News Recap • Week 26 2025

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

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Macro

• Iran on Monday retaliated against the US for the weekend attack by launching missiles against a US military base in Qatar. Iran warned about the attack beforehand and all missiles were successfully intercepted. Equities rallied while oil prices plummeted as the weak attack appeared to be the conclusion to the conflict. Shortly after, the US brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran which boosted markets even further on Tuesday. (Reuters)
• The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditure index, came out slightly hotter than expected on Friday. The core PCE showed monthly and annual inflation rates of 0.2% and 2.7% compared with forecasts for 0.1% and 2.6%. The headline numbers were inline with expectations at 0.1% and 2.3% respectively. Furthermore, personal income declined 0.4% against the forecast for a 0.3% gain. Investors didn’t seem too bothered though, sending both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new record highs. (CNBC)
• The Conference Board’s US consumer confidence index unexpectedly fell 5.4 points to 93.0 in June, largely fueled by increasing concerns over job availability. (Reuters)
• The US and China officially signed their new trade agreement this week. President Trump first announced it on Thursday after which China confirmed the details of the deal on Friday. China’s Hang Seng index closed at a new 3-year high this week. (CNBC)
• The White House said this week that the July 9 deadline for new trade agreements is “not critical” and could be extended. (CNBC)
• Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed a motion to proceed to final debate in the Senate with a narrow 51-49 vote. The voting took hours and a majority in favor was only reached after three Republican holdouts folded and voted yes. The drama underscores the difficult path ahead for the bill. For one, Democrats are forcing the 940-page bill to be read out loud when it heads to full debate on the Senate floor on Sunday. (CNBC)
• China’s industrial profits plunged 9.1% in May compared to a year earlier. It was the steepest fall in seven months. (CNBC)
• NATO allies agreed to increase their defense spending from 2% to 5% of their GDP by 2035. At least 3.5% should be spent on pure defense with the remainder going to security and defense-related critical infrastructure. Defense stocks rallied on the news. (CNBC)
• NATO chief Mark Rutte confirmed on Tuesday that the US and President Trump are totally committed to the military alliance. (CNBC)
• Michelle Bowman of the Federal Reserve said this week that the committee should consider cutting interest rates at its next meeting in July. Odds of a rate cut is currently below 20%, however. (Reuters)
• President Donald Trump on Friday said that the US is immediately terminating all trade negotiations with Canada in response to Ottawa’s decision to impose a digital services tax on American tech firms. Both US and Canada equities dipped on the news, albeit not dramatically. (CNBC)
• Due to its massive $37 trillion in debt and high interest rates, the US is currently paying $3.3 billion in interest per day. (The Kobeissi Letter)

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Other

• Microsoft’s next-generation AI chip is facing a delay of at least six months, pushing the launch back to 2026. (Reuters)
• Tesla had a relatively successful launch of its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas on Sunday last week. The stock popped more than 8% on Monday but faded throughout the week. (CNBC)
• Tesla saw European sales fall for a fifth straight month when they dropped 27.9% in May compared to a year earlier. And that’s despite overall EV sales being up 27.2% in the region. (Reuters)
• Tesla fired its VP of Manufacturing & Operations after year-over-year declines in car sales across Tesla’s key markets. (CNBC)
• In other robotaxi news, Uber and Waymo in partnership rolled out their autonomous ride-hailing service in Atlanta after having it live in Austin since March. Uber stock jumped 7.5% on Tuesday after the news and nudged a new record high on Thursday. (Reuters)
• Novo Nordisk in April said it would begin offering its weight-loss drug Wegovy through several telehealth companies. This week, however, it ended its partnership with one of these companies, Hims & Hers, over concerns about its continued sales and promotion of cheaper Wegovy knock-offs. Hims & Hers plummeted 34.6% after the news on Monday. (CNBC)
• Novo Nordisk presented the results of its latest studies of CagriSema. Analyst views were mixed. (PR Newswire)
• Dating app company Bumble announced plans to slash 30% of its workforce for an estimated cost saving of $40 million a year. The stock surged 25% on the news to a 4-month high. (CNBC)
• McDonald’s and Krispy Kreme will end their doughnut partnership on July 2, citing poor profitability for Krispy Kreme. (CNBC)
• CoreWeave is reportedly in talks to acquire Core Scientific. The latter surged 35% on Thursday after the news. (CNBC)
• Prediction market startup Kalshi closed its $185 million series C at a $2 billion valuation. (TechCrunch)
• Polymarket, another prediction market platform, is close to raising $200 million in a funding round that will value the company at more than $1 billion. Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund is set to lead the round. (Reuters)
• Texas became the first US state to to commit public funds to a standalone Bitcoin reserve, aiming to treat it as a long-term strategic asset. (Cointelegraph)

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Earnings

• Nike reported earnings of 14 cents per share, beating expectations for 13 cents. Revenue also came in higher than expected at $11.1 billion vs $10.72 billion expected. While earnings were down from 99 cents per share a year earlier, the company is optimistic that sales and profit declines will moderate moving forward. Investors seemed to believe that the bottom is in for the Nike turnaround story, sending shares higher by 15.2% on Friday after the report. The stock is still down 60% from the all-time high made in late 2021. (CNBC)
• Micron delivered a solid beat on both the top and bottom lines. Earnings per share came in at $1.91 adjusted vs $1.60 expected while revenue hit $9.3 billion vs $8.87 billion expected. Micron expected revenue of $10.7 billion in the current quarter, up 38% from a year earlier and around 20% above the average analyst estimate. The stock fell around 1% after the report though but has more than doubled since the April bottom and is up 48% in 2025 alone. (CNBC)
• FedEx earned $6.07 adjusted per share on $22.22 billion in revenue, beating expectations for $5.84 and $21.79 billion respectively. Forward guidance came in slightly below analyst expectations though. The stock dropped 3.27% on Wednesday after the report but recovered most of it on Friday. (CNBC)