News Recap • Week 10 2025

Check the news below and make sure to visit my latest Market Recap as well.

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This week in tariffs

Tariffs stayed in the headlines this week with lots of action and rhetoric.

First up, Trump’s previously announced 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada went in to effect on Tuesday, along with an additional 10% on imports from China.

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs went live at the same time, adding 25% on C$30 billion worth of US goods. Tariffs on the remaining C$125 billion of products will come into effect in 21 days.

China also responded with retaliatory tariffs, adding up to 15% on imports from the US from March 10. China officials added that “if war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”

On Wednesday, however, Trump granted automakers that comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement a one-month exemption from the new tariffs. This sent auto stocks soaring, with Ford and GM rallying 5.8% and 7.2% respectively.

On Thursday, the tariff exemption was broadened out to all USMCA compliant goods. About 50% of Mexican imports and 38% of Canadian are covered by the agreement. For now, the pause is in place until April 2.

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Macro

• US nonfarm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 151,000 in February, better than the 125,000 created in January but falling short of the 170,000 forecast. Unemployment was expected to remain steady at 4% but ticked up to 4.1%. Average hourly earnings rose by 4% annually, less than expected. Although the main numbers came in below estimates, they also point to a labor market that’s still stable and relatively strong.
• Investors who hoped Trump wouldn’t implement policies that could hurt the stock market got a wakeup call this week when he said that he’s “not even looking at the stock market”.
• Layoffs in the US soared 245% from January to February, hitting the highest level since July 2020 at 172,000 for the month. More than a third of the layoffs came from the federal government.
• Private employers added just 77,000 new workers in February, roughly half of the 148,000 forecast. It was also far below the upwardly revised 186,000 added in January and the smallest increase since July.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated on Friday that the central bank will wait to see how President Trump’s policies play out before making its next interest rate move. He also reiterated that the “current policy stance is well positioned to deal with the risks and uncertainties that we face in pursuing both sides of our dual mandate.” The market currently sees close to a 50/50 chance of a rate cut already in May and three cuts in total this year.
• Eurozone inflation came in at 2.4% in February. It was lower than the 2.5% reading in January but slightly higher than the 2.3% forecast. Core inflation also declined by 0.1% percentage point from 2.7% in January to 2.6% in February. The sticky services inflation showed some relief by coming down from 3.9% to 3.7%.
• The European Central Bank cut interest rates by another 25 basispoints on Thursday, as expected. The cut was the sixth since June and brought the rate down to 2.5%. More notably, the ECB also said in a statement that “monetary policy is becoming meaningfully less restrictive”, pointing to a more hawkish approach and fewer rate cuts moving forward. A pause may be in the cards although additional cuts are still expected this year.
• China’s exports in the January to February period rose by 2.3% in US dollar terms, its slowest pace since April last year when exports increased just 1.5% year over year. Analysts had forecast 5%. Imports plummeted by 8.4%, far undershooting consensus for a 1% expansion. The US remains China’s largest trading partner but activity is expected to slow in the coming months if the two countries don’t reach a deal to avert tarifs.
• China’s factory activity accelerated from 50.1 in January to 50.8 in February, beating forecasts for 50.3.
• China on Wednesday set its GDP growth target for 2025 at around 5%. The budget deficit target was raised from 3% of GDP last year to 4% this year. Chinese stocks rallied on the back of hopes for more stimulus to come.
• President Trump on Monday paused all military aid to Ukraine.
• Germany on Tuesday announced plans to reform the so-called ‘debt brake’, specifically to allow for higher defense spending. They also revealed a new €500 billion special fund for infrastructure. These moves are highly notable for a country known to be extremely fiscally conservative. Both German equities and European bond yields rallied on the news.

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Other

• Amazon Web Services will invest $8.2 billion in India’s western state of Maharashtra over the next few years.
• AI cloud provider CoreWeave filed to go public on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol CRWV. The company’s revenue soared more than 700% to $1.92 billion in 2024, 62% of which came from Microsoft.
• K-pop stocks have significantly outperformed the broader Korean stock market this year.
• Taiwan Semiconductor will invest $100 billion in chip manufacturing in the US.
• Walgreens is set to be taken private by Sycamore Partners in $10 billion deal.
• Mixue, a Chinese bubble tea and drinks chain, went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday. Shares popped 47% in the debut. With more 45,000 stores, Mixue is the world’s largest fastfood chain store. For comparison, Starbucks and McDonald’s have around 43,000 and 41,000 respectively.
• Figma is reportedly exploring an IPO as soon as this year.

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Earnings

• Target beat expectations for both revenue and earnings but gave cautious guidance. Shares fell 3% after the report and lost more than 7% for the week.
• Broadcom reported earnings of $1.60 per share, beating estimates for $1.49. Revenue came in higher than expected as well. More importantly, guidance also beat Wall Street’s expectations. The stock rallied 8.64% on Friday after the report.
• Saudi Aramco got hit by lower oil prices, reporting a net profit of $106.2 billion in 2024 vs $121.3 billion in 2023. The company also slashed its massive dividend which is likely going to hit Saudi Arabia’s budget deficit.
• Hewlett Packard delivered earnings and revenue numbers in line with expectations but gave weak guidance. Shares plummeted 12% after the report and lost more than 20% for the week.
• Abercrombie & Fitch reported a small beat on both the top and bottom lines but gave disappointing guidance. Shares dropped more than 9% after the report and are now down 42% year to date.
• Foot Locker’s revenue fell short of expectations while earnings came in well above. The company also warned that profits will be under pressure in the year ahead. The stock jumped 5.12% in a volatile trading session after the report.

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Crypto

• President Trump officially created the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve through his latest executive order, for now funding it exclusively with bitcoin seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases. The market didn’t care.
• China is reportedly working on establishing its own strategic Bitcoin reserve.