Stocks rise as auto shares surge on tariff break hopes
Stock markets rose Tuesday, with shares in several automakers gaining after US President Donald Trump hinted that the sector could get some tariff reprieve.Some stability has returned to markets after last week’s rollercoaster ride over Trump’s stop-start tariff announcements, but uncertainty remains over speculation of new levies on high-end technology and pharmaceuticals.”While financial markets have steadied, with many looking as if they are consolidating at current levels, this feels as if it is the calm before the storm,” said David Morrison, senior analyst at financial services firm Trade Nation.”Markets remain skittish, and investors feel safer sitting on their hands for now, hoping that last week’s worrying dislocations revert back to normal,” he said.Wall Street opened slightly higher while the dollar, which has been battered in recent days, pared back some losses against the euro.European indices performed better than US peers in afternoon deals.Paris made more modest gains, weighed by shares in luxury conglomerate LVMH falling more than eight percent after it reported a decline in sales. Shares in European and Asian automakers rallied following Trump’s comments on Monday that he was “very flexible” and “looking at something to help some of the car companies” hit by his 25 percent tariff on all imports.”This serves to double down on the weekend narrative that Trump will reverse some of his tariffs once company execs approach him to highlight the huge negative implications of his action,” said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets. “It therefore comes as no surprise to see the likes of Aston Martin Lagonda, BMW and Volkswagen heading up the gainers,” he added.US-European automaker Stellantis, whose brands include Jeep, Fiat and Peugeot, gained over six percent in Paris, while German brands Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz advanced more than two percent. “We are encouraged by what President Trump indicated yesterday about tariffs for the car industry,” Stellantis president John Elkann said at the group’s annual shareholders meeting.In Asia, Toyota jumped 3.7 percent and Hyundai more than four percent.But in the United States, General Motors and Ford slumped.Markets made a positive start to the week, rising Monday after the announcement of tariff exemptions for consumer electronic products, though Trump’s suggestion that the reprieve would be temporary tempered the optimism.”Sentiment got a further boost thanks to positive noises about trade negotiations, which added to the sense that the administration is focused on making deals that could see the tariffs come down,” said Jim Reid, analyst at Deutsche Bank.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that a China-US deal could be done, in an apparent olive branch as the two economic powerhouses trade tariff threats.Trump has hammered China with duties of up to 145 percent, while Beijing has imposed retaliatory measures of 125 percent.Other countries are negotiating with Washington.Trump aide Kevin Hassett said the White House had received “more than 10 deals where there’s very, very good, amazing offers made to us”, but did not specify from which countries they came.Asian markets pushed higher, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai all rallying.South Korea’s announcement of plans to invest an additional $4.9 billion in the country’s semiconductor sector gave a little lift to chip giants Samsung and SK hynix.- Key figures around 1335 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 40,575.75 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 5,417.84New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.2 percent at 16,863.42London – FTSE 100: UP 1.0 percent at 8,219.12Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,301.89Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.2 percent at 21,202.45 Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 34,267.54 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 21,466.27 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,267.66 (close)Dollar/yen: DOWN at 142.92 yen from 143.09 yen on MondayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1316 from $1.1356 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3226 from $1.3189Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.57 pence from 86.08 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.1 percent at $61.48 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $64.82 per barrel
‘We just ran’: survivors recount escape from famine-hit Sudan camp
