Biden advisers fear Trump will return to Twitter before next election – live updates
US democrats are reportedly concerned that Donald Trump will soon return to Twitter following Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover.
The social media giant has blocked its junior staff from making changes to its website, amid reports the atmosphere at the social media giant is “absolutely insane”.
Tweaks to the platform code will need approval from senior staff, according to reports, as the buyout by the world’s richest man sent some staff into despair.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” one staff member told the New York Times, adding “I hate [Musk], why does he even want this?”.
02:54 PM
Tesla shares tumble after Twitter takeover
Tesla is the biggest fallen on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq today after boss Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover.
The world’s richest man will make up about $12.5bn of the $44bn with money backed by pledging some of his Twitter stock.
02:29 PM
Spain’s richest man buys Glasgow office for £200m
Spain’s richest man has dropped £200m on a commercial building in Glasgow, expanding his portfolio of European real estate investments.
Amancio Ortega, who runs Zara-owner Inditex, bought the site at 177 Bothwell Street, home to BNP Paribas, Virgin Money and Aecom.
The site has a rooftop terrace and more than 300 spaces for bicycles.
02:07 PM
Brussels: Musk has to comply with our digital rules
Brussels has fired a shot across Elon Musk’s bows, warning the the proud new owner of Twitter that he will need to comply with EU content rules or face hefty fines.
The Financial Times reports:
Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market, told the Financial Times that Elon Musk must follow rules on moderating illegal and harmful content online after Twitter accepted the billionaire’s $44bn takeover offer.
Breton said: “We welcome everyone. We are open but on our conditions. At least we know what to tell him: ‘Elon, there are rules. You are welcome but these are our rules. It’s not your rules which will apply here.’”
02:03 PM
Tech stocks fall sharply at open in US
Wall Street day trading has been running for about half an hour, and it’s pretty ugly at the moment. The benchmark S&P 500 is off about 1pc, despite a rally in Europe:
Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down about 2.2pc:
01:43 PM
Biden officials worried Trump will return to Twitter – CNBC
Senior Democrat officials and strategists are concerned that Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter is paving the way for the return of Donald Trump, CNBC reports.
The US broadcaster says:
Officials within President Joe Biden’s administration are closely watching the deal, according to more than half a dozen advisors to Biden, including two administration officials.
Some on Biden’s team are growing increasingly concerned the Tesla CEO will allow Trump and other Republican operatives who were banned from Twitter to return to the platform, these people said, asking not to be identified in order to speak freely about internal discussions among senior Democratic advisors.
.@schwartzbCNBC story that
Biden officials worry Trump will return to platform and my take:
“Trump will use Twitter to do far more damage to regain power in 2022 and 2024 while Elon Musk has given no indication that he will do anything to stop him” https://t.co/9OZp5otXOI— Mary Anne Marsh (@maryannemarsh) April 25, 2022
It’s arguably something of an odd fear given Biden comfortably beat Trump back in 2020 despite the Republican candidate having access to Twitter then.
01:29 PM
World Bank: Commodity prices will stay high until 2024
Grim news on the inflation front: Soaring food and energy prices, pushed even higher by the war in Ukraine, could remain elevated until the end of 2024, the World Bank has warned.
Bloomberg reports:
Increase in energy prices, which has reached the largest since the 1973 oil crisis, is expected to pass 50pc in 2022 before easing in 2023 and 2024, the group said in its Commodity Markets Outlook. Prices for agriculture and metals are projected to increase almost 20pc in 2022 before moderating at elevated levels in the following years.
“Overall, this amounts to the largest commodity shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s,” Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s vice president for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, said in a statement. “As was the case then, the shock is being aggravated by a surge in restrictions in trade of food, fuel and fertilisers.”
12:56 PM
Lefties lash out as Musk gets Twitter
Left-wing celebrities and activists have expressed their horror over Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, claiming his commitment to free speech will trigger an outpouring of “bigotry and misogyny”.
