President Donald Trump on Monday hedged when asked if he could guarantee that Iran would not use profits from oil sales to rebuild its military in the wake of the war with the U.S. and Israel.

Trump said the money was expected to be used to buy American agricultural products.

However, an Iranian central banker said the country is under no obligation to buy agricultural products from the U.S.

“Well, they’re not supposed to be doing that, so we’ll see,” Trump told CNBC’s Eamon Javers at the White House during an executive order signing event when asked if he could ensure Iran would not use oil money for that purpose.

“But they’re supposed to use money to buy food for their people, because right now their people are very hungry, and they’re buying it exclusively from us: corn, soybeans,” Trump said.

“Should be a lot of money,” he said. “I hope it’s a lot of money.”

Trump also said Iranian funds that are being unfrozen as part of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries “is going to be used to buy food, and the food is going to be bought exclusively through the United States, from our farmers, and corn, soybeans, all of the things they need are going to be bought from our farmers.”

“So our farmers are very happy,” Trump said.

Trump’s answer came hours after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent authorized the import of Iranian oil and refined products into the U.S. through at least August, in light of productive peace talks between the Islamic Republic and the U.S. in Switzerland.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Navy lifted a blockade of Iran’s ports and coastal areas, which since April had drastically slashed the amount of Iranian oil that was loaded for export.

Abdolnaser Hemmati, the governor of Iran’s central bank, told the Iranian news agency Tasnim on Monday, “There is no obligation to buy agricultural inputs from the U.S.,” the outlet reported.

“Based on the signed notes, there is no obligation to purchase agricultural inputs from the U.S.,” Hemmati said, according to Tasnim.

Hemmati also reportedly said that if the price and quality of U.S. products is better compared to those of other countries, there is no block on buying the American products.

“We need to buy billions of dollars worth of essential goods and medicine annually, and it does not matter to us from which source we pay for these essential goods,” he said, according to Tasnim.

Shares of jewelry giant Chow Tai Fook surged 15% on Friday after it posted a record high performance in its financial year to the end of March.

The Hong Kong company achieved a record high profit attributable to shareholders of $9 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.15 billion) up more than 50% year-over-year.

Its operating profit was 18.9 billion Hong Kong dollars, up 27.8% year-over-year.

Higher gold prices helped to boost its overall profit margin and lifted the gross profits of its weight-based gold products, Chow Tai Fook’s chief financial officer Karen Yih told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.

Chow Tai Fook is also benefitting from growing demand for its design-led products, as China’s economy continues its K-shaped recovery, Yih added.

“Our high-margin fixed-price jewelry sells exceptionally well,” she said, noting strong demand in higher-tier Chinese cities and in international markets. “Even though, when [the] gold price is volatile, these demands tend to be more resilient,” she added.

Chow Tai Fook’s guidance for the 2027 financial year also came in above expectations on both sales and margins, according to a Citi note on Thursday. Same-store sales growth in April and May were also stronger than expected, buoyed by demand recovery in its weight-based gold jewelry business amid a pullback in gold price.

Citi estimated that Chow Tai Fook could gain net profit margin growth in 2027 on plans to open more luxury and self-operated stores, as well as its signature jewelry collections.

Gold saw a jump in late 2025 to early 2026 as investors sought safety amid macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties, but has dropped about 20% since the start of the Iran war.

Chow Tai Fook shares last traded 15.38% higher.

BEIJING — China’s industrial profits surged by 24.7% in April from a year earlier, according to official data released Wednesday, despite broader signs of slowing economic momentum.

The increase marked the fastest growth since November 2023, according to financial data provider Wind Information, and accelerated from a 15.8% rise in March.

For the first four months of the year, industrial profits rose 18.2%, up from 15.5% growth in the first quarter. Computing and electronics equipment manufacturing, the largest sector by profit amount, saw earnings more than double from a year ago, although the pace slowed slightly in April from March on a year-to-date basis.

Among the ten largest sectors by profit, the oil and gas extraction industry posted an 8.1% rise in profits in the first four months of the year, reversing a 1.4% decline in the first quarter.

Higher crude prices helped lift profits in the petroleum processing industry to 40.42 billion yuan ($5.96 billion) in the January-April period, nearly double the 22.94 billion yuan recorded as of March.

Profits for automobile manufacturers fell 16.8% in the same period from a year earlier, improving from a 17.7% decline in the first quarter.

Beijing’s efforts to address excessive competition in the automobile and other sectors are starting to bear fruit, EU Chamber of Commerce of China President Jens Eskelund told reporters on Tuesday, citing a survey of members earlier in the year. But he cautioned it would take another year or two to confirm the trend.

