Thursday 27 February 2025
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: US confirms 25 per cent tariffs on the EU
Business: Aston Martin announces losses of nearly £290 million
Markets: Bitcoin falls by 20 per cent since January
Foreign Affairs: Ukraine-US rare earths deal contains no security guarantees
Security and intelligence: Iran nearly triples its enriched uranium store since November
Domestic politics: UK Government responds to Grenfell Tower Inquiry report
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 8,731.46 (up 0.72 per cent)
S&P 500 = 5,956.06 (up 0.014 per cent)
Nasdaq = 19,075.26 (up 0.26 per cent)
CAC40 = 8,143.92 (up 1.15 per cent)
£1 = $1.27 / €1.21
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The Mighty Detail
Economics: At his first Cabinet meeting, President Trump confirmed that he would be imposing 25 per cent tariffs on the EU and said that the bloc had been created to exploit the US. President Trump did not specify which goods would be affected but said that the tariffs would be levied “generally”.
Business: Aston Martin is reporting pre-tax losses of £289 million for 2024 and a three per cent fall in revenue to nearly £1.6 billion. The car maker has said that it will be cutting 170 jobs to save around £25 million. The company said that supply chain disruptions and weaker demand in China were partly to blame.
Markets: The value of Bitcoin has fallen by over 8 per cent in the last two days and by 20 per cent since January. At the end of the UK trading day yesterday, it was worth around $86,400. This compares to over $106,000 at the end of January. The impact of US tariffs and associated economic uncertainty from the new US administration is reported as a factor in the sell-off.
Foreign Affairs: President Zelensky is scheduled to meet President Trump tomorrow to finalise a rare earths metal deal. The draft agreement does not contain any security guarantees for Ukraine, which Zelensky has said will need to be decided jointly by the US and Europe. The will deal require Ukraine to put 50 per cent of all revenues from its natural resources into a “Reconstruction Investment Fund” jointly managed by the US and Ukraine.
Security and intelligence: Iran is accelerating its production of near-weapons grade uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that Iran’s store of 60 per cent-enriched uranium increased from 92kg in November 2024 to 274kg in February 2025. Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to produce this material. Iran’s overall stockpile of enriched uranium rose from 1,690kg to 8,294kg over the same period.
Domestic politics: The UK Government published its response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s report yesterday. The Government has said it will act on all of the Inquiry’s 58 recommendations, including creating a new, single construction regulator and a legal duty of candour requiring public authorities to disclose the truth.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
125th anniversary of the founding of the UK Labour Party
UK Prime Minister meets President Trump
Media and Sports Questions in UK Parliament
Germany unemployment rate (February)
Eurozone consumer confidence data (February)
US unemployment data (weekly)
Japan retails sales data (January)
Company results from: Rolls-Royce, Serco, HP, Swiss Re, Qantas, Taylor Wimpey, Ocado, Drax
Lookahead to tomorrow
President Zelensky due to meet President Trump, Washington DC
Rio Carnival, Brazil
China manufacturing growth data (February)
Germany retails sales data (January)
Germany unemployment data (February)
Canada, France GDP data (Q4 2024)
Germany, France, Italy CPI inflation data (February)
South Korea trade data (February)
UK house price data (January)
Company results from: IAG, BASF
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
A lovely sunny day. High of 10C and low of 0C in London. Sunny in Belfast and Edinburgh too.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“Life is a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.” – Helen Keller, writer
Mighty takeaway: Have the courage to take risks in life, to follow your goals and to make mistakes and learn from them.
That’s it for this Thursday morning. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you on Friday.
Adios!
The Mighty Memo team