News Recap • Week 47 2025

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

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Macro

• Mon Japan’s GDP contracted by 1.8% year-over-year in Q3, holding up better than the -2.5% forecast. It was the first contraction in six quarters. The Nikkei 225 closed marginally lower on Monday while the yen continued to weaken against the dollar. (CNBC)
• Mon India’s merchandise deficit hit an all-time high of $41.7 billion in October, driven by a 200% surge in gold imports and an 8.5% drop in exports to the US. The country’s gold imports were more than twice as large as its total US exports. (CNBC)
• Mon India announced that the US will supply nearly 10% of New Delhi’s liquified petroleum gas imports. (CNBC)
• Mon We finally got a bit of dovish Fed commentary when Christopher Waller said he backs a rate cut in December. It wasn’t enough to boost the markets though. (CNBC)
• Tue Japan increased its holdings of US treasuries in September to the highest level since August 2022 while China and others slowed down their buying. (Reuters)
• Wed The Bureau of Labor Statistics said it will not release the full US jobs report for October, but only include whatever data is available in the November report. The likelihood of a December rate cut plummeted from 50% to 32% on the news and dragged the stock market down with it. (CNBC)
• Wed The inflation rate in the UK eased to 3.6% in October from 3.8% in September, in line with expectations. With cooling inflation and a meager 0.1% GDP growth rate in Q3, the Bank of England seems poised for a rate cut in December. (CNBC)
• Wed The European Commission proposed streamlining and easing a slew of AI regulations. This would be an important step in the right direction for keeping Europe competitive in the tech and AI space. (Reuters)
• Wed The latest Fed minutes confirmed the divide over the October rate cut and underscored that another cut in December is far from guaranteed. (CNBC)
• Thu The delayed nonfarm payrolls report from September showed 119,000 new jobs created, well ahead of the 50,000 estimate and the loss of 4,000 jobs in August. However, due to a downward revision of 33,000 jobs for July and August, the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.3% to 4.4%. Stocks and odds of a December rate cut jumped after the release but quickly faded. (CNBC)
• Thu Singapore raised its economic growth forecast for 2025 to 4% after a strong Q3 GDP report. (CNBC)
• Fri New York Fed President Williams said on Friday that the central bank can lower interest rates from here as a weakening labor market poses a bigger threat than rising inflation. Odds of a December rate cut surged from around 40% to 71% following Williams’ comments. (CNBC)
• Fri After cancelling the full October jobs report on Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday that it won’t release the October CPI report at all. Furthermore, the November data will now be released on December 18th instead of the 10th, meaning it won’t come in time for the Fed’s next interest rate meeting. (CNBC)
• Fri Japan announced a new $135 billion stimulus package aiming to boost its slowing economy and support consumers struggling with rising prices. The initiative didn’t come as a surprise. The yen has weakened by 12% against the US dollar since April, and the Japanese 30-year bond yield just hit a new all-time high of 3.4% this week after rallying 45% year-to-date. The moves are probably fueled by a combination of inflation fears and economic growth prospects. (CNBC)
• Fri The Trump administration is reportedly considering loosening export restrictions and allowing China to buy Nvidia’s H200 chips. (Reuters)
• Sat The United Arab Emirates said it will invest $1 billion to build out AI infrastructure and services across Africa. (Reuters)

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Other

• Tue Microsoft announced a new partnership with Nvidia and Anthropic. The latter has committed to purchasing $30 billion of Azure compute capacity from Microsoft and up to one gigawatt of compute capacity from Nvidia. As part of the deal, Nvidia and Microsoft will invest $10 and $5 billion in Anthropic, bringing its valuation up to around $350 billion. (CNBC)
• Tue Meta won an antitrust trial against the FTC who claimed that the company shouldn’t have been allowed to buy Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014. (CNBC)
• Wed Alphabet launched Gemini 3 and blew away the competition on multiple parameters, showing that it’s still one of the leaders within AI. Alphabet stock surged more than 8% this week to a new all-time high despite the broader market drop. (CNBC)
• Wed Crypto exchange Kraken said it has confidentially filed to go public in the US before the 2026 midterm election. (Reuters)
• Wed Elon Musk’s xAI is reportedly in advanced talks to raise $15 billion at a $230 billion valuation. (Reuters)
• Wed Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” sold at Sotheby’s for $236.4 million and became the auction house’s biggest sale on record. Christie’s still holds the overall record with its $450 million sale of Salvator Mundi from 2017. (CNBC)
• Thu Walmart said it will shift its listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq, underscoring that it sees itself as a tech and AI company more than just a retailer. When it begins trading on the Nasdaq on December 9, it will become the largest exchange transfer in history. (Reuters)
• Fri Eli Lilly became the first healthcare company in history to surpass a $1 trillion market cap. The stock has soared 70% since August after falling 35% from its prior all-time high made a year earlier. For comparison, Eli Lilly’s market cap was approximately 50% larger than rival Novo Nordisk in 2024. But while Eli Lilly has made a comeback, Novo has continued to decline to such an extent that it’s now just 1/5 the market cap of Eli Lilly. (CNBC)

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Earnings

• Tue Klarna beat revenue expectations in its first earnings report since going public. The stock dropped 7% after the news though. (CNBC)
• Tue Home Depot reported revenue slightly ahead of forecast but fell short on earnings. The company also cut its full-year profit outlook. The stock fell 6% on Tuesday after the report. (CNBC)
• Wed Nvidia delivered what might be the most impressive earnings report ever. Q3 earnings came in at $1.30 adjusted per share, increasing 65% year-over-year and beating expectations for $1.25. Revenue topped $57 billion while analysts had expected $54.92 billion. The company guided to $65 billion in revenue in the current quarter, well ahead of expectations for $61.66 billion. The market reaction was concerning though. After gapping up 5%, the stock fell throughout the day and closed with a 3% loss. It declined another 1% on Friday but closed well off the intraday lows. (CNBC)
• Wed Target’s Q3 earnings came in slightly ahead of expectations, while revenue missed. The company also cut its profit forecast. Shares fell 2.77% after the report and are now down 35% year-to-date. (CNBC)
• Thu Walmart beat both earnings and revenue expectations for the third quarter and raised its full-year forecast. The stock soared 6.46% on Thursday after the report. (CNBC)