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Global Markets Sunday News
Wall Street under pressure
Last week was quite turbulent for financial markets. This is because the reporting season offers plenty of opportunities to punish companies for their financial results. However, the indices held up quite well, as the sell-off was mainly concentrated on technology and software stocks, which the market considers to be the losers of the AI boom. Given the ongoing uncertainty, volatility is likely to continue in the coming days, depending on how the next financial results turn out.
Tops of the week
Lumentum +40.87%: The supplier of optical components and laser systems posted a significantly better second quarter with a sharp rise in sales and a return to profitability. As a result, analysts at B. Riley revised their assessment, issued a buy recommendation, and raised their price target significantly.
Woodward +22,23 %: The US manufacturer of energy management systems for the aerospace industry presented strong figures and also raised its outlook for 2026.
McKesson +14,13 %: The US pharmaceutical wholesaler published solid results with sales and net profit exceeding expectations. In addition, the forecast for the current fiscal year was adjusted upward.
GSK +17,13 %: As part of a restructuring program, the British pharmaceutical company is cutting up to 350 jobs in research and development in the UK and the US. Good progress was made in 2025, and the company expects the positive momentum to continue in 2026, not least thanks to the EU approval just granted for the drug Nucala for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Soitec +20,99 %: The Grenoble-based manufacturer of semiconductor materials regained ground after a better-than-expected third quarter and expects growth of around 20% for the fourth quarter.
Pandora +11,98 %: Although the jewelry manufacturer published a rather disappointing outlook for 2026, the announced switch to platinum coatings has been met with a positive response on the market. The company hopes this will counteract the risk of extreme price fluctuations on the silver market.
Carlsberg +12,78 %: The Danish brewery group announced a 5% increase in operating profit for the 2025 financial year. The share price also benefited from the possible IPO of the Indian business.
ArcelorMittal +11,35 %: The financial results for 2025 were impacted by US tariffs and the decline in automobile production in Europe. However, the steel manufacturer expressed confidence that it would be able to return to growth in the current year.
Flops of the week
BFF Bank -44,99 %: The Italian bank, which specializes in purchasing receivables owed to companies by public administrations, ran into serious difficulties following the departure of its former CEO, whose position has been taken over on an interim basis by Giuseppe Sica, and the announcement of a plan to reduce the risk of its factoring portfolio (provisions, value adjustments). At the same time, the bank revised its targets for 2026 downward and referred to a new strategic plan for the second half of the year.
Strategy -9,87 %: The stock of the company, whose sole purpose is to hoard Bitcoin, was swept up in the crash of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell below the $60,000 threshold this week.
Volvo Cars -23,52 %: After a quarter that was considered very weak, marked by price wars, tariffs, and exchange rate effects, the Swedish car manufacturer was severely punished, especially since the company does not pay dividends. As a result, several brokers lowered their price targets. Analysts at DNB Carnegie downgraded the stock to hold, while Citi/UBS maintained their sell recommendation.
Gartner -25,42 %: The share price of the company, which focuses on analysis and consulting services in the field of information and communication technologies, plummeted after the outlook for 2026 was deemed too conservative despite a decent fourth quarter – a scenario that UBS had considered possible, citing the more cautious tone and a realignment.
PayPal -23,29 %: The stock went downhill fast after a disappointing outlook for 2026 was released. Following this announcement, CEO Alex Chriss had to step down.
AppLovin -14,03 %: Anthropic’s new AI tools (Claude Cowork) caused panic in the software sector, as the market expects artificial intelligence to fundamentally transform the sector and the existing player structure in the near future.
Novo Nordisk -20,04 %: The Danish manufacturer of the weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic suffered a slide in its share price after its outlook for 2026 was deemed too weak. In addition, the company faced increasing price pressure in the US. Novo responded with a share buyback program and legal action against the telemedicine platform Hims & Hers for an illegally manufactured “cheap copy” of Wegovy.
Stellantis -26,25 %: Painful restart for the carmaker: The 2025 fiscal year was burdened by write-downs of EUR 22 billion, and Stellantis is now pulling the plug on its electric strategy.
Melexis -16,47 %: After the Belgian developer of chips for the automotive industry presented a conservative outlook for 2026, the stock lost ground despite a slightly better fourth quarter.
Wolters Kluwer -14,17 %: The Dutch information service provider is just one of many companies in the software industry that have seen their share prices plummet after Anthropic announced the launch of specialized AI plugins for legal applications. The market sees the entire sector as a loser in the AI boom.
