{"text":[[{"start":7.7,"text":"Airlines are cutting flights, consumers are tightening their belts and companies are warning of price rises as the Iran war upends global business. "}],[{"start":17.1,"text":"Yet, a little over two months after US-Israeli attacks on Iran sparked the conflict, the world’s biggest companies have added more than $5.4tn in value, an increase of 4.2 per cent."}],[{"start":30.3,"text":"Tech groups have held global equity markets aloft as investors hunt for the sectors least exposed to the Middle East conflict. Huge share price gains for chipmakers such as Intel and TSMC and a blistering recovery in Big Tech valuations, helped by bumper first-quarter profits, have outweighed the falls in other sectors. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":50.45,"text":"Investors were turning back to tech at a time of “extreme macro uncertainty”, said Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management, lured back to the “certainty of earnings delivery” in US tech. “Post-ceasefire, it was all about AI again.” "}],[{"start":67.4,"text":"The combined value of semiconductor companies with a market valuation of more than $10bn has risen 26 per cent, or $3.7tn, since the war began in late February."}],[{"start":81.15,"text":"“There’s just more pieces of evidence that this AI cycle is real,” said John Lamb, an investment specialist at asset manager Capital Group. “This isn’t a faddish cycle, this is a real, durable investment cycle.” "}],[{"start":95.45,"text":"Underlining the focus on AI, close to two-thirds of large-cap companies discussed the technology on first-quarter earnings calls, roughly twice as many as talked about the Middle East conflict, according to AlphaSense data. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":108.55,"text":"The AI boom has powered a swifter stock market rebound than during a series of previous crises. Publicly listed groups with a market capitalisation of at least $10bn have collectively gained $5.6tn in value in the first 10 weeks of the war. "}],[{"start":125.25,"text":"The same basket of companies had lost $2.5tn at the same point in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to FT analysis. They shed more than $9tn at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":140.9,"text":"A 50 per cent jump in the oil price has lifted much of the energy sector with Saudi Aramco, PetroChina and TotalEnergies among those with the biggest gains in value during the war. "}],[{"start":152.35,"text":"Each $1 increase in the oil price means an extra $1bn of free cash flow for Saudi Aramco, which has added $144bn in market value during the war, despite missile and drone attacks on its oilfields and refineries and having its main export route cut off."}],[{"start":168.79999999999998,"text":"Companies with a smaller footprint in the Middle East — such as Norway’s Equinor, which is up 24 per cent — have performed the best, followed by companies with large trading desks that have been able to take advantage of the volatility in the market. BP and TotalEnergies are up 14 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. "}],[{"start":188.79999999999998,"text":"The worst performers have been companies whose oil and gas production in the Gulf has been shut down or hit by missiles. ExxonMobil and Shell are both facing multibillion-dollar bills to repair the damage at Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial city. Exxon’s value is down 4 per cent, or $28bn, since the conflict began."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":209.2,"text":"Many of the worst-hit companies are in the consumer sector as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushes up costs and puts customers under financial strain. Several US consumer goods majors, including Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark, have warned of price rises as a result."}],[{"start":227.64999999999998,"text":"Luxury groups such as LVMH and Hermès have suffered from falling demand, while carmakers have been hit by logistics and supply chain disruptions and rising prices for aluminium and other raw materials. Demand in the Middle East has fallen sharply for groups including Nissan, Toyota and Stellantis."}],[{"start":246.49999999999997,"text":"Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive of Volvo Cars, said his main concern was a downturn in consumer sentiment in the US. “It puts pressure on the whole economy and then people start thinking maybe I will lose my job . . . so it’s not the time to buy a car right now or buy anything.” "}],[{"start":264.15,"text":"For mining companies, the war has presented a double hit: high input costs as a result of rising diesel prices, combined with the prospect of weak commodities prices because of a potential slowdown in the global economy."}],[{"start":277.29999999999995,"text":"Those that benefited most from historic run-up in gold prices last year, such as Agnico Eagle and Zijin Mining, have experienced the steepest falls."}],[{"start":287.34999999999997,"text":"Meanwhile, the value of most of the leading US and European defence companies has fallen since the outbreak of the Iran war, even as governments have burned through years of critical munitions. Analysts said the sell-off reflected investor uncertainty over the industry’s ability to produce rapidly at scale given existing supply-chain bottlenecks."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":307.24999999999994,"text":"Additional reporting by Ian Smith, Malcolm Moore, Leslie Hook, Camilla Hodgson, Kana Inagaki, Adrienne Klasa and Sylvia Pfeifer. Development by Ændra Rininsland."}],[{"start":329.79999999999995,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778494321_1094.mp3"}