Apple cheers Trump with $500bn US investment plan; more losses on Wall Street – as it happened

Time for a recap…

• Apple has pledged to spend $500bn in US investments in the next four years, including a giant factory in Texas for artificial intelligence servers.

  The plan will add around 20,000 research and development jobs across the country, with CEO Tim Cook saying Apple is “bullish on the future of American innovation”.

• Donald Trump welcomed the move, saying Apple was making the investment because of “faith in what we are doing”.
  

• But stocks fell on Wall Street, on concerns that the US economy may be slowing as Trump’s threatened tariffs hit confidence.
  

• Shares had earlier rallied in Germany, as investors reacted to the news that the conservative CDU/CSU party had won last weekend’s election. A grand coalition with the centre-left SPD, keeping the far-right AfD out of power, seems likely.
  

• The euro hit a one-month high, before slipping back.

• There was also a flurry of takeover excitement in the City, with oil exploration/engineering firm John Wood confirming it had received an approach from the UAE’s Sidara.
  

• Sky News reported that UK defence firm Chemring had recently received an approach from Bain Capital.

Many European markets have been dragged lower by today’s losses on Wall Street.

In London, the FTSE 100 index is now down 0.33%, while France’s CAC index is down 0.9%.

Germany’s earlier rally has been somewhat snuffed out, with the DAX index now only up 0.2%.

The recent weakness in US equities reflects concerns that US growth could be slowing significantly, reports Rupert Thompson, chief economist at asset manager IBOSS.

Thompson writes:

The weakness in US equities was triggered by an outbreak of concerns that, far from picking up speed if anything, US growth could actually be slowing significantly. The worries were triggered by a string of weak numbers – namely larger than expected declines in housing starts and retail sales in January and in business and consumer confidence in February.

Walmart added to the angst, warning of a slowdown in growth over the coming year. Finally, Musk was back in the headlines with his weekend email requiring government employees to justify their work over the past week or lose their job. The fear here is that his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) could indirectly lead to lay-offs of as much as a million.

Stocks in New York have fallen into the red in early trading, following the selloff at the end of last week.

The S&P 500 index, which slumped by 1.7% on Friday, is down another 0.44%, or 26 points, at 5,986 points.

The tech-focused Nasdaq index has lost almost 1%, with data firm Palantir down 10%, bitcoin-focused software firm MicroStrategy losing 5% and chip firms Intel and AMD down over 3% each.

Last Friday’s drop – the biggest in two months – was blamed on concerns that US business and consumer sentiment is deteriorating amid rising tariff uncertainty.

Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, predicts there’ll be more volatility this year:

“We see the S&P 500 rising to 6,600 by the end of the year, although the journey up is likely to be accompanied by heightened volatility. Portfolio diversification and hedging approaches are key, and we think capital preservation strategies can help manage drawdown risks in equities.”

Coffee chain Starbucks is cutting 1,100 corporate roles, as chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines its operations.

In a letter to employees, Niccol says:

“We are simplifying our structure, removing layers and duplication and creating smaller, more nimble teams.

Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration.”

Starbucks also says it is removing some of the less popular beverage options from its menu.

Just in: Wood Group have confirmed they have received an offer from Sidara, as rumoured earlier this afternoon.

They advise shareholders to take no action in relation to the Proposal, and caution that there’s no certainty that an offer will be made nor as to the terms of any such offer.

Shares in Apple have opened higher, having been down a little in pre-market trading.

Apple are up 0.85% at $247.62, as traders react to its major investment plan.

There’s a second flurry of takeover excitement in the City of London.

Oil services and engineering company John Wood has entered talks with Sidara about a potential takeover by the United Arab Emirates-based company, the Financial Times reports.

This has lifted John Wood’s share price by 30% to 34p, raising its value to around £240m.

That recovers some of its recent losses – the company’s value halved on 14th February after it predicted its free cashflow would be negative this year.