A fivefold increase in profits in the mining and related sectors also boosted overall industrial profit growth, while iron smelting and rolling swung to a profit for the year as of April, compared with a loss in the first quarter.

However, profit declines in furniture manufacturing steepened to 54.4% for the first four months of the year, worse than the 44.9% recorded as of March.

“China’s industrial profit growth accelerated sharply in April, driven primarily by rising producer prices amid the global energy shock,” Hao Zhou, head of research and chief economist at Guotai Junan International.

“However, the improvement in profitability appears uneven and potentially fragile. Profit gains are concentrated in upstream and high-tech sectors, while many other industries continue to struggle,” he said in a note.

China reported slower economic growth in April, with a 4.1% increase in industrial output and a 0.2% rise in retail sales from a year ago. Fixed asset investment fell for the first four months of the year as the real estate drag steepened.

Exports remained strong, climbing 14.1% in April from a year ago in U.S. dollar terms. Imports surged by 25.3%, data released earlier in May showed.

The producer price index in April jumped 2.8% from a year ago, the most since July 2022.

Japan’s largest banks posted record annual profits in their latest financial results, but earnings growth could slow as credit costs rise and geopolitical risks cloud the outlook, analysts say.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the country’s largest lender, said net profit rose 30% from a year ago to 2.4 trillion yen for the fiscal year ended March 2026, a record high for the third consecutive year.

Similarly, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group also reported record annual profits in their latest earnings, rising 34% and 41% from a year ago, respectively.

“Higher yen rates are improving lending margins and supporting net interest income, while healthy corporate funding demand and stronger fee income are adding to revenue,” said Kaori Nishizawa, Director of Banks at Fitch Ratings.

Nomura reiterated its bullish stance on Japan’s major banks and named Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho as its top picks. The three megabanks — Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho — still “look undervalued relative to the strength of their earnings,” Nomura said.

However, analysts said the lenders could struggle to keep profits at record levels.

“Earnings growth is likely to moderate,” said Nishizawa, noting that recent upside has come from one-off items, including market-related gains and contributions from acquisitions.

Banks also face higher credit costs, competition for deposits and pressure from broader macroeconomic and geopolitical risks, according to Nishizawa.

“As such, sustainability of profit growth at current levels is likely to be challenged,” she added.

The earnings improvements appear more structural than in previous cycles, driven by higher domestic interest rates, inflation and stronger corporate funding demand, said Koichi Niwa, an analyst at UBS.

Stronger wholesale and corporate finance activity has benefited large Japanese banks and helped lift recent earnings amid renewed investor interest in the sector, Niwa said.

But financing mergers and acquisitions, large corporate lending, overseas loans and structured transactions often require more capital than domestic lending.

“As a result, even if profits are growing, banks also need to allocate more capital to support balance-sheet expansion,” he added.

Lorraine Tan, director of equity research in Asia for Morningstar, expects Mitsubishi UFJ’s earnings growth to slow to 5% from fiscal 2027, as global interest rates outside Japan are expected to ease.

“This, coupled with slowing contributions from associate Morgan Stanley, should eat into domestic growth,” Tan added.

Tan also expects Sumitomo Mitsui’s earnings growth to slow to 9% through fiscal 2028, citing its exposure to a loan book with around 35% outside Japan, while Mizuho’s net interest margin gains could ease from fiscal…

UBS generated a net profit attributable to shareholders of $3 billion for the first quarter, up 80% year-on-year and surpassing the $2.8 billion estimated by analysts, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus poll.

The Swiss banking and asset management giant’s common equity tier (CET) 1 capital ratio — a gauge of a bank’s solvency — also increased, reaching 14.7% during the period, up from 14.4% the previous quarter.

UBS said it remains on track to buy back $3 billion in shares ahead of its next earnings report for the second quarter, having repurchased $900 million of shares during the three-month period. The bank also flagged plans for further share buybacks by the end of the year.

Reporting its first quarter earnings on Wednesday, the Zurich-headquartered firm said markets have remained “resilient” amid hopes of a lasting resolution to the ongoing Middle East conflict.

But acknowledging that risks remain “elevated” amid a rapidly-changing situation, the bank warned that second quarter net interest income across both its global wealth management and personal and corporate banking businesses is set to be “broadly flat”.

Underlying profits before tax totaled $3.9 billion quarter, up 54% year-on-year and beating analyst expectations of $3.2 billion.

The group’s global wealth management business boasted net new assets of $37 billion by the end of the quarter, a 3.1% annualized increase. Net new money within its asset management division topped $14 billion, up 2.7% year-on-year.

