The French luxury group Hermès has reported that the Iran war is hitting sales in France, as fewer tourists visit Paris and high-spending shoppers pull back on buying designer products amid growing concerns over the conflict’s toll on the global luxury sector.

Sales of its flagship Birkin and Kelly handbags as well as silk scarves and perfume rose by 6% in currency-adjusted terms, underperforming analysts’ expectations in the first-quarter of 7.1%. Currency fluctuations pulled the company’s revenue down by €290m (£250m), prompting a 1% drop in reported sales to €4.07bn compared to €4.13bn last year.

Hermès has said that sales in France have been “affected by a slowdown in tourist flows” owing to the US-Israeli war with Iran, adding that it is hitting sales in concession stores at airports and in other key markets such as the Middle East. Despite being the fastest-growing region for Hermès in 2025, sales in the Middle East dropped by 6% in currency-adjusted terms, to €160m, compared to €185m euros in 2025’s first quarter.

The company’s chief financial officer, Éric du Halgouët, cited “the geopolitical events affecting the region in March,” as playing a significant part in the downturn.

Hermès is the latest luxury group to report a slump in sales following the outbreak of the conflict in late February. Major rival in the sector LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group reported its seventh consecutive quarter of declines on Monday, rising just 1%. French luxury goods company Kering also reported an 8% tumble in sales at its key brand Gucci this week.

Executive chair of Hermès, Axel Dumas, said: “In a tense geopolitical environment, Hermès maintains its course, true to its long-term strategy…continuing its profitable growth in 2026 with confidence and conviction.”

Shares in Hermès are down 8%, having dropped by 14% at the start of trading.

Pizza chain Franco Manca is to close 16 of its 70 restaurants via an insolvency process with the likely loss of about 225 jobs.

The company said “external cost pressures” including increases in the legal minimum wage, business rates and employers’ national insurance contributions, meant a number of its restaurants were “no longer sustainable.”

The casual dining chain, which is part of Fulham Shore, which also owns The Real Greek chain, is owned by Toridoll, the Japanese operator of Wok to Walk and Marugame Udon, and restaurant sector investment fund Capdesia.

It recently appointed advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal to look at options for the future of the business and is thought to have considered a number of takeover bids before deciding to implement a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA)a, an insolvency process under which a company can cut rents and exit leases.

A sale of The Real Greek is still under consideration, according to Propel, the industry newsletter which first reported the CVA.

Marcel Khan, the chief executive of The Fulham Shore which was bought by Toridoll and Capdesia for £93m in 2023, said:

“Over the last two years under our current management, we have been making strong progress against several key performance indicators, with productivity, customer satisfaction, happiness ratings, loyalty and frequency improving significantly.

However, even restaurant businesses that are doing all the right things from a customer and operational perspective are not immune to widely publicised pressures impacting the hospitality industry. This includes significant increases in National Insurance and the national living wage in recent history, as well as a lack of business rates relief for the restaurant sector and disproportionately high VAT in the UK compared with Europe.

As a result of these external cost pressures, we have to make sure that we are putting our business on a sustainable footing for long-term growth and development. This is why we have taken the difficult decision to undertake a CVA for Franco Manca, which will see a minority proportion of our restaurants closing where they are no longer sustainable in this cost environment.

“We are deeply saddened by the closures of a minority proportion of our restaurants, and will support our affected team members throughout this process in every way that we can.”

Bank of America has become the latest Wall Street bank to post a jump in profits after the Iran war created market volatility.

BofA has reported a 17% jump in net income in the first quarter of this year, up to $8.6bn from $7.4bn in January-March 2025.

Revenues rose by 7%, including a 21% jump in investment banking fees, and a 13% rise in sales and trading revenue at the bank’s global markets division.

Chair and CEO Brian Moynihan attributed the jump in earnings to “disciplined execution”, adding:

Revenue growth of 7% year-over-year included net interest income that was better than we expected, up 9%, as well as double-digit growth in sales and trading revenue, investment banking fees and asset management fees.

We remain watchful of evolving risks. However, we saw healthy client activity, including solid consumer spending and stable asset quality, indicating a resilient American economy.

A US-sanctioned tanker. which sailed through the strait of Hormuz yesterday has now pulled a u-turn and returned to the Gulf, shipping data shows.

Rich Starry, which had been placed under US sanctions for dealing with Iran, abruptly turned north last night and headed back towards the strait.

This indicates it failed to break through the US blockade on vessels calling at Iranian ports.

Another sanctioned tanker, Elpis, has stopped near the place where Rich Starry turned around…

The oil price has pushed higher, following a report that the US is sending “thousands” more troops to the Middle East.

According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon is sending thousands of additional troops to the region. The move is to put pressure Iran into agreeing a deal, but US officials have also said they are considering the possibility of additional strikes or ground operations if the ceasefire does not hold, they say.

The Washington Post reports:

The forces moving into the region include about 6,000 troops aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and several warships escorting it, said current and former officials, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements.

About 4,200 others with the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and its embarked Marine Corps task force, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are expected to arrive near the end of the month.

Brent crude is now up 1.2% at around $96 a barrel.

The financial markets are being ‘naive’ if they think the Middle East conflict is resolved, Harvard University professor Kenneth Rogoff has suggested.

Rogoff says it’s ‘puzzling’ that the markets are taking a ‘no problem’ approach to the war, with US stocks near record highs amid hopes that US-Iranian peace talks could resume in Islamabad later this week.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Rogoff says:

I think it’s naive to think it’s mission accomplished. I think it’s a temporary respite.