My colleague Helen Cahill reports:
Charities and politicians used Twitter to criticise the Tesla billionaire’s $44bn (£35bn) acquisition of the social media network on Tuesday after he said he would support freedom of expression online through the deal.
Amnesty International, which campaigns for the release of dissidents jailed for speaking out against human rights abuses, expressed its disapproval of Mr Musk’s takeover in a Tweet on Monday night. It said: “Two words: toxic Twitter.”
Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, also made pointed remarks in a post on Twitter saying: “Freedom of speech is vital, but free speech does not mean a free pass for hatred.”
12:33 PM
PM spokesperson: Twitter must remain ‘responsible’
Downing Street has joined in with the Twitter takeover fallout, saying the social media giant must remain “responsible” and shield users from “harm” under its new ownership.
Via PA:
“Regardless of ownership, all social media platforms must be responsible,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
That includes protecting users from harm on their sites. It is too early to say what – if any – changes will be made to how Twitter operates.
It remains an important tool, it’s used by world leaders, and we will continue to work with them to make sure it continues to improve.
They added that deciding whether to re-activate Donald Trump’s account was “entirely a matter for Twitter”.
11:55 AM
FTSE holds steady gain
We’re well past the halfway point of the trading session, and the FTSE 100 is holding solidly in the green, up around 0.8pc at present. It’s something of a rebound from yesterday’s fall, but HSBC is still adding a fair amount of drag.
11:40 AM
IWG falls on costs warning
Office space provider IWG is the biggest faller on the FTSE 250 today, down 5.3pc after having dropped as much as 9.2pc earlier.
The company, which operates the Regus brand, warned on inflation in an update this morning, saying:
We are experiencing higher inflationary pressures across some of our cost categories which will represent a headwind during 2022.
The company added it will:
Continue to monitor the uncertainty in selected key markets, notably in China, where lockdown restrictions have been reimposed or the return to more normalized market conditions has been slower than previously hoped.
11:22 AM
Murdoch’s TalkTV beats rival on launch night
Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV beat the BBC, Sky News and GB News on launch night after 400,000 people tuned in for Piers Morgan’s fractious interview with Donald Trump.
My colleague Ben Woods reports:
10:53 AM
National Express shares jump as revenue returns to pre-pandemic levels
Shares in National Express are up more than 11pc at present, with the coach operator popping higher after analysts praised a rebound in revenues.
The group said revenue was back at 2019 levels, following a 30pc increase on last year’s levels. March’s revenues were higher than the same month before the pandemic began.
National Express reiterated confidence in its guidance, for overall income this year to match 2019 levels.
10:46 AM
Dogecoin jumps after Twitter takeover
Dogecoin, the meme-based crypto token previously endorsed by Elon Musk, has popped after the Tesla founder’s takeover of Twitter.
It’s the top-performing crypto asset today according to Coinbase, stood 29pc higher at time of going to pixel.
10:34 AM
MPs: Trade secretary ‘running scared’ of trade deal scrutiny
MPs have accused trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan of running scared of scrutiny after she refused to commit to allowing a select committee to complete its scrutiny of the UK/Australia trade deal before it is presented to the Commons.
In a letter to the International Trade Committee, Trevelyan refused to commit to giving the cross-bench group time to publish the findings of its enquiry into the pact ahead of its tabling.
She wrote:
A prolonged period of parliamentary scrutiny may impact on the ratification process, thereby delaying entry into force of the agreement – and the associated benefits for businesses, producers and consumers
In December, she had said “we wish to ensure that there is sufficient time for the relevant Select Committees to produce reports”.
The ITC said “rowing back on this commitment is a severe discourtesy to Parliament”.
They added:
It is also the view of the Committee that Parliament must not be rushed into considering the deal without the time it needs to have a well-informed debate, and that it is unhelpful and disingenuous for the Government to suggest that good parliamentary scrutiny will delay people feeling the benefits of the trade deal – especially considering the Australian Parliament is currently dissolved, so it cannot ratify the deal.
