News Recap • Week 19 2025

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

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Macro

• A new trade deal between the US and UK was announced this week. It was the first new one made since Trump’s tariff roll-out. However, the details are still being settled and an official agreement hasn’t yet been signed. One thing we do know is that the baseline 10% tariff on UK imports to the US will remain in place.
• The Federal Reserve decided this week to keep rates unchanged at 4.25% to 4.50%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell unsurprisingly cited economic uncertainty, risk of stagflation, and the need for more data before deciding to make a move.
• President Trump wrote on Truth Social that an “80% tariff on China seems right”. He also said it was up to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to decide. It’s unclear whether he sees it as an appropriate tariff rate for right nowbefore a new trade deal has been negotiated, or for the long term. Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamie Greer met with Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this weekend to discuss economic and trade matters.
• The US administration is busy with trade talks on multiple fronts. It reportedly rejected Japan’s request for full exemption from “reciprocal” tariffs. On a more positive note, India offered zero-for-zero tariffs on both auto parts and steel from the US. Mexico’s President Sheinbaum also said there had been good communication with Trump and the two parties “have reached deals”.
• The Trump administration is preparing to rescind the US chip export restrictions known as the AI Diffusion Rule. The restrictions were planned under Biden and set to take effect on May 15. Nvidia, AMD, and other chip companies rose on the news.
• The US ISM Services PMI jumped to 51.6 in April after hitting a nine-month low of 50.8 in March. It was a positive sign for the economy and beat the forecast for just 50.6.
• China’s exports jumped 8.1% last month in US dollar terms compared to a year earlier. Economists had expected a modest 1.9% rise. The 21% plunge in US exports was offset by a surge in exports to Southeast Asian countries.
• China’s services activity expanded at its slowest pace in seven months as the Caixin PMI fell to 50.7 in April from 51.9 in March.
• The People’s Bank of China announced it will cut the seven-day reverse repurchase rates by 10 basis points to 1.4% from 1.5%. The central bank will also lower the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basispoints.
• The UK and India made a new trade deal. The UK government said the deal is expected to increase bilateral trade by $34 billion, a significant increase from the $56.6 billion total in 2024.
• The Bank of England cut its key interest rate from 4.5% to 4.25% on Thursday. The cut was fully expected. It was the fourth 25 basispoint cut since rated peaked at 5.25% last year.
• Friedrich Merz was elected as Germany’s new chancellor in a second-round vote after the first one failed to reach consensus.
• India on Tuesday said it carried out military strikes against Pakistan. This came after tensions had been building over weeks. Luckily, the attack wasn’t as bad as many had feared and both countries seemed interested in ending the current conflict. This resulted in both parties on Saturday agreeing to an immediate ceasefire after negotiations mediated by the US.

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Other

• Apple’s services chief, Eddy Cue, said the company plans on adding AI services from OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic as search options in the Safari browser. He also said that searches in Safari declined for the first time in April. Google parent Alphabet plummeted more than 7% on the news.
• Disney announced plans to open an Abu Dhabi theme park and resort, developed and built by immersive destination and experiences company Miral. It will be Disney’s seventh theme park resort when it’s built in a few years.
• Microsoft founder Bill Gates committed to donating almost all of his wealth to charity, currently totaling around $168 billion, over the next 20 years.
• Coinbase announced an $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit, a large Dubai-based derivatives exchange.
• Sneaker company Skechers will be taken private by 3G Capital for $9.42 billion. That’s the equivalent of $63 per share or roughly a 28% premium to where it closed on May 2 before the deal was announced. The stock immediately jumped 24.35% to $61.50 on the news. It’s the industry’s biggest buyout in history.
• OpenAI said that its nonprofit organization will remain in control of OpenAI, even as it restructures into a commercial entity. The exact structure is still to be defined.
• OpenAI and Microsoft are also reworking the terms of their partnership, reportedly in an effort to allow OpenAI to go public while protecting Microsoft’s access to cutting-edge AI models.
• Google agreed to pay nearly $1.4 billion to the state of Texas to settle allegations of data privacy violations.
• Anysphere, the company behind the highly popular AI-powered coding tool Cursor, has reportedly raised $900 million at a $9 billion valuation.
• eToro is seeking to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation in its initial public offering scheduled for May 14.
• Robert Prevost was elected first-ever American pope and chose the name Leo XIV.