Waw materials
Energy: The oil market is currently experiencing a period of extreme turbulence. Crude oil prices are highly volatile due to diplomatic tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude is trading at around USD 68 per barrel, while the US benchmark WTI is trading in the USD 63 range. Investors are closely following the negotiations between the US and Iran in Oman. The announcement of the meeting initially sent prices plummeting, as the market hopes for de-escalation. Nevertheless, skepticism remains. The rift between the parties is deep: while Tehran wants to talk about its nuclear program, the Trump administration is primarily concerned with Iran’s ballistic missile program and its influence in the region. Should the talks fail, the geopolitical risk premium could return immediately, especially as recent incidents such as the destruction of an Iranian drone serve as a reminder of how tense the situation is.
Metals: The precious metals segment is showing no clear direction. This is evident from the erratic price movements for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Sudden price slumps are followed by sharp recoveries, and the markets are groaning under the weight of recent massive speculation. Last week, the price of gold fell to a low of around USD 4,400 per troy ounce before recovering to around USD 4,900. Despite this rollercoaster ride, the fundamentals for precious metals remain intact, especially for gold. Central bank purchases, geopolitical risks, and demand for safe-haven assets are contributing to this. In industrial metals, the price of a ton of copper in London has stabilized at around $12,900. Mining giants Rio Tinto and Glencore have ended talks about a merger because Glencore considers its copper business to be undervalued under the terms offered. The merger would have created the world’s largest mining group.
Agricultural commodities: Coffee prices are falling, with Arabica and Robusta futures down around 10% this week. This is due to solid global supply developments in light of the record harvest expected in Brazil. The corn price in Chicago is robust at 432 cents, as is the wheat price, which has stabilized at 535 cents (contracts maturing in March 2026).
Macroeconomics
Market sentiment: Uncertainty initially weighed on technology stocks and then spread to precious metals. Overall, however, the markets are in relatively good shape. Investors are not turning their backs on the markets completely, but are shifting to other segments, primarily mid caps. In doing so, they are increasingly favoring value stocks over growth stocks. Although this is generally observed when market participants fear a recession, things are different in this case. Attractive valuation levels are contributing significantly to this rotation, especially as analysts have raised their earnings forecasts for mid caps and small caps sharply. Accordingly, the S&P 500 is likely to be driven from now on by the 493 stocks it contains, while the Magnificent Seven are bidding farewell to their record highs.
Cryptocurrencies: Third turbulent week in a row for crypto investors: Against a backdrop of risk aversion and persistent, even growing fears about the valuation levels of tech giants operating in the AI sector, Bitcoin, which had often shown a strong correlation with the Nasdaq in recent years, has been on a downward slide since Monday. It lost 13% over the course of the week and as much as 25% since the beginning of the year. Since reaching an all-time high of $126,000 last October, it has lost a whopping 47%. BTC has thus lost around $60,000 in just four months, wiping out all the gains made since Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The situation is similarly bleak for Bitcoin spot ETFs, which recorded net outflows of $1.2 billion this week. As is so often the case, the same applies to other cryptocurrencies: when BTC falters, it drags the entire market down with it. Ether (ETH) lost 15% over the course of the week, falling back below $2,000, Solana (SOL) fell 18% to around $80, and Binance Coin (BNB) fell 16% to $637. However, it is reassuring that there were no incidents, delays, or technical errors in the Bitcoin network that could explain the price decline. In the current risk-averse environment, investors are first and foremost divesting themselves of the assets perceived as most volatile, and cryptocurrencies are automatically at the forefront of these massive sell-offs.
Outlook
What a week! Volatility is definitely back, just as we feared in our last market update. Investors’ attitudes toward artificial intelligence are changing. As complacency wanes, doubts are growing about the extent to which AI can fundamentally change the economy. This dual effect has left its mark on certain market segments, particularly software providers, whose share price losses have also had a massive impact on risk assets (cryptocurrencies) and extremely overvalued assets (silver).
What are the highlights for next week? The reporting season is in full swing in the US and is picking up speed in Europe. On this side of the Atlantic, Siemens, BP, Kering, AstraZeneca, Hermès International, and L’Oréal will present their results. In the US, it will be the turn of Coca-Cola, Cisco Systems, T-Mobile US, McDonald’s, and Applied Materials. Important economic data will be released on Tuesday (retail sales and US wholesale inventories) and Wednesday (inflation rate in China and monthly data on the US labor market).
S&P 500 Heatmap
S&P 500 performance in 2025
U.S. bond yield
2-year US bond yield
10-year US bond yield
Correlation between the price of gold and the US dollar