Its chair, Angus Brendan McNeil, said:
If the trade deal with Australia is as good as the Government claims, there is no reason to run scared of scrutiny. This agreement will have impacts across the UK, yet the Government wants to ride roughshod over Parliament, forcing its own timeline on us and stifling any analysis, criticism or debate. We’re only asking for an extra 15 days.
Trevelyan will appear before the Committee tomorrow at 10am.
10:22 AM
Meanwhile, Twitter staff are taking things well
A New York Times reporter tweets…
2/ The source at Twitter continued “I don’t rly know what I’m supposed to do…oh my god, my phone’s been blowing up…We have a meeting about it at 5pm…the CEO is going to address everyone about it” (it=elon)
“I hate him, why does he even want this?” they asked…
— talmon joseph smith (@talmonsmith) April 25, 2022
The employee continued re Elon: 3/“ I feel like he’s this petulant little boy and that he’s doing this to troll…he doesn’t know anything about our policies and what we do…his statement about our algo was fucking insane…
“Were just gonna let everyone run amok?…nobody knows”— talmon joseph smith (@talmonsmith) April 25, 2022
10:18 AM
Will Elon Musk’s plans for Twitter work?
Elon Musk has described himself as a “free-speech absolutist”, and protested when former United States president Donald Trump was banned from the site.
So what will his plans for the platform look like? My colleague Laura Onita has been taking a look.
She writes:
We could see the blanket bans on various accounts, including those that have been spreading misinformation and extremist views, relaxed in the name of open discourse.
Such a move, however, would go against Twitter’s recent work to stamp out toxic behaviour on the platform.
Musk will have to strike a fine balance between the two as it could also alienate advertisers – Twitter’s main way of making money. Companies might not want their paid posts to sit next to controversial tweets.
09:56 AM
Walgreens sets mid-May deadline for Boots bids – Sky
The owner of Boots has set a mid-May deadline for bids to take over the high street chemist, Sky News reports.
The broadcaster says:
Sky News has learnt that Walgreens Boots Alliance’s (WBA) advisers at Goldman Sachs have notified suitors for the chain that it is seeking formal offers on May 16.
The deadline is expected to see fewer than a handful of bids tabled, with some interested parties deterred by WBA’s price expectations and the backdrop of inflation and other cost pressures expected to hamper Boots’ near-term financial performance.
09:30 AM
HSBC shares knocked as cash pile dwindles
The biggest drag on the FTSE 100 today is coming from HSBC, after the bank warned further share buybacks look “unlikely” following an unexpected decline in its financial buffers.
The lender’s adjusted pretax profit fell 25pc compared with a year ago, but this decline was actually smaller than analysts feared.
More significantly, its CET1 capital ratio – the proportion of comparatively liquid holdings including cash and stocks that it holds – fell to 14.1pc, from 15.8pc at the end of 2021. Jefferies analysts Joseph Dickerson said this level was “far below expectations”.
HSBC’s target for this measure is 14pc to 14.5pc, so it’s unlikely to dip into the CET1 cash pile to buy back more shares.
09:09 AM
Taylor Wimpey: Hot housing market will offset inflation hit
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey is leading FTSE 100 risers today, after a confident update this morning.
The group says sales in the first quarter of this year were in line with the same period in 2021, despite the stamp duty holiday that was in place then.
It said the resent increase in interest rates “has not impacted customer appetite”, adding:
We continue to see healthy levels of house price growth reflecting the strength of the market, that are offsetting labour and material cost inflation.
Asking prices for UK homes hit a record high in April, according to data released by Rightmove on Monday. There’s a severe shortage of homes coming onto the market, on top of Britain’s long-standing housing shortage.
