News Recap • Week 20 2025

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

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Macro

• The US and China agreed to cut tariffs significantly for 90 days while the two parties continue to negotiate a trade deal. Both countries will effectively lower tariffs by 115%, resulting in 10% on imports from the US to China and 30% in the other direction.
• The US headline CPI index rose 0.2% in April and 2.3% for the year, its lowest level since February 2021 and below the 2.4% forecast. The annual core index landed at a 2.8% rate, in line with expectations. The PPI unexpectedly fell by 0.5% in April, bringing the annual inflation rate to 2.4% in April after 3.4% in March. The core PPI came in at 2.9% year over year, its lowest level in over a year.
• Moody’s on Friday downgraded the United States’ credit rating from the highest to the second-highest of its 21 rating levels, citing increase in government debt. Donald Trump was not pleased with the downgrade. Scott Bessent didn’t care. The market didn’t seem too bothered either, which is understandable considering that the other two big rating agencies, S&P and Fitch, already downgraded their ratings of the US in 2023 and 2011.
• US factory production declined 0.4% in April, its first decline in six months.
• US consumer sentiment fell to 50.8 in May, its second-lowest reading on record. It was down from 52.2 in April. However, the majority of the survey was conducted before the 90-day tariff pause between the US and China was announced.
• Trump announced on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia has pledged to invest $600 billion in the US.
• India’s inflation rate fell to 3.16% in April after six straight months of declines. Economists had expected 3.27%. The low reading will likely encourage the central bank to provide further stimulus to boost the economy.
• Japan’s economy contracted by 0.2% in Q1, worse than the 0.1% contraction expected.
• The UK’s GDP grew by 0.7% in the first quarter of 2025, beating expectations.
• The US removed all sanctions on Syria.

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Other

• Trump aims to significantly lower drug prices in the US with new “most favored nation” policy. Drug makers like Novo Nordisk fell on the news.
• Trump also aims to bring more manufacturing to the US, telling Apple CEO Tim Cook that he should move production back home instead of just shifting it from China to India.
• Coinbase replaced Discover Financial Services in the S&P 500. Coinbase stock jumped on the news.
• UnitedHealth Group suspended its 2025 guidance as CEO Andrew Witty stepped down. Shares plunged almost 18% on Tuesday after the news and lost 23.3% for the week.
• Microsoft said on Tuesday that it plans on laying off 3% of its staff, or around 6,000 employees, across all levels.
• Novo Nordisk’s CEO Lars Fruergaard was fired after eight years on the job. The ousting comes after a period of significant declines in the Novo stock and increased competition from Eli Lilly and others.
• AMD announced a $6 billion buyback. Shares jumped on the news.
• eToro went public and raised $310 million in the process. Degens cheered as the stock opened at $69.69.
• Fintech company Chime filed to go public on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol CHYM.
• Robinhood acquired Canada's leading crypto trading platform, WonderFi.

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Earnings

• Walmart reported a slight miss on revenue but beat on adjusted earnings. The company also talked about raising its prices due to tariffs, after which Trump told them to “eat them” (the tariffs).
• CoreWeave reported a solid revenue beat and 400% earnings growth in its first report after going public.
• Cisco reported an earnings beat while announcing that CFO Scott Herren is leaving the company.
• Honda reported revenue in line with expectations but operating profit well below. The former rose 6.2% year over year while the latter plunged 12.2%.
• Alibaba reported disappointing numbers and missed on revenue.