News Recap • Week 32 2025

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

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Macro

• Mon The EU delayed its planned US tariffs for six months amid ongoing trade negotiations. (CNBC)
• Tue US services activity, as measured by the ISM non-manufacturing PMI, declined from 50.8 in June to 50.1 in July. Economists had expected a reading of 51.5. A 50 reading indicates stagnation so the latest data point was a big negative surprise. (Reuters)
• Wed The Reserve Bank of India kept interest rates steady 5.5% after delivering a 50 basispoint cut at its latest meeting in June, in line with expectations. The RBI also maintained full-year GDP growth forecast at 6.5% but lowered its inflation forecast from 3.7% to 3.1%. (CNBC)
• Wed The trade deficit in the US fell to $60.2 billion in June, the lowest since 2023. (The Spectator Index)
• Wed President Trump raised tariffs on India from the 25% announced just days ago to 50% now due to the country’s oil purchases from Russia. (CNBC)
• Wed Trump said he will impose a 100% tariff on imports of semiconductors and chips, but not for companies that are “building in the US”. (CNBC)
• Wed China’s July exports rose 7.2%, exceeding economists’ 5.4% forecast. Imports rose 4.1% from a year earlier, the biggest jump since July 2024. (CNBC)
• Thu The Bank of England cut interest rates from 4.25% to 4% after a 5-4 vote in favor. (CNBC)
• Thu Trump picked economic advisor Stephen Miran to replace Adriana Kugler who resigned last week. Miran will serve the rest of Kugler’s term through January 2026. (CNBC)
• Fri Trump on Friday said he will meet with Russia’s president Putin in Alaska on August 15. (CNBC)
• Fri Consumer spending in Japan rose 1.3% in June compared to a year earlier, far below the consensus estimate of 2.6% and the 4.7% growth seen in May. (Reuters)
• Sat China’s producer prices fell 3.6% year over year in July, more than the 3.3% decline expected among economists. Consumer prices were flat. The latest data underscores China’s deep-rooted deflation problems. (Reuters)

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Other

• Tue AI startup Clay raised $100 million at a $3.1 billion valuation in a round led by Alphabet’s independent growth fund CapitalG. (Reuters)
• Wed Apple CEO Tim Cook visited The White House and announced plans to invest an additional $100 billion in the US. Apple is reportedly getting an exemption from the massive semiconductor tariffs promised by Trump. The stock rallied 13.33% for its best week in a long time. (CNBC)
• Wed OpenAI is reportedly in talks with investors to conduct a secondary share sale at a $500 billion valuation. The company was last valued at $300 billion in a financing round earlier this year. (CNBC)
• Wed AI accounting startup Rillet raised $70 million at an estimated $500 million valuation. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ. (Reuters)
• Thu So far, 82% of S&P 500 companies have beaten their earnings estimates this quarter, despite all the tariff concerns and fears of an economic slowdown. (Watcher.Guru)
• Thu Trump called for Intel’s CEO to resign due to his ties to China. (CNBC)
• Thu Firefly Aerospace went public on Thursday and opened at $70 per share after pricing its IPO at $45. It closed the day around $60 and fell to $50 on Friday. (Reuters)
• Thu Trump signed a new executive order to allow Americans to hold crypto in their 401(k) retirement plans. (CoinDesk)
• Thu OpenAI rolled out its new GPT-5 model to all ChatGPT users. (CNBC)

