data centres
Berlin — Alphabet’s Google will invest around €5bn in Germany, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, in a push to expand its infrastructure and data centre capacity in Europe’s largest economy.
The plans include a new data centre in Dietzenbach, close to Frankfurt, and the expansion of a Google site in the city of Hanau, in the same area, a second source said.
Another source said earlier that the plans foresee investments of “a mid-single-digit billion euro amount”.
Google did not immediately comment on the size of the investment. Reuters
UK labour market cools as unemployment climbs
London — Britain’s labour market cooled noticeably in the third quarter as wage growth slowed and the unemployment rate jumped, according to data on Tuesday that will bolster expectations for a Bank of England interest rate cut next month.
The unemployment rate rose to 5.0% from 4.8% — the highest reading since the three months to February 2021, the data showed.
Wage growth, excluding bonuses, slowed slightly to 4.6% in the three months to September compared with a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said.
A Reuters poll of economists had mostly expected regular annual wage growth of 4.6% for July-September, slightly weaker than an increase of 4.7% in the three months to August. Reuters
Ikea profits rise amid tariff cost absorption in US
Stockholm/London — The world’s biggest retailer of Ikea furniture reported a rise in annual profit on Tuesday, while it tries to bring back cash-strapped consumers, and said it had raised prices in the US less than competitors as it absorbs some tariff costs.
In what the budget retailer said had been a year marked by economic uncertainty, supply-chain challenges, and cost-of-living pressures, its revenue fell slightly to €41.45bn, from €41.85bn the previous year.
“Five years of cumulative inflation in society for many people... it’s a massive pressure for people to come to the end of the month,” said Juvencio Maeztu, CEO of the largest Ikea franchisee, Ingka Group, in an interview with Reuters.
But the number of products sold in the financial year ending August 31 increased 1.6%, footfall was up 1.3%, and online visits rose 4.6%, as Ikea stuck to a strategy of keeping prices low to attract cash-strapped consumers and gain market share. Reuters
India’s cotton imports to hit record high amid low output
Mumbai — India’s cotton imports are forecast to climb 9.8% in the new season to a record high, driven by New Delhi’s move to allow duty-free overseas purchases and a drop in local output to a 17-year low, industry officials said.
Higher imports by the world’s second-largest cotton producer are expected to support global prices, which are trading near six-month lows.
India’s cotton imports could rise to 4.5-million bales in the 2025/26 marketing year, which began on October 1, with nearly 3-million expected to arrive in the December quarter, said Atul Ganatra, president of the Cotton Association of India (CAI). Reuters
Nebius strikes $3bn AI infrastructure deal with Meta
Bengaluru — Nebius Group has signed a deal worth about $3bn with Meta to provide the Facebook owner with AI infrastructure over a five-year period, the company said on Tuesday, after it reported a more than fourfold rise in third-quarter revenue.
The company’s shares seesawed in volatile premarket trading after it posted a surge in capital spending and a quarterly loss of over $100m, widening from $39.7m last year.
The stock has been on a strong run this year, with its market value rising fourfold to $27.61bn through the last close. Reuters
Kering and Mayhoola inject €100m to support Valentino
Milan — Kering and investment fund Mayhoola have agreed to inject €100m into Valentino to shore up the Italian fashion house’s finances after it breached loan covenants earlier this year, according to a corporate document and two sources familiar with the matter.
Valentino is controlled by holding company MFI Luxury Srl, in which Qatar-backed Mayhoola holds a 70% stake and French luxury conglomerate Kering owns the remaining 30%.
Kering acquired the stake in Valentino for €1.7bn in 2023, with a commitment to fully take over the brand from Mayhoola. Reuters
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