Switzerland’s government recently unveiled plans aimed at preventing another Credit Suisse-style banking collapse, which would require UBS to hold around $20 billion in extra capital.

UBS has continued to push back against the sweeping regulatory overhaul, which would see investments held by its foreign subsidiaries treated separately from its overall group-wide CET1 capital.

Airbus reported quarterly profits that halved from a year ago late Tuesday, as deliveries of its best-selling aircraft slowed.

First-quarter sales came in at 12.65 billion euros ($14.82 billion) while earnings per share (EPS) were 74 euro cents. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected sales of 12.58 billion euros and EPS of 44 euro cents.

On an adjusted basis, operating profit declined by 52% to 300 million euros, down from 624 million euros in the same period last year and far below FactSet expectations of 378 million euros.

Airbus had already disclosed that it delivered 114 commercial aircraft in the first quarter, versus 136 aircraft in the same quarter last year.

Airbus reiterated the guidance it issued in mid-February to deliver 870 commercial aircraft in 2026, fewer than the roughly 880 analysts had expected, citing engine shortages due to issues with one of its suppliers, Pratt & Whitney. The guidance doesn’t assume any additional disruptions to global trade, air traffic, or supply chain.

CEO Guillaume Faury said the company is closely monitoring any potential impact from conflict in the Middle East, without providing further details.

“In commercial aircraft, we continue to ramp up and produce as per our plan while navigating the shortage of Pratt & Whitney engines. In defence, the focus remains on serving global demand by ramping up production across our portfolio of products and services,” Faury said.

Airbus’ commercial aircraft unit sales fell 11% in the quarter compared to a year ago, while helicopters were unchanged and defence and space grew 7%. Total revenue declined by 7% in the quarter.

Gross commercial aircraft orders totalled 408, up 46% from last year.

Analysts say that investor sentiment around Airbus has turned markedly more sour since the start of the year, as its chief rival Boeing is getting back on track after a years-long crisis.

Airbus has enjoyed a strong momentum over the past few years as Boeing has been battling a crisis over design and production issues for its best-selling narrowbody plane, the 737 Max. 

Last week, Boeing reported a narrower-than-expected loss in the first quarter, as it saw improvements across its businesses, including its key commercial aircraft unit. Boeing is in the midst of a turnaround to return to profitability after a series of quality issues and a near-catastrophic blowout of a fuselage door plug in January 2024.

Like Airbus, Boeing has also struggled with supply crunches following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company is not seeing a slowdown in aircraft orders since the war in the Middle East began in February.

“We see limited impacts arising from the disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, though we may revisit this…

Profits at China’s industrial firms grew at their fastest pace in six months in March, even as the Middle East war upended global oil markets and sent raw material costs soaring.

Industrial profits jumped 15.8% from a year earlier in March, the sharpest growth since September last year, National Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday, accelerating from the 15.2% surge in the first two months of this year.

In the first three months this year, enterprise profits expanded 15.5%, the fastest start to a year since 2017, barring the pandemic-driven spike in 2021.

Yu Weining, chief statistician at NBS, said the accelerated overall profit growth was largely driven by the equipment and high-tech manufacturing sectors, which saw profits soar 21% and 47.4% in the first quarter, respectively.

The artificial intelligence and semiconductor boom drove outsized profit growth across several subsectors in the first three months of the year. Profits for optical fiber makers surged 336.8% from a year earlier, while manufacturers for optoelectronics and display devices posted gains of 43% and 36.3%, respectively.

Demand for intelligent products also lifted earnings across emerging industries. Profits at drone manufacturers jumped 53.8%, while other intelligent consumer device makers gained 67.3%.

Earnings for raw material producers rose 77.9% in the first quarter from a year earlier, as oil refineries swung to a profit. A slew of strategic emerging industries, such as aerospace, new energy, and next-generation information technology, also drove a 116.7% surge in profits at non-ferrous metal firms, according to NBS data.

The upswing follows a period of stabilization in 2025 when industrial companies’ earnings eked out a modest 0.6% growth after three consecutive years of annual declines.

The improved profitability was largely underpinned by robust manufacturing exports, said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. In the first quarter, China’s exports grew 14.7% from a year earlier in U.S. dollars, the fastest pace since early 2022.

The Middle East conflict will nonetheless weigh on the economy in the second quarter, as higher energy prices and weakening external demand pose a growing headwind for exporters, Zhang said.

Brent crude oil prices have soared about 48% since the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran began at the end of February, driving up costs for chemicals, fibers and plastics across the global supply chain.

The oil shock comes as enterprises’ profits were already under strain, with tepid domestic demand amid a prolonged property market…

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company on Thursday reported a 58% increase in first-quarter profit, beating estimates and hitting a fresh record as demand for artificial intelligence chips stayed strong.