Amna Hussein didn’t stop when the bullet hit her hand. She kept on running as paramilitaries attacked Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the dead of night.”They entered Zamzam and started shooting at us,” she told AFP in the small town of Tawila, 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of the huge famine-stricken camp, which by Sunday had fallen to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).”I tied my hand with a cloth to stop the blood and we kept running,” the 36-year-old said, her hand swollen and body weak after a three-day trek on foot.The United Nations says more than 400 people have been killed and around 400,000 people displaced since the RSF on Friday began attacking Zamzam, where aid sources estimate up to a million people were sheltering.The lucky ones like Hussein made it to Tawila, despite barely any aid available there. The fighters did not pursue them.Ibrahim Essa, a 43-year-old father of six, didn’t think he would make it out.”We tried to leave on the first day, but RSF fighters blocked the roads and fired artillery at us,” he told AFP from underneath the dead tree his family now uses for shelter.Since war erupted between the regular Sudanese army and the RSF two years ago, Darfur has seen some of the worst violence, with entire villages and camps torched.- Systematic destruction -Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL), which uses remote sensing data to track the conflict, confirms that the RSF now controls the sprawling camp.”Zamzam camp is now being systematically destroyed by fire from intentional arson by RSF forces,” it reported Monday, a day after the RSF claimed it had “liberated” the area.The camp lies just south of North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, the only major city in the vast western region not conquered by the RSF.The UN and international leaders have for nearly a year warned against a full-scale attack on Zamzam and El-Fasher, with fears of ethnically motivated massacres such as those the RSF committed elsewhere in Darfur.According to the Yale HRL, the RSF has positioned a 200 vehicle-strong force inside Zamzam, indicating “an imminent large-scale assault on El-Fasher city itself”.The RSF has besieged El-Fasher since last May, but has been unable to defeat the army and its allied militias known as the Joint Forces.After the army retook the capital Khartoum 1,000 kilometres to the east last month, the RSF intensified its attacks in a final push to claim all of Darfur.- ‘Die together in Zamzam’ -Although the Joint Forces have for months intercepted RSF supply lines, experts warn a full-scale attack could overcome their defences.Several survivors from Zamzam told AFP they were stopped by Joint Forces fighters who urged them not to flee.”They told us: ‘Don’t leave. We will all die together in Zamzam,” said one survivor who gave her name as Nasha.When the fighting intensified, she took her children and ran for Tawila, arriving three days later.”Now we’re sitting in the dirt with no blankets, no mattresses, not even proper clothes,” she told AFP.Behind her, hundreds of families huddled under scattered trees, nothing to their name but the clothes they fled in.On Monday, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said its small team in Tawila reported 10,000 displaced people arriving in under two days.Little aid is available in Tawila, where people displaced from other parts of North Darfur have slept on the ground for months.An AFP journalist saw a steady stream of exhausted families pour in, some clinging to overcrowded trucks or jolting slowly along in wooden donkey carts piled high with children.”After we arrived in Tawila, aid workers gave us water and dates. But I was already very sick,” Nasha said.”I collapsed and fainted from thirst and the heat.”On Tuesday, Sudan’s war entered its third year with no hope of respite.Tens of thousands have been killed, including up to 15,000 in ethnically motivated massacres by the RSF and allied militias in the West Darfur town of El-Geneina alone, a UN panel said.Thirteen million more have been uprooted and eight million are on the brink of famine, in what the UN calls the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.An independent UN fact-finding mission warned Monday that “the darkest chapters of this conflict have yet to unfold”, citing rising ethnic violence and retaliation nationwide.Â
‘We just ran’: survivors recount escape from famine-hit Sudan campTue, 15 Apr 2025 13:54:51 GMT
Amna Hussein didn’t stop when the bullet hit her hand. She kept on running as paramilitaries attacked Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the dead of night.”They entered Zamzam and started shooting at us,” she told AFP in the small town of Tawila, 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of the huge famine-stricken camp, …
