Asda is forcing Tesco to join the supermarket price war

At last, a break for the punch-drunk British shopper.

- JAMES MOORE

If you, too, are tempted to turn the news off amid the myriad economic horrors unfolding at the hands of Donald Trump, then a rather vicious price war between our major supermarkets might give cause for cheer.

The US president blinked, pausing the majority of his punitive tariffs for 90 days, which injected a dose of amphetamine into the world’s reeling stock markets. The FTSE gained hundreds of points in a relief rally as investors mopped their brows. But Tesco’s shareholders were notably absent from the party.

Britain’s biggest supermarket group saw more than £1bn wiped from its market value as it warned of lower profits this year because of its need to find “firepower to be able to respond to current market conditions”. Translation: the competition is getting hot and to protect the market share we’ve been gobbling up – the results statement crowed about “21 consecutive fourweek periods” of making gains – we will have to respond.