Cisco boss says Europe market will ‘only get better’ on AI; UK inflation leaps

European stocks little changed after hotter than expected UK inflation figures
European stocks were little changed around midday in London, with major bourses and sectors remaining in the red, after M&S, JD Sports, and Curry’s released earnings, while U.K. inflation came in hotter than expected.
The regional Stoxx 600 ticked 0.3% lower. London’s FTSE 100 and the French CAC 40 were also both down 0.3%, with the DAX 0.2% lower.
— Sawdah Bhaimiya
Energy giant SSE slashes investments for 5-year net zero plan by $4 billion
Scotland-headquartered energy giant SSE reduced investment plans for its five-year clean energy programme by £3 billion ($4 billion), citing policy and planning delays and changes in the macroeconomic environment.
SSE said Wednesday the overall size of the capital investment plan will now amount to £17.5 billion, adding that the firm expects to fall short of its “ambitious” goal to reach 50 terawatt-hours of renewable generation output by 2030.
“Now, in response to the impact on growth rates from factors like a changing macro environment and delays to policy and planning, we are reducing spending on our energy businesses and evolving our internal structures to sharpen our focus on controllable costs and efficiencies,” SSE’s CEO Alistair Phillips-Davies said in the report.
SSE’s adjusted profit before tax was £2.14 billion in 2025, down from £2.2 billion in 2024, while its net debt increased from £9.4 billion the prior year to now £10.2 billion.
“At the moment, in areas like renewables and on the low carbon thermal side where we’ve seen many other people cut back or indeed take write-offs, we’re just hauling back and that’s about a disciplined approach to the investments we need to make and ensuring that we get rewarded adequately and properly for those investments,” Davies told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday.
Davies added that SSE doesn’t see a direct hit on the business from U.S. tariffs: “I think some of the geopolitical stuff while impacting maybe timing on certain projects, and that’s why some of the things have moved to the right, we’re not seeing big direct impacts on costs so we don’t anticipate anything affecting SSE in terms of earnings hit and things of that nature going forward.”
— Sawdah Bhaimiya
UK doing a ‘fairly good job’ on foreign policy and trade deals, economist says
Kallum Pickering, chief economist at Peel Hunt, discusses the recent trade deals the U.K. has agreed with the U.S., India and European Union.
Europe ‘will only get better,’ Cisco CEO says
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins told CNBC’s Karen Tso this morning that he sees a positive future for the European market, after the company announced it would open a new global AI hub in Paris, France.
The site will be used to train 230,000 people in AI and digital skills within the next three years.
Robbins said he had been speaking with European officials since January’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“It’s clear that Europe is really thinking hard and beginning to move forward on a different approach, regulation that encourages innovation, and a real focus on building national champions and building technology that the continent and the countries here to actually take advantage of these technology waves,” he said. “It’s always been a great market for us, we’ve always been here, we love it here, but we think it will only get better as we go to the future.”
However, he emphasized that Europe needed to move “quickly” to keep up with developments in the AI space.
“We think of ourselves as being a European [company] when we’re operating here, we’ve been here for a very long time, and I think if you look at the announcements going on all around the world it’s clear that this AI revolution is moving incredibly fast — so I don’t think it’s unique to Europe, I think every country around the world needs to move as fast as it possibly can to be prepared for this wave and it’s coming at us very quickly,” he said.
Asked about the impact U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs would have on Cisco’s operations, Robbins responded: “we are where we are.”
“What we need is some clarity around where it ends, what is the ultimate resolution? The business community and the markets, the one thing they can’t stand is uncertainty, and that’s where we are right now, we just don’t know where this is going to end,” he said.
“We’re in a lot of communication with the White House, and we’re hoping to do whatever we can to be a partner to them to help get these deals over the line, or whatever it is we need to do to make sure we get this done.”
— Chloe Taylor
European stocks open lower
It’s a little past the opening bell in London and the Stoxx 600 is trading 0.2% lower, with most major sectors and bourses in negative territory.
London’s FTSE 100 is currently 0.1% lower, France’s CAC 40 is down 0.35%, and the DAX is 0.17% lower. The utilities, telecom, and technology sectors are in the green.
— Sawdah Bhaimiya
M&S cyberattack to cost retailer $400 million
People walk past a Marks & Spencer store.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
British retail giant M&S said Wednesday that a recent cyberattack, which brought online sales to a standstill and left food shelves bare, would cost it around £300 million ($403 million) in operating profit.
The company, known for its clothing, homeware and food products, said disruption from the “highly sophisticated and targeted cyber-attack” would run into July and result in increased stock management costs in the second quarter.
It added that the financial impact would be reduced through management of costs, insurance and other trading actions, with costs related to the incident to be presented separately as an adjusting item.
The cyberattack, which occurred over Easter, wiped over £1 billion from M&S’ stock market value and sent shock waves across the industry, with hackers also targeting the Co-op and Harrods.
M&S reported a 22% rise in profit before tax and adjusting items to £875.5 million, its highest level in 15 years.
— Karen Gilchrist
Sterling jumps after UK inflation print
The British pound jumped by around 0.4% against the U.S. dollar immediately after the U.K.’s annual inflation print for April was published, with the figure coming in at a hotter-than-expected 3.5%.
Sterling was 0.5% higher against the greenback by 7:27 a.m. in London, trading at around $1.346.
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— Chloe Taylor
UK inflation jumps to 3.5% in April
Shoppers walk past a Gap Inc. clothing store in London, U.K., on Thursday, May 25, 2017.
Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The U.K.’s annual inflation rate hit 3.5% in April, coming in above analyst expectations, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday.
Economists polled by Reuters had anticipated the consumer price index would reach 3.3% in the twelve months to April.
The latest data release comes against a recent trend of cooling inflation, with the rate of price rises slowing to 2.8% in February and 2.6% in March.
Core inflation, which excludes more volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, rose by 3.8% in the year to April, up from 3.4% in the twelve months to March.
— Holly Ellyatt
European markets head for a flat to lower open
London at dawn.
Dukas | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Good morning from London and welcome to CNBC’s live blog covering the latest action in European markets as well as business news, analysis, earnings and data.
Here are the opening calls on Wednesday:
European bourses are expected to open around the flatline, with London’s FTSE seen opening 5 points higher at 8,781, Germany’s DAX 1 point higher at 24,012, the French CAC 40 down 5 points at 7,933 and Italy’s FTSE MIB down 27 points at 40,548, according to data from IG.
— Holly Ellyatt
What to keep an eye out for today
British supermarket Marks & Spencer boosted pay for its frontline workers, such as shop assistants, by 15% from April 5 to May 31.
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Here are a few things for investors to look out for on Wednesday.
Earnings reports are set to come from M&S, SSE, Currys and JD Sports.
On the data front, U.K. inflation figures for April will be published at 7 a.m. London time. We’ll bring you the numbers and quick analysis on the data then.
— Holly Ellyatt
Overnight action in Asia-Pacific and U.S. markets
Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher overnight, although Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.23% after the country reported that exports slowed for a second straight month as the country reels under U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.58%, while the small-cap Kosdaq traded 0.95% higher. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.43%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.45% at the open, while mainland China’s CSI 300 traded flat.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., S&P 500 futures wavered Tuesday night after a losing session on Wall Street that snapped a winning streak.