Facebook chief Zuckerberg testifying again in US antitrust trial
Social media titan Mark Zuckerberg took the stand for a second day Tuesday in a landmark US antitrust trial where his conglomerate Meta is accused of taking over Instagram and WhatsApp before they could become competitors.The federal court trial in Washington has dashed Zuckerberg’s hopes that the return of President Donald Trump to the White House would see the government let up on the enforcement of antitrust law against Big Tech.The case could see the Facebook owner forced to divest of Instagram and WhatsApp, which have grown into global powerhouses since their buyout.It was originally filed in December 2020, during the first Trump administration, and all eyes were on whether the Republican would ask the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to stand down.Zuckerberg, the world’s third-richest person, has made repeated visits to the White House as he tried to persuade the president to choose settlement instead of fighting the trial.As part of his lobbying efforts, Zuckerberg contributed to Trump’s inauguration fund and overhauled content moderation policies. He also purchased a $23 million mansion in Washington in what was seen as a bid to spend more time close to the center of political power.Central to the case is Facebook’s 2012 billion-dollar purchase of Instagram — then a small but promising photo-sharing app that now boasts two billion active users.An email from Zuckerberg cited by the FTC showed him depicting Instagram’s emergence as “really scary,” adding that is “why we might want to consider paying a lot of money for this.”In his first day of testimony Monday, Zuckerberg downplayed those exchanges as early talk before plans for Instagram came together.But the FTC argues that Meta’s $19 billion WhatsApp acquisition in 2014 followed the same pattern, with Zuckerberg fearing the messaging app could either transform into a social network or be purchased by a competitor.Meta’s defense attorneys counter that substantial investments transformed these acquisitions into the blockbusters they are today.They also highlight that Meta’s apps are free for users and face fierce competition.FTC attorney Daniel Matheson said in opening remarks on Monday that “they decided that competition is too hard and it would be easier to buy out their rivals than to compete with them.”Meta attorney Mark Hansen countered in his first salvo that “acquisitions to improve and grow an acquired firm” are not unlawful in the United States, saying that is what Facebook did.A key part of the courtroom battle will be how the FTC defines Meta’s market.The US government argues that Facebook and Instagram are dominant players in apps that provide a way to connect with family and friends, a category that does not include TikTok and YouTube.But Meta disagrees.”The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others,” a spokesperson said.
Stellantis: un tiers des actionnaires s’oppose à la politique de rémunération des dirigeants
Les actionnaires de Stellantis ont exprimé une dernière fois mardi leur opposition à la politique de rémunération de Carlos Tavares, écarté de la direction du constructeur automobile fin 2024 après des résultats décevants.L’ex-directeur général du géant de l’automobile (qui regroupe quinze marques dont Peugeot, Fiat, Opel et Chrysler) a bénéficié, pour 2024, d’une rémunération atteignant 23,1 millions d’euros, en baisse de 37% par rapport à 2023 (36,5 millions), car composée en majorité d’une part variable, liée à l’atteinte d’objectifs de performance. C’est l’équivalent de 350 fois le salaire moyen des 259.000 salariés de Stellantis à travers le monde (65.993 euros), en baisse pour la première fois depuis la création du groupe en 2021.Carlos Tavares doit toucher par ailleurs une indemnité de départ de 2 millions d’euros et un bonus de 10 millions d’euros lié à “l’atteinte d’une étape de transformation de l’entreprise”. Mais un autre bonus de performance de 10 millions lui a été refusé.Un tiers des actionnaires du groupe (33,07%) a contesté mardi le rapport du comité de rémunération du groupe, un vote qui reste consultatif selon la loi des Pays-Bas, où le groupe a établi son siège. Les actionnaires s’étaient opposés à cette politique à hauteur de 52% en 2022, 48% en 2023, et 30% en 2024, sans que cela n’empêche les versements prévus.”Le package de rémunération de 23,1 millions d’euros proposé pour l’ancien directeur général dans le rapport de rémunération semble excessivement généreux, en particulier compte tenu des performances opérationnelles médiocres et des circonstances entourant la démission forcée”, avait protesté le gestionnaire d’actifs AllianzGI le 8 avril.Après des premières années marquées par des profits record, le groupe Stellantis a vécu une très mauvaise année 2024, freiné notamment par des difficultés en Amérique du Nord. Le bénéfice net du groupe a chuté de 70%, à 5,5 milliards d’euros, et Carlos Tavares a été poussé vers la sortie.