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Key Stories from the past week: Stocks climb on trade war optimism
It has been the busiest week of the earnings season with 180 companies from S&P500 and 91 companies Euro Stoxx 600 reporting. Overall earnings continue to look solid, while the near-term outlook looks cloudier as tariff concerns still dominate headlines.
Big week of reporting from Big Tech
Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple all reported this week setting the tone for investor confidence across the globe and boosting US benchmarks. AI spend remains a focus with no signs of capex fatigue, but tariff risks encourage caution.
Big Tech Earnings
Obesity drug war intensifies
Eli Lilly sales soared 45% on weight loss drug demand, but the shares still fell 12% as CVS Health Corp announced a plan to drop Lilly weight-loss drug Zepbound from its preferred list, making rival Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy more widely available.
Novo Nordisk strike back
Tariff uncertainty blights the car manufacturers
General Motors Q1 results beat estimates but the car maker is forced to suspend guidance and pause buybacks due to tariff uncertainty. Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz follow General Motors in deciding to withdraw outlooks. Volkswagen, who reported an earnings drop of 40% YoY, did offer a forecast of 5% sales growth in 2025. This does not include any impact from tariffs recently announced.
Trump softens blow of automotive tariffs
Market activity boosts bank earnings
Several European banks published strong Q1 earnings aided by recent market volatility and through cost saving measures. HSBC reported Q1 pretax profit $9.48bn, above estimates, with $3bn buyback and restructuring to save $1.8bn over two years. Deustche Bank reported highest profit in 14 years with the group is on track for delivery on all 2025 targets. Other banks to beat were UBS, Soc Gen, ING Groep, Barclays, Standard Chartered.
UBS profit boosted by 'huge' spike in client activity, but uncertainty looms
Next week markets will zero in on policy rate decisions from the Fed on Wednesday and BoE of Thursday. The former is expected hold steady, while the latter is fully priced for a 25bps cut. China will publish a trade report on Friday which will likely show an initial hit from the escalating trade war. Earnings season also rolls on with the like of Palantir on Monday, AMD on Tuesday, and Novo Nordisk, Uber, Disney and Arm Holdings all on Wednesday.