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Earnings

• Mon Palantir’s quarterly revenue topped $1 billion for the first time after 48% growth year over year. The company delivered another beat and raised its full year guidance. The stock rallied 7.85% on Tuesday after the report and gained more than 20% for the week, extending its 2025 return to 147%. (CNBC)
• Tue Pfizer beat expectations for the past quarter and raised its full-year guidance. Shares rose 1.6% after the report but faded throughout the week. (CNBC)
• Tue Snap reported revenue slightly below expectations with daily active users slightly above. Adjusted earnings came in well below target. The stock plummeted 17.15% on Wednesday after the report and extended its losses on Thursday and Friday. (CNBC)
• Tue AMD delivered a solid revenue beat but missed on earnings. Despite an upbeat sales forecast for the current quarter, shares fell 6.42% on Wednesday. (CNBC)
• Wed Disney reported $1.61 in adjusted earnings per share, beating expectations for $1.47. Revenue came in at $23.65 billion and slightly missed the forecast. The company increased its fiscal 2025 guidance to $5.85 in EPS, an increase of 18% from fiscal 2024. Shares fell 2.66% after the report. (CNBC)
• Wed McDonald’s delivered a beat on both the top and bottom lines. Same-store sales rose 3.8%, its biggest increase in nearly two years. The company did express some concerns about the health of the low-income consumer though. The stock gained 2.98% on Wednesday after the report. (CNBC)
• Wed Novo Nordisk delivered a decent earnings report although revenue was slightly below expectations. The company had already cut its guidance last week and caused a massive drop in the stock, so the earnings reaction was more muted. Shares still fell more than 5% though, before rebounding on Thursday after Eli Lilly’s poor trial results. (CNBC)
• Wed Airbnb reported 13% revenue growth to $3.1 billion, beating expectations for $3.04 billion. Earnings came in at $1.03 vs 93 cents expected. The Q3 forecast was more or less in line with expectations. Shares fell more than 8% after the report though. (CNBC)
• Wed Duolingo reported daily active user growth of 40% with paid subscribers up 37% year over year. Revenue grew 41% to $252 million while earnings per share expanded from $0.51 to $0.91. The company also raised its full-year guidance. The stock was up as much as 36% on Thursday before OpenAI demo’ed its new model building a custom language learning web app in just three minutes. Duolingo closed the day with a 13.75% gain and gave back another 5.25% on Friday. (Yahoo Finance)
• Wed Shopify blew away expectations for both revenue and earnings. Revenue grew 31% year over year and accelerated from a 20% growth rate a year ago. The stock surged almost 22% after the report and around 25% for the week. (CNBC)
• Wed Match Group, owner of Tinder, Hinge, and other dating apps, reported promising progress on its product offering and upbeat forward guidance. Shares rallied 10.5% after the report but are still down 80% from their highs in 2021. (CNBC)
• Wed Wix reported a small revenue beat and earnings well ahead of expectations. Forward guidance was more or less in line with expectations. The stock initially rallied 13% after the report but closed the day flat. After a big drop on Friday, it actually ended the week with a 4.75% loss. (Yahoo Finance)
• Thu Eli Lilly delivered adjusted earnings of $6.31 per share, beating expectations for $5.57. Revenue came in at $15.56 billion, also well above expectations. The company even hiked its full-year outlook. However, the company also released disappointing late-stage trial data on its experimental obesity pill. Investors clearly focused on the trial data rather than the earnings report, sending the stock down by 14.14% on Thursday and almost 18% for the week. LLY is now back down to January 2024 levels and more than 35% off its peak. Lilly’s bad news gave Novo Nordisk a boost though. (CNBC)
• Thu Expedia beat expectations and raised its annual forecast for gross bookings and revenue growth. The stock surged more than 13% in early trade on Friday but closed with a more modest 4.08% gain. (Reuters)
• Thu Pinterest’s Q2 sales beat expectations while earnings came in light. Revenue grew 17% year over year. Shares dropped more than 10% on Friday after the report. (CNBC)
• Thu Trade Desk beat Q2 expectations but also announced the departure of its CFO. Furthermore, analysts and investors seemed way more concerned about increasing competition from Amazon, sending the stock down by a whopping 38.6% on Friday. (CNBC)
• Thu Bumble reported a 8.7% drop in paying users, its third consecutive quarterly decline. The stock plummeted almost 16% after the report. (Reuters)
• Thu SoftBank Group delivered a massive earnings beat, reporting profits of 421.8 billion yen ($2.87 billion) vs a 127.6 billion yen forecast. The stock rallied 10.39% on Friday after the report and added almost 20% for the week to a new all-time high. (CNBC)