- Une “démission” -“Il n’est pas acceptable d’attribuer une indemnité de départ à un dirigeant ayant mené la société à cette situation d’échec”, avait commenté la société de conseil aux investisseurs Proxinvest, recommandant aussi de voter contre la résolution concernée. “Le départ étant volontaire puisque c’est une démission, aucune indemnité n’aurait dû être attribuée au dirigeant”, avait souligné Proxinvest, même si M. Tavares a été poussé vers la sortie.Lors de la publication du montant de la rémunération de son ex-dirigeant, fin février, Stellantis avait précisé que le principe de l’indemnité de départ était “tel que requis par la loi néerlandaise”.Le président français Emmanuel Macron avait lui-même critiqué le montant du salaire de Carlos Tavares en 2022. Le ministre de l’Industrie Marc Ferracci s’est exprimé dans le même sens dimanche sur France 3, soulignant qu’un “principe de modération” devait s’appliquer. Mais “je ne pense pas que ce soit fondamentalement à l’État de déterminer le niveau des salaires, le niveau des rémunérations”, avait-il aussitôt ajouté.La présidente du comité de rémunération de Stellantis, Wan Ling Martello, a concédé dans une lettre aux actionnaires que “la rémunération (était) une question complexe et sensible”, et qu’il existait “des opportunités d’améliorer l’alignement avec les attentes des investisseurs”.Wan Ling Martello a insisté sur la nécessité “d’attirer et de retenir des talents de classe mondiale au sein d’une entreprise mondiale et d’assurer une structure d’incitation appropriée, surtout durant cette période de transformation disruptive significative dans notre industrie”.Pour peser indirectement sur cette politique, AllianzGI, qui détient moins de 1% du capital de Stellantis, avait également annoncé qu’il allait s’opposer à la réélection de deux membres du conseil d’administration qui siègent au comité de rémunération, le Français Benoît Ribadeau-Dumas (qui représente Exor, le groupe de la famille Agnelli) et Fiona Clare Cicconi, qui représente les salariés. Mais ceux-ci ont bien été élus lors de l’assemblée générale mardi.
Pakistan court refuses to hear Baloch activist case: lawyers
A Pakistan court refused on Tuesday to rule on the detention of activist Mahrang Baloch, a decision her lawyers said will delay her case and keep her behind bars.The 32-year-old was placed under administrative detention by the Balochistan provincial government on March 22, accused of terrorism, sedition, and murder after leading a protest.The Balochistan High Court refused to hear an appeal against her detention, instead referring her case to the provincial government, according to Baloch’s defence team.”They closed all doors for us to appeal and directed us to the government instead,” her lawyer Kamran Murtaza told AFP, calling it a “refusal of justice”.Imaan Mazari, a second lawyer, called it a “complete abdication of responsibility” by the justice system, which has “put her at the mercy of the same administration that detained her”.Baloch will now remain under administrative detention, a 30-day period renewable three times under Pakistani law. The UN has expressed “concern” for the trainee surgeon, who was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 rising leaders of 2024. Balochistan, the country’s poorest province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is in the grip of separatist militants who regularly carry out attacks on security forces.Baloch founded the Baloch Unity Committee which accuses the state of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests in their security operations, but advocates non-violence.At least 3,000 supporters have taken part in an ongoing sit-in, blocking key roads near the main city of Quetta for the past two weeks and demanding the release of Baloch and other activists.Authorities restrict access to many areas of Balochistan, where China has poured billions into energy and infrastructure projects, including a major port and an airport.Â
Wall Street ouvre en petite hausse, sans grande conviction
La Bourse de New York a ouvert en petite hausse mardi mais sans grande conviction, portée par les aléas sur le plan des droits de douane, et digérant dans le même temps une nouvelle salve de résultats d’entreprises.Dans les premiers échanges, le Dow Jones grappillait 0,15%, l’indice Nasdaq était proche de l’équilibre (+0,06%) et l’indice élargi S&P 500 glanait 0,17%.