Business live: Trump tells Goldman Sachs boss to focus on DJing
In its first-half results, the company said that it expects gross insurance written premium to grow in low-to-mid single digits, compared with its previous expectation for a mid-single digit growth. It said the market was softening amid strong supply and increased competition.
The claims environment remained elevated after climate-related disasters such as the California wildfires and Texas floods as well as heightened cyberthreats, including a wave of ransomware attacks which particularly impacted retailers in the UK and Europe in the first half of the year.
Profit before tax fell 31 per cent to $502.5 million in the six months to the end of June, down from $728.9 million in the same half last year. Net insurance written premiums rose by 1 per cent to $2.6 billion in the six months to the end of June. The undiscounted combined ratio, a key metric for insurers where a figure below 100 indicates underwriting profitability, was 84.9 per cent, compared with 80.7 per cent last year.
Asian equities followed Wall Street higher as risk appetite returned after US inflation held steady in July, increasing bets on a September rate cut.
Traders estimate there is a 94.2 per cent chance of a quarter-rate cut, compared with 88 per cent before the inflation data, as President Trump's tariffs do not seem to have affected the price of goods much so far.
The S&P 500 index, seen as a barometer of US corporate health, rose 1.1 per cent to 6,445.76, its 16th record high of the year so far. The technology-heavy Nasdaq also closed on a new high, its 19th of 2025, up 1.4 per cent to 21,681.90.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.4 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.9 per cent and mainland China's SSE Composite rose 0.4 per cent.
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 20 points, or 0.2 per cent, higher.
Hopes of a Fed cut next month pushed the dollar lower, which helped the pound to rise about $1.35.
President Trump has said that the Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon should focus on 'being a DJ, and not bother running a major financial institution' after the investment bank said tariffs would hurt the economy.
On Sunday, Goldman Sachs said US consumers had absorbed 22 per cent of tariff costs through June and that figure could rise to 67 per cent if recent tariffs continue on the same trajectory.
Trump wrote on Truth Social after better-than-expected inflation data: 'Trillions of Dollars are being taken in on Tariffs, which has been incredible for our Country, its Stock Market, its General Wealth, and just about everything else. It has been proven, that even at this late stage, Tariffs have not caused Inflation, or any other problems for America, other than massive amounts of CASH pouring into our Treasury's coffers.'
He said foreign companies and governments were mostly absorbing the cost of his tariffs, 'but David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due. They made a bad prediction … on both the Market repercussion and the Tariffs themselves.'
Solomon gave up his hobby as a DJ in 2023 after criticism of the bank's performance.
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