Awkwardly for John Wood, it rejected a £1.4bn takeover offer from Sidara last May, arguing that the bid “fundamentally undervalued” the company. That’s hard to defend, given Sidara were offering 205p per Wood share….

Wood Group has been in talks with lenders about refinancing its $1.26bn debt pile before some loans mature.

The crisis at Wood Group escalated last week when its chief financial officer, Arvind Balan, stepped down and admitted he had mis-described his accountancy qualifications.

Apple emphasises that today’s $500bn investment plan is its “largest-ever spend commitment”.

It also flags that it is one of the largest US taxpayers, having paid more than $75bn in US taxes over the past five years, including $19bn in 2024.

[In Europe, though, Apple was ordered to pay €13bn, plus interest, in unpaid Irish taxes from 2004–14]

Wall Street doesn’t seem to quite share Donald Trump’s enthusiasm about Apple’s investment splurge.

Shares in Apple are down 0.5% in pre-market trading, with just over an hour until Wall Street opens.

The new Apple Manufacturing Facility to be opened in Houston, Texas, will produce AI servers which are currently being made outside the US.

Apple says the new 250,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in 2026, and will create “thousands of jobs”.

The company adds:

Previously manufactured outside the U.S., the servers that will soon be assembled in Houston play a key role in powering Apple Intelligence, and are the foundation of Private Cloud Compute, which combines powerful AI processing with the most advanced security architecture ever deployed at scale for AI cloud computing. The servers bring together years of R&D by Apple engineers, and deliver the industry-leading security and performance of Apple silicon to the data center.

Apple says its new manufacturing academy in Detroit will help US companies transition to advanced manufacturing.

It says:

Apple engineers, along with experts from top universities such as Michigan State, will consult with small- and medium-sized businesses on implementing AI and smart manufacturing techniques.

The academy will also offer free in-person and online courses, with a skills development curriculum that teaches workers vital skills like project management and manufacturing process optimization. The courses will help drive productivity, efficiency, and quality in companies’ supply chains.

Donald Trump has welcomed Apple’s plan to invest $500bn in its US operations over the next four years, and – predictably – wants the credit.

Writing on his Truth Social site, the US president says Apple was making the investment because of “faith in what we are doing”, before thanking the company.

Trump met with Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, last week – after which he claimed Apple was planning to shift manufacturing from Mexico to the US, to avoid tariffs.

Apple has announced a massive $500bn (£400bn) investment plan across the US over the next four years.

The tech giant is planning to hire around 20,000 people, of which the vast majority will be focused on R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning.

Apple says it will expand its facilities, and hire more staff, in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington.

The plan includes building a new factory in Texas, doubling the size of its US Advanced Manufacturing Fund, opening a manufacturing academy in Detroit, and accelerating its investments in AI and silicon engineering.

The move follows pressure from Donald Trump for US companies to invest more in their US facilities, and the threat of tariffs on imports from overseas.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, says:

“We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future.

“From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.”

Here’s a chart showing how the euro lost ground against the US dollar towards the end of last year, before a small pick-up this morning after the German election:

Shares in UK defence company Chemring have suddenly jumped, following reports that it has received a takeover approach from private equity firm Bain Capital.

Sky News are reporting that in recent weeks Bain Capital has lodged at least one proposal to acquire Chemring, which manufacturers products used in defence kit and by organisations including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

An initial bid “may have been tabled at 390p-a-share”, Sky adds. That would be around 9% more than Friday’s night’s closing price of 358p.

Shares in Chemring have jumped as high as 408p, up 15%, which suggests traders expect a higher offer.

Chemring designs, develops and manufactures “advanced expendable countermeasures” to protect aeroplanes, boats and land-based combat vehicles, supplying 85% of NATO air fleets and 60% of NATO naval fleets.

Chemring say they are also a “key supplier” to NASA, SpaceX and Martin-Baker, and supplied more than 230 parts on the Mars Perseverance mission.