News Recap • Week 22 2025

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

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Macro

• The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditure index, came in cooler than expected on Friday. The index increased 0.1% in April and 2.1% year over year while the core PCE rose 2.5% from a year earlier. Both annual readings were 0.1 percentage point lower than forecast. Personal income surged 0.8% for the month, well ahead of the 0.3% forecast. On a less positive note, however, was a modest 0.2% increase in consumer spending, down sharply from a 0.7% increase in March. The savings rate also rallied from 0.6% in March to 4.9% in April. The market reaction was muted. (CNBC)
• The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence index was much better than expected in May, jumping 12.3 points to 98.0 vs expectations for just 86.0. The positive sentiment was largely driven by the positive development in the trade war. (CNBC)
• Donald Trump on Sunday, May 25 decided to postpone the 50% tariffs on EU imports he had suggested just two days prior. The new deadline for a trade deal to avoid the 50% tariffs is July 9. Investors loved the news, sending the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up by 2% and 2.5% respectively on Tuesday (after the market was closed for Memorial Day on Monday). (CNBC)
• Trump accused China of violating the two nations’ preliminary trade deal. (CNBC)
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that trade talks with China have stalled and need Trump and Xi to get involved. (CNBC)
• The Court of International Trade ruled that Donald Trump didn’t have the authority to bypass Congress in order to impose the reciprocal tariffs launched on ‘Liberation Day’. The court ordered the administration to stop collecting tariffs immediately, writing that “the Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs”. The Trump administration appealed the ruling but it seems like a big blow to its trade war. (CNBC)
• … However, it didn’t take long for the tariffs to be temporarily reinstated to give the Trump team a chance to respond to the ruling. (CNBC)
• And speaking of tariffs, Trump told workers at U.S. Steel on Friday that he will double tariffs on steel imports to 50%. (CNBC)
• Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump does not subscribe to the new TACO trade idea (Trump Always Chickens Out). When asked by a reporter, he said his recent moves (i.e., announcing but then backing down from various tariffs) are just part of negotiating. (CNBC)
• The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting earlier this month showed that the committee is worried that tariffs could aggravate inflation and create a difficult quandary with interest rate policy. (CNBC)
• China’s industrial profits rose 3% in April from a year ago, boosted by Beijing’s measures supporting the private sector. (CNBC)
• India’s economy expanded by 7.4% in the January-to-March quarter, much more than the 6.7% expected. This was the country’s fiscal Q4 of 2025 and closed out the year with a 6.5% growth rate, in line with the government’s February estimate. (CNBC)
• India surpassed Japan to become the world’s fourth largest economy measured by GDP. (Times of India)
• Germany overtook Japan to become the world’s largest creditor nation with $3.9 trillion external net assets. (Catenaa Investors)
• Elon Musk’s role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came to an end this week. As a so-called special government employee, Musk can only work for the administration for 130 days in a calendar year. (CNBC)

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Other

• Japan’s Nippon Steele seems set to close its acquisition of U.S. Steele at $55 per share. (CNBC)
• E.l.f. Beauty is acquiring Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand Rhode for $1 billion comprised of $800 million in cash and stock and an additional $200 million payout based on Rhode’s performance over the next three years. (CNBC)
• Apple acquired its first video game studio, the two-person company RAC7. (Insider Gaming)
• Salesforce is acquiring Informatica for $8 billion to bolster its AI data tools. (Reuters)
• Tesla sold just 7,261 cars in Europe in April, down 49% from a year ago. (CNBC)
• Volvo said it will cut 3,000 jobs as part of a major cost-cutting process. (CNBC)

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Earnings

• Nvidia’s earnings report on Wednesday was easily this week’s highlight on the earnings front. The AI chip maker beat expectations for both earnings and revenue, making 96 cents adjusted per share on $44.06 billion in revenue. Nvidia now expects $45 billion in sales in the current quarter, which is actually below the street’s $45.9 billion estimate, but also said the number would have been $8 billion higher except for a recent export restriction on its China-bound H20 chips. The stock was up more than 6% in early trading on Thursday after the report but closed with a more modest 3.25% gain before then falling 2.92% on Friday. (CNBC)
• Costco reported earnings of $4.28 per share vs $4.24 expected on $63.21 billion in revenue vs $63.19 billion expected as sales rose 8%. The company said that tariffs have brought higher costs and other challenges. Shares rose 3.12% after the report on Friday. (CNBC)
• Ulta Beauty beat expectations by a wide margin and raised its annual profit forecast to a range between $22.65 and $23.20 per share, compared with its previous guidance of $22.50 to $22.90. The stock surged 11.78% on Friday after the report and closed at a 52-week high. (CNBC)
• Dell delivered a strong quarter and raised its full-year profit forecast on strong AI server demand. Shares rose initially but closed the day 2.08% lower on Friday after the report. (Reuters)
• HP beat on revenue but missed on earnings while also giving disappointing guidance. The company cited tariffs as a main culprit for the outlook. (CNBC)
• Abercrombie & Fitch beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines but cut its profit guidance due to tariffs. The stock soared as much as 36% after the report on Wednesday but closed with a 14% gain and gave most of that back on Thursday and Friday. (CNBC).