Jaguar Land Rover has downgraded its profit predictions for the year, as it warned of the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and heightened global uncertainty. JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata, said it expected margins on underlying profits of between 5% and 7% this financial year. The Coventry-based car manufacturer had previously pointed towards 10% for the year, while it posted an underlying profit margin of 8.5% for the year to March. In April, the UK’s largest employer in the automotive sector halted all shipments to the US after President Trump’s administration imposed an additional 25% tariff on…
Author: dmnews
Hundreds of workers are set to lose their jobs after the owners of the UK’s largest fibreglass factory announced the closure of the site. Japanese firm Nippon Electric Glass is to shut the plant in Hindley Green, Wigan, despite months of rescue talks with the government and local leaders. Josh Simons, Labour MP for Makerfield, said the firm had “repeatedly moved the goalposts” in discussions, while the GMB Union described the move as a “bitter betrayal” of the factory’s 250-strong workforce. Nippon said “various options” had been considered over the plant’s future, but the firm had decided to place its…
“I drive an electric vehicle because I am poor,” says Lu Yunfeng, a private hire driver, who is at a charging station on the outskirts of Guangzhou in the south of China. Standing nearby, Sun Jingguo agrees. “The cost of driving a petrol car is too expensive. I save money driving an electric vehicle,” he says. “Also, it protects the environment,” he adds, leaning against his white Beijing U7 model. It’s the kind of conversation climate campaigners dream of hearing. In many countries, electric vehicles (EVs) are considered luxury purchases. But here in China – where almost half of all…
Airlines have been cancelling or rerouting flights to and from the Middle East amid the conflict between Israel and Iran. Qatar’s Hamad International Airport airport, a critical hub in the region, temporarily halted operations on Monday before reopening. Flights were temporarily paused at Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as passengers were told to expect further delays and cancellations. More than a dozen airlines cancelled flights to parts of the region after tension mounted in recent days. On Monday, Qatar briefly closed its airspace before Iran fired missiles at a US military base in the country, in what…
US President Donald Trump took a gamble by inserting the US into the worsening conflict between Israel and Iran, but it may have paid off – at least for now. Trump announced on Monday evening that the two countries had agreed to a ceasefire that he said could lead to a lasting peace. If the American president has in fact ended what he labelled the “12 Day War”, it would make for a significant step back from the brink of a conflict that seemed on the verge of engulfing the region, along with pulling America further in after US airstrikes…
There is considerable speculation that Iran might retaliate for the US’s strikes on its nuclear facilities by closing the world’s busiest oil shipping channel, the Strait of Hormuz. About 20% of global oil and gas flows through this narrow shipping lane in the Gulf. Blocking it would have profound consequences for the global economy, disrupting international trade and ratcheting up oil prices. It could also inflate the cost of goods and services worldwide, and hit some of the world’s biggest economies, including China, India and Japan, which are among the top importers of crude oil passing through the strait. What…
Oil prices have fallen nearly 4%, despite an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Over the weekend the United States bombed nuclear sites in Iran, which prompted a retaliatory attack by Iran on a US base in Qatar on Monday. In response, the price of Brent crude oil rose to its highest in five months after markets opened in London. But it fell back by mid-morning and was hovering around $74 at the end of the trading day in the UK. Oil traded in the US also fell sharply, by around 7% to $68 a barrel. Analysts said the…
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called on China to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes. His comments came after Iran’s state-run Press TV reported that parliament had approved a plan to close the Strait but added that the final decision lies with the Supreme National Security Council. Any disruption to the supply of oil would have profound consequences for the economy. China in particular is the world’s largest buyer of Iranian oil and has a close relationship with Tehran. Oil prices rose following the US attack on Iranian…
Since US President Donald Trump ordered strikes on several nuclear facilities in Iran over the weekend, Democrats as well as lawmakers from his own party have questioned his legal authority to do so. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie said on X that the strikes were “not Constitutional”, and another Republican Congressman Warren Davidson wrote “it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional”. But Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson defended the president, saying he “evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act” and that there’s “tradition of similar military actions under presidents of…
Oil prices tumbled by nearly 5% on Tuesday after Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Iran after nearly two weeks of conflict. Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, fell to $68 a barrel, which is below the level it was at when Israel launched missiles against Iran’s nuclear sites on 13 June. Prices had spiked in recent days as concerns grew that Iran could disrupt global supplies by blockading. Stock markets in the UK, Europe and Asia rose as US President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire “is now in effect”, after which Israel confirmed that it had agreed…