News Recap • Week 7 2025

Equity markets at large had a great week with multiple indices hitting new record highs. And that's despite some hot inflation data from the US and a new tariff plan from Trump. I did a little deep dive on the former (link below).

For all the other news, keep reading here.

• Market Recap • Week 7 2025
• Inflation Heats Up but Markets Keep Rallying

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Macro

• India’s inflation fell for the third straight month to 4.31% in January. It was well below expectations for 4.6% and the lowest rate since August. The slowdown is expected to encourage more monetary easing from the central bank.
• The inflation rate in Denmark fell to 1.5% year-over-year in January. That’s down from 1.9% in December.
• President Trump signed a plan to implement a vast range of reciprocal tariffs. If another country has or will add tariffs on imports from the US, the US will simply add the same tariffs on imports from the given country. “We want a level playing field,” Trump said. He also said that other countries’ non-tariff policies, such as value-added taxes or VATs, warrant tariffs in response if they’re deemed unfair trade practices. This was perceived as a less aggressive move by Trump than many analysts had feared. Sweetening the deal even further, this plan won’t go into effect until April 1st. This leaves plenty of time for other countries to negotiate with the US or simply remove any tariffs they may currently have on US imports. Markets reacted positively to the news on Thursday, rallying in the face of hotter inflation and expectations of rates staying higher for longer.
• US retail sales dropped 0.9% in the month of January, much worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline. It was also a sharp drop from an upwardly revised gain of 0.7% in December. The data points to a slowdown in economic growth, at least in the short term. However, some analysts point to a variety of factors that make the data much less concerning than it may appear. “Some of it can be chalked up to bad weather, and some to auto sales tanking in January after an unusual surge in December due to fat dealer incentives,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr was confirmed as U.S. Health Secretary on Thursday after a tight vote. He’s seen as one of President Trump’s most controversial picks due to his stance on certain vaccines and food products, although he did pledge to protect vaccination programs.
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the central bank’s stance on rates, saying “With our policy stance now significantly less restrictive than it had been and the economy remaining strong, we do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance.” He continued, “We know that reducing policy restraint too fast or too much could hinder progress on inflation. At the same time, reducing policy restraint too slowly or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment.”
• The UK economy grew by 0.1% in the fourth quarter after flatlining in Q3. Economists had expected it to contractby 0.1%.
• President Trump stated on Truth Social that “rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!!”. He added “Lets Rock and Roll, America!!!” because of course he did.

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Other

• Apple has teamed up with Alibaba to bring AI features to its iPhones in China. Both stocks got a boost on the news.
• Activist hedge fund Elliott has reportedly built a stake in struggling British oil company BP. Shares jumped on the news.
• An investor group led by Elon Musk made a $97.4 billion offer to buy the nonprofit organization that controls OpenAI. The bid was quickly rejected.
• Adobe released the first public version of an AI tool that can generate video clips, priced at $9.99 for 20 clips per month and $29.99 for 70 clips.
• Chinese EV maker BYD rolled out driver assistance system based on DeepSeek’s AI solution. The stock hit a fresh new all-time high on the news.
• TikTok is back in Apple and Google app stores in the US. This follows an executive order signed by Donald Trump when he took office, giving the company until April 5 to find a deal that lets the company continue to operate in the US.
• GameStop is reportedly considering investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The stock rose 2.5% on Friday after the news but closed well off of its intraday highs.
• Elon Musk’s xAI is discussing to raise $10 billion at a $75 billion valuation.
• Robotics startup Figure AI is reportedly looking to raise $1.5 billion at a $39.5 billion valuation in its series C funding round.
• Amazon workers in Garner, North Carolina votes against unionizing. Out of 3,276 workers, only 829 voted in favor.

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Earnings

• McDonald’s reported earnings in line with expectations at $2.83 per share. Revenue fell short of expectations though, coming in at $6.39 billion vs $6.44 billion expected. Same-store sales at the company’s domestic restaurants fell 1.4% in the quarter.
• Coca-Cola topped estimates for Q4 earnings and revenue, reporting net sales growth of 6% for the quarter. Shares rose 4.73% on Tuesday after the report.
• Cisco beat expectations, reporting earnings of 94 cents adjusted per share vs 91 cents expected. Revenue came in at $13.99 billion vs $13.87 billion expected. The stock popped 6% in early trading after the report on Thursday but ended the day just 2.09% higher.
• Robinhood reported 58.2% growth in revenue with average revenue per user more than doubling from 2023 to 2024. The company blew away all expectations and provided strong guidance. Shares jumped more than 14% after the report and are now up around 440% over the past 12 months.
• Airbnb reported earnings of 73 cents per share, well ahead of the 58 cents expected. Revenue topped estimates as well. Adjusted Q4 profits hit $765 million, more than $100 million above analysts’ estimates. Despite light guidance, shares jumped almost 15% after the report for its best day ever.
• Dutch Bros showed impressive growth and beat expectations. Shares soared 29% after the report on Thursday.
• Shopify revenue beat estimates but the company gave mixed guidance. The stock closed 3.08% higher after a volatile day on Tuesday.
• AppLovin demolished earnings expectations, delivering $1.73 per share vs $1.24 forecast. Shares rallied 24% after the report.
• Reddit reported a solid beat on both revenue and earnings expectations. User numbers in Q4 were below expectations though. Shares fell 5.3% on the news but are still up more than 300% since the company IPO’ed less than a year ago.
• Lyft’s earnings landed at 29 cents, well above the 22 cents forecast. Revenue came in slightly below expectations though. Shares fell as much as 16% after the report but clawed some of the losses back, ending the day down 7.9%.
• Roku reported a smaller loss than expected and a 12% year-on-year growth in streaming households. Shares jumped 14.14% after the report.

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