08:57 AM
Money round-up
Here are some of the day’s top stories from the Telegraph Money team:
08:38 AM
Upcoming hearings on Aussie deal and competition reform
If you like your talk radio to have an interrogative, discursive, policy-y bent, then there are two hearings in Parliament today that may be of interest:
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At 10am, MPs on the International Trade Committee will hearing from witnesses over the impacts of the UK/Australia trade deal. First up, Trade and Agriculture Commission head Lorand Bartels will talk about his panel’s report into the deal. Then, from 11am, food and drink sector representatives will be up to talk about standards and competition. Link.
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At 10:30am, former competition watchdog chair Lord Andrew Tyrie will be answering questions from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee about the Government’s planned post-Brexit changes to the UK’s competition and consumer policy regime. At 11:30am, business minister Paul Scully will enter the hotseat alongside a couple of senior civil servants. Link.
08:20 AM
Pound falls for fourth day running
The pound is falling against the dollar for the fourth day running in the wake of this morning’s public sector net borrowing figures.
Most of the move is likely coming from the dollar side, with the US currency strengthening over recent days as inflation fears rattle markets and investors brace for the Federal Reserve to crank up interest rates in the coming months.
08:12 AM
Primark-owner ABF stumbles on margin warning
Associated British Foods, the owner of Primark, is leading fallers on the FTSE 100 today after warning the discount clothing store will begin raising some prices and disappointing analysts with its margin outlook.
George Weston, its chief executive, said:
[Inflationary] pressures are such that we are unable to offset them all with cost savings, and so Primark will implement selective price increases across some of the autumn/winter stock. However, we are committed to ensuring our price leadership and everyday affordability, especially in this environment of greater economic uncertainty.
Jefferies analyst James Grzinic said ABF’s first-half results were in line with expectations, but said its second half outlook was “unsurprisingly circumspect”.
Shares fell as much as 7.4pc, and are now about 4.2pc lower.
07:49 AM
Maersk: Profits to climb 25pc as container market stays hot
Maersk, one of the world’s biggest shipping companies, has said it expects operating profits to rise 25pc over its current financial year as container prices remain elevated.
The Denmark-headquartered group said lower overall trading volumes (which disrupt global supply chains) are pushing container prices to remain higher for longer.
It forecasts a 2022 underlying profit of $30bn, up from the $24bn predicted back in February.
The group’s shares rose 9pc in Copenhagen, but it’s still down about 16pc this year, having doubled in price across 2020 and 2021.
07:38 AM
FTSE rises at open
The FTSE 100 has cooled slightly after a solid start, but is still up 0.6pc at present to claw back some of the ground lost during yesterday’s sell-off. London’s blue-chips are mildly outperforming the European benchmark.
07:33 AM
Food inflation could cost households £271 per year
Back in the real world, the latest UK supermarket data from Kantar comes with a nasty inflation warning. The analytics company is warning grocery price inflation reached 5.9pc in April, the highest since 2011 – potentially costing the average household £271 a year.
Kantar adds supermarket sales rose 5.9pc over the past 12 weeks, in a sign price increases may be prompting shoppers to tighten their belts.
Fraser McKevitt, its head of retail and consumer insight, says:
The average household will now be exposed to a potential price increase of £271 per year. A lot of this is going on non-discretionary, everyday essentials which will prove difficult to cut back on as budgets are squeezed.
We’re seeing a clear flight to value as shoppers watch their pennies. The level of products bought on promotion, currently at 27.3pc, has decreased 2.7 percentage points as everyday low price strategies come to the fore.
Families face a £271 increase in annual supermarket bills as food inflation surges to 11-year high or 5.9pc, Kantar says.