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Earnings

• Disney delivered one of the biggest beats this week, earning $1.45 per share vs $1.20 expected on $23.62 billion in revenue vs $23.14 billion expected. Disney+ gained 1.4 million new subscribers, bringing the total subscriber base to 126 million globally. The company had previously expected the number to decline during the quarter. Disney now expected full year adjusted EPS of $5.75, an increase of 16% from fiscal 2024. Investors liked the results and sent the stock up by 10.76% on Wednesday and 14.54% for the week.
• Coinbase reported $2.03 billion in revenue, up from $1.64 billion a year ago but shy of the $2.12 billion consensus estimate. The stock fell 3.48% after its earnings report on Friday.
• Pinterest earnings came in below estimates while revenue was a small beat. Monthly active users hit 570 million in Q1, beating estimates for 565 million. Most notably, the company gave Q2 sales guidance above the consensus forecast. Shares gained 4.88% after the report on Friday but had been up as much as 12% earlier in the day.
• AMD earned 96 cents adjusted per share in Q1, beating expectations for 94 cents. Revenue came in at $7.44 billion, also above the $7.13 billion forecast. The stock rose 1.76% after the report and is still down more than 50% from its 2024 peak.
• Ford’s automative revenue and earnings both beat expectations, the latter coming in at 14 cents per share vs 2 cents expected. The company also reported a 5% year over year decline in total revenue and suspended its full-year guidance due to macro economic uncertainty. And yet, the stock gained 2.65% after the report on Tuesday.
• Uber delivered a small revenue miss but a big earnings beat with EPS coming in at 83 cents vs 50 cents expected. Q1 revenue grew 14% from a year earlier while earnings flipped positive from a 32 cent loss per share. Monthly active platform consumers had grown 14% to 170 million with more than 3 billion “trips” booked in the first quarter, up 18% from last year. The stock was volatile on Wednesday after the report but ended with a modest loss of 2.54%. It’s up more than 37% so far in 2025 and is sitting right below its all-time high from last year.
• Lyft reported its 16th straight quarter of gross bookings growth as the figure rose 13% from a year ago to $4.16 billion. Rides increased 16% to 218.4 million and topped estimates. Revenue fell slightly short of estimates though. The company also increased its share repurchase plan from $500 million to $750 million. Shares soared more than 28% after the report on Friday.
• Palantir reported 13 cents in earnings per share, in line with expectations. Revenue came in at $884 million, above the forecast for $863 million. Commercial revenue grew 71% year over year while government sales were up 45%. The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance from between $3.74 and $3.76 billion to between $3.89 and 3.90 billion. Shares fell more than 12% after the report on Tuesday but recovered most of it on Thursday. The stock is up 55% on the year after soaring 340% in 2024.
• Expedia delivered an earnings beat but missed on revenue. The stock dropped 7.3% after the report on Friday.
• Shopify reported Q1 revenue of $2.4 billion, up 27% year over year. The stock initially fell on the report but clawed back early losses to close just 0.53% lower on Thursday.
• Arm reported earnings of 55 cents adjusted per share, beating expectations for 52 cents. Revenue also came in slightly above estimates at $1.24 billion. However, the company issued disappointing guidance. Shares fell 6.18% after the report on Thursday.
• Match Group reported a 5% decline in paying users in Q1 and plans to cut 13% of its workforce. Shares plummeted 9.58% on the news.
• AppLovin delivered a solid beat on both the top and bottom lines. Earnings came in at $1.67 per share, well above the $1.45 forecast, on revenue of $1.48 billion. The stock popped 11.88% on Thursday after the report.
• Super Micro reported big misses on both the top and bottom lines. EPS came in at 31 cents adjusted vs expectations for 50 cents. Revenue hit $4.60 billion, well below the $5.42 billion forecast. Guidance fell short of expectations as well. Shares only declined 1.4% though.
• Nintendo missed on revenue but beat net profit expectations with 41.6 billion yen vs the 33.91 billion forecast. Both numbers plunged in the fourth quarter though, which was expected due to the upcoming release of the Switch 2.
• Novo Nordisk reported lower-than-expected Q1 sales of its obesity drug Wegovy. It also lowered its full-year growth guidance to a range of 13% to 21%, down from its previous forecast of 16% to 24% growth. However, Novo now sees sales improving in the second half of the year as Wegovy copycat compounded drugs are phased out in the US. Shares initially popped more than 6% after the report but closed the day just 1.3% higher and ended the week with a 2.54% loss.
• Vestas made a profit of €5 million in Q1, easily beating expectations for a €61.4 million loss. Revenue also beat expectations, coming in at €3.47 billion vs the €3.11 billion consensus. The stock jumped 9% on Tuesday after the report and gained 10.38% for the week.
• Saudi Aramco reported a 5% decline in net profit year over year. Q1 net income came in at $26 billion, beating expectations for $25.3 billion but down from $27.3 billion a year earlier.