Good morning and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:
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Middle East truce under threat as Iran and US trade fire
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French luxury group LVMH goes from buyer to seller
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Deutsche Bank denies training bankers to manipulate markets
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How Germany’s Merz torpedoed his plan to contain Trump
You can listen to today’s top news stories with the FT News Briefing podcast.
We begin in the Middle East, where the US-Iran ceasefire was pushed to the brink yesterday after the countries exchanged fire in the Gulf and Tehran warned that it would attack any vessels trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Hostilities reignite: In signs that the fragile truce was disintegrating, Washington said Tehran had launched cruise missiles at American warships and commercial vessels, and President Donald Trump said the US had “shot down” Iranian small boats.
The United Arab Emirates also said it had intercepted Iranian missiles, although a drone strike hit a petrochemical site in Fujairah and a ship was set ablaze off the Emirati coast.
Market reaction: The price of oil fell on Tuesday but held on to most of its 5.8 per cent gain of the previous day. Brent stood at $113.22 a barrel, down 1.1 per cent.
Stock markets in Japan, South Korea and mainland China were closed for public holidays. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.9 per cent and Taiwan’s Taiex traded down 0.1 per cent after hitting a record high during early trading.
Futures for the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.4 per cent. Follow our live blog.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
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France: G7 trade ministers meet in Paris today and tomorrow.
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Results: Anheuser-Busch InBev, Banco Sabadell, KKR, Leonardo and UniCredit release first-quarter earnings. Read The Week Ahead newsletter for a fuller list.
Five more top stories
1. French luxury group LVMH is exploring sales of fashion houses and beauty labels, including Marc Jacobs and Fenty, in one of the most significant retrenchments of its near 40-year history, as the industry leader slims down in response to lower demand.
2. Deutsche Bank has denied training employees to engage in market manipulation after a former trader convicted of fraud accused the German lender of teaching him to use an illegal strategy. Read the full story.
3. Exclusive: US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent had a fierce row with Rachel Reeves in Washington last month over the UK chancellor’s outspoken criticism of the Iran war, according to people familiar with the matter.
4. Elon Musk’s trust has agreed to pay $1.5mn to settle a case in which the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused him of failing to properly disclose stakes in Twitter, a fraction of the sum it claimed the billionaire gained by breaching regulations.
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OpenAI lawsuit: The start-up’s president has defended motives for converting the AI lab into a for-profit, as he revealed his personal stake was now worth almost $30bn.
5. German arms giant Rheinmetall’s first-quarter revenue has fallen short of expectations as booming European defence budgets failed to translate into sufficient orders. The tank and artillery maker said that sales rose to €1.9bn in the first three months of 2026, lower than analysts’ forecasts.
News in-depth
Over his first year in power, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz sought to build a working rapport with Trump. But his strategy of containment unravelled last week when Merz said Iran was “humiliating” the US in the Middle East conflict. Here’s what the cooling relations could mean for Berlin and the rest of Europe.
We’re also reading . . .
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Schroders sale: Nuveen’s bid for the UK’s largest independent asset manager has come after the death of a patriarch and the rise of giant US funds.
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Reliance on consultants: The European Commission’s spending on external advisers for energy and climate policy work has jumped 400 per cent since 2014.
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Falling quit rates: The Great Resignation is well and truly over, writes Sarah O’Connor. Here’s why workers are staying put.
Chart of the day
On May 7, voters across Scotland, Wales and England go to the polls, choosing who runs large swaths of the UK. The results of the closely watched local elections could deliver a serious blow to the future of Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister. Read more on what’s at stake.
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Take a break from the news . . .
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