Here are the company’s results versus LSEG SmartEstimates, which are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate:

• Revenue: 1.134 trillion new Taiwan dollars ($35 billion), vs. NT$1.127 trillion expected
• Net income: NT$572.48 billion, vs. NT$543.32 billion 

TSMC’s net income of NT$572.48 billion for the three months ended in March represented a fourth consecutive quarter of record profits. 

Revenue rose to NT$1.134 trillion, beating estimates. The chipmaker had first reported the 35% year-on-year rise in first-quarter revenue last week.

TSMC, Asia’s largest technology company by market capitalization, manufactures chips used in products ranging from consumer electronics to data centers.

The contract chip maker has maintained strong demand for advanced semiconductors from its key customers, such as Apple. It has also benefited greatly from the proliferation of AI, producing advanced processors designed by the likes of Nvidia — now the company’s largest customer. 

“AI-related demand continues to be extremely robust,” President and CEO of TSMC C.C. Wei said in an earnings call Thursday. He added that advances in AI are driving increased computation and, thus, demand.

Wei noted that TSMC has received strong signals and a positive outlook from customers, reinforcing its conviction in a multi-year AI growth trend.

TSMC forecast full-year 2026 revenue growth of more than 30% year over year in U.S. dollar terms. Meanwhile, it projected second-quarter revenue of $39 billion to $40.2 billion, representing a 10% sequential increase.

This comes as the company faces concerns about supply chain disruptions linked to the Middle East conflict, including disruptions to energy supplies and key manufacturing materials such as helium and hydrogen.

In the earnings call, TSMC executives said the chipmaker does not expect any near-term impact on its operations from recent energy and supply chain disruptions from the conflict in the Middle East.

The company added that it has multiple sources for specialty chemicals and gases, including helium and hydrogen and maintains a safety inventory.

TSMC’s high-performance computing division, which includes AI and 5G applications, accounted for the majority of sales in the first quarter, rising to 61% of revenue.

Meanwhile, the company said advanced chips, defined as 7-nanometer or smaller, made up about 74% of TSMC’s total wafer revenue in the quarter. Shipments of advanced chips under 3-nanometers accounted for 25%.

In semiconductor technology, smaller nanometer sizes signify more compact transistor designs, which lead to…

Kering said Thursday it aims to double profitability and revive its flagship brand Gucci as it announced its highly anticipated strategy to get the company back on track after a year-long luxury slump that hit it harder than its competitors. 

CEO Luca de Meo announced the strategy seven months after taking over the reins, during which investors’ optimism has mounted that he’ll be able to turn the legacy conglomerate around. 

“In a nutshell, a model that worked for a decade, is no longer effective for us,” he said during the company’s Capital Markets Day in Florence on Thursday. “Growth will come first from gaining share, restoring pricing power, and executing better than our peers.”

Investors reacted with skepticism, with shares falling as much as 5% early Thursday before paring losses to trade 4.3% lower as of 8:30 a.m. ET. 

The strategy, dubbed “ReconKering,” includes more than doubling the company’s 2025 recurring operating margin of 11.1% while boosting its return on capital employed to over 20% in the midterm.

Kering also aims to refurbish or relocate two-thirds of its Gucci store network, reduce selling space by 20% and outlets by a third to achieve a doubling of its sales density by 2030. It also aims to reduce overall inventory by 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) over the next 12 months. 

It is also targeting additional revenue from leather goods of 1 billion euros by 2023, as well as 600 million euros from ready-to-wear and shoes, and 500 million euros from jewelry and watches.

De Meo has already taken steps to reduce debt at the company, including by completing the sale of its beauty division to L’Oreal in March for 4 billion euros in cash. 

The momentous task of turning around its moneymaker Gucci remains a key issue. 

“One key question is how quickly Gucci can regain centre stage and return to healthy growth, as the luxury sector continues to face a mix of structural and cyclical headwinds,” Citi analysts said Thursday morning. 

On Tuesday, Kering reported the 11th straight quarter of organic sales decline at Gucci, and said sales had been hit by the conflict in the Middle East.

Kering, like many of its luxury peers, has seen years of contraction following a boom that ended in 2022. Demand spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to price hikes that eventually alienated customers. Coupled with weak demand in China, formerly one of the sector’s main growth drivers, businesses suffered.

Gucci has “lost some of its shine,” de Meo acknowledged Thursday. 

“Our priority is to make Gucci unmistakable,” he said. “Not louder, not more complex, simply unmistakable.”

“This work has already begun. We are refocusing the brands around fewer…