— Laura Onita (@LauraOnita) April 26, 2022
Kantar noted a boom in demand for vegetable oil as the sector faces what can perhaps be called an omnicrisis, with supplies of sunflower, rapeseed, soybean and palm oil all currently under pressure. From McKevitt:
Last weekend several supermarkets introduced restrictions on cooking oil purchases as concerned consumers filled up their cupboards. The combination of rising prices and increased demand saw the cooking oil market grow by 17pc over April. Sunflower oil, Britain’s most popular choice for frying, and vegetable oil grew even faster, up by 27pc and 40pc respectively.
Aldi was the fastest growing retailer during the period, with sales up 4.2pc, followed by Lidl at 4pc.
07:24 AM
Amazon’s Bezos muses on China influence over Twitter
The world’s second-richest man, Jeff Bezos (net worth $170.3bn), has waded in on the spending of richest man, Elon Musk (net worth $257.3bn). Bezos, boss of Amazon, is wondering whether the close relationship Musk’s electric car purveyor/crypto investor Tesla may give Beijing some influence over Twitter.
The verdict from Bezos (who, as owner of the Washington Post newspaper, has somewhat of a stake in the free speech sphere): no, probably.
My own answer to this question is probably not. The more likely outcome in this regard is complexity in China for Tesla, rather than censorship at Twitter.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 26, 2022
But we’ll see. Musk is extremely good at navigating this kind of complexity.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 26, 2022
07:01 AM
Founder Dorsey: Saving Twitter from Wall Street is ‘correct first step’
Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s founder, has had an on-off relationship with the social media app he launched back in 2006. But he seems pretty positive about Elon Musk’s takeover, in a string of tweets (what else?) this morning that begin with a reference to the opening track from Radiohead’s second-best album:
I love Twitter. Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness.
— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 26, 2022
In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.
— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 26, 2022
I’m so happy Twitter will continue to serve the public conversation. Around the world, and into the stars!
— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 26, 2022
06:58 AM
Twitter pauses product changes
Here’s more detail on Twitter locking down changes to its platform, in an effort to see off any attempts at rogue action by its staff (courtesy of Bloomberg, which is citing sources):
Product changes will require approval from a vice president, the people said. Twitter imposed the temporary ban to keep employees who may be miffed about the deal from “going rogue,” according to one of the people.
The move underscores Twitter’s bumpy road ahead as it transitions from a publicly held company to a private one owned by the controversial billionaire. Many of the company’s employees have been agitated about the idea of Musk taking charge and what changes may come.
06:55 AM
Agenda: Twitter in lockdown
Good morning. Twitter has locked down changes to its website in an effort to stop unhappy staff ‘going rogue’ and making unauthorised changes in the wake of Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover.
Elsewhere, public sector net borrowing came in under forecast in March, with £18.1bn added to the debt pile.
5 things to start your day
1) Can Elon Musk save Twitter from liberal narcissism? Billionaire entrepreneur faces battle to broaden site’s appeal beyond its elite metropolitan audience
2) Climate campaigners urge Michael Gove to scrap coal mine If approved, the Cumbria project would be the first new colliery in decades
3) ‘No evidence’ of sustained hit to UK exports to EU since Brexit trade deal Sales into Europe remained strong, experts find
4) Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV braces for potential advertising boycott The channel is wary of facing similar backlash that struck GB News following pressure from Left-wing campaign group
5) Jacob Rees-Mogg warns over ‘huge cost’ of net zero drive Climate targets will hold back plans for a bonfire of red tape, says Brexit Opportunities Minister
What happened overnight
Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday as investors scrabbled to recover from the Monday’s rout. Hong Kong and Shanghai edged up but made only small dents in the massive losses suffered the day before. Tokyo, Seoul and Jakarta also ticked higher, though Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei and Manila fell.
Coming up today
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Corporate: Puretech Health (full-year results); Associated British Foods, Elementis, Hochschild Mining, HSBC (interims); IWG, Jupiter Fund Management, National Express, Taylor Wimpey (trading update)
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Economics: Public sector net borrowing (UK), durable goods orders (US), non-defence capital goods orders (US), house price index (US), consumer confidence (US), new home sales (US)