The Iranian regime is still in place, Frankly the US regime is still in place, and I think more things will happen.

But…the markets have just decided it doesn’t matter, everything’s going to be fine. I think it’s a little naive.

Rogoff warns that the war is already a “big stagflationary shock”, on top of the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs which is still working its way through the system.

Over the medium term, this pushes interest rates up, not down, he explains.

Record-high export revenues from crude oil have pushed Norway’s trade surplus to its highest level since January 2023.

Statistics Norway has reported that the country’s export revenues rose to NOK 199.9bn (£15.6bn) in March 2026.

That includes exports of crude oil worth NOK 57.4bn (£4.5bn), an increase of 67.9% compared to the same month the previous year, due to increased prices and volumes.

Statistics Norway senior advisor Jan Olav Rørhus says:

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused a significant supply shock in the oil market, which contributed to the high oil prices in March, and thus the highest export value ever.

Rørhus also flagged that “very high mainland exports and large gas revenues” also boosted Norway’s exports.

The trade surplus came in at NOK 97.5bn in March 2026.

Bloomberg are predicting a ‘tense meeting’ between Scott Bessent and Rachel Reeves at the IMF later today, reporting:

“I wonder what the hit to global GDP would be if a nuclear weapon hit London,” Bessent said to the BBC. “I am less concerned about short-term forecasts, for long-term security.”

The relationship between the two countries looks increasingly fraught. On Tuesday, Reeves used her strongest language yet to criticize Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East and the damage it has wreaked on the global economy.

“I do feel very frustrated and angry that the US went into this war without a clear exit plan, without a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve. And as a result the Strait of Hormuz is now blocked,” Reeves told the Mirror newspaper.

Inflation in France rose faster than initially thought in the first month of the Iran war.

Consumer prices in the eurozone’s second-largest member rose by 2% year-on-year in March, on an EU-harmonised basis, up from the first estimate of 1.9%.

Statistics body Insee reports that energy prices rose sharply; they rose by 7.4% year-on-year in March, up from ‑2.9% in February, adding:

The high inflation of petroleum products (+18.1% after ‑2.2%) was mostly due to the one of diesel (+23.5% after ‑1.4%), petrol (+9.9% after ‑3.8%) and liquid fuel (+40.9% after ‑0.4%).

Britain’s largest housebuilder is cutting back on its land purchases, after the Iran war drove up mortgage rates.

Barratt Redrow has told the City it is being more selective when buying land to build homes on, due to “recent geopolitical events” and their likely impact on mortgage rates and build cost inflation.

The company now expects to spend between £700m and £800m on new land this financial year, down from previous guidance of £800m-£900m .

That will buy between 7,000 and 9,000 plots, below its previous guidance range of between 10,000 and 12,000 plots.

Barratt Redrow also warns that higher energy costs are likely to push up the cost of building materials.

UK chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to meet her US counterpart, Scott Bessent, in Washington DC today at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The impact of the Iran war will surely be high on the agenda – an issue where the two finance ministers may not see eye to eye.

Overnight, Bessent has told the BBC a “small bit of economic pain” is worthwhile for long-term international security.

Reeves, reeling from seeing the UK’s growth forecasts downgraded yesterday, may not agree. She has already spoken of her anger and frustration at the “folly” of America’s actions in the Middle East and its financial impact it is having on UK families and businesses.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.

Hopes of a peace deal in the Middle East are pushing markets higher, helping equities to recover their losses since the Iran war began.

The US stock market is closing in on a record high, after the S&P 500 share index recovered all its losses since the conflict began at the end of February.

Markets in Asia – which is particularly vulnerable to the energy shock – are following; MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan has gained 1.5% today to reach its highest level in six weeks.

Japan’s Nikkei has almost recovered its losses since the US-Israeli attacks began, while China’s CSI 300 share index has hit a six-week high this morning, touching its highest level since 3 March.

Optimism has seeped back into the markets, after a volatile March, on hopes that talks between Washington DC and Tehran during the current ceasefire might yield a breakthrough.

Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, says events in April have culminated in “a spectacular market rally”:

The Nasdaq has now risen for 10 consecutive sessions, marking its longest winning streak since late 2021, while the S&P500 overnight closed more than 10% above its March low of 6316.

While the situation in the Strait of Hormuz remains incredibly tense, markets are, by their very nature, forward-looking. Right now, equities are actively pricing in the end of this geopolitical chapter rather than dwelling on the current stalemate.

Take the nuclear negotiations, for example. Iran appears prepared to halt uranium enrichment for five years, whereas the US is demanding twenty. A compromise somewhere in the middle—perhaps around the ten-year mark—feels realistic and entirely within reach.

Overnight, Donald Trump has said that US-Iranian peace talks could resume in Islamabad over the next two days, and complimented the work of Pakistan’s army chief as mediator.

In the meantime, traffic through the the strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, with the US blockading Iraniain ports.

The US dollar is lingering near six-week lows today, having recently lost nearly all the gains it had made since the Iran war erupted.

The agenda

• Noon BST: US weekly mortgage applications data

• 12.30pm BST: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent speaking at CNBC conference:

• 1.30pm BST: NY Empire State Manufacturing Index

• 2pm BST: IMF to release its fiscal monitor

• 2.30pm BST: UK chancellor Rachel Reeves speaking at CNBC conference

• 3.15pm BST: IMF press conference on the fiscal monitor