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Global Markets Sunday News
AI is shaking up sector certainties
The day’s events continue to be dominated by the reporting season, and investors are still searching for the next victim of the AI boom. After the software industry already took a hit, other sectors are now coming under pressure. As a result, US indices turned negative this week, while their European counterparts largely trended sideways thanks to solid earnings reports from several stock market heavyweights.
Tops of the week
Schroders +28,12%: The London-based asset manager initially posted solid figures before stumbling, like the entire sector, as a result of uncertainty surrounding artificial intelligence. Recently, the share price rebounded after the announcement of its acquisition by US competitor Nuveen for £10 billion.
Embracer +23,95%: The Swedish video game developer, which had recently been split into three companies, exceeded expectations thanks to its historic licenses. The stock subsequently rose, and analysts rewarded the return to the core business by raising their recommendations.
Ferrari +14,7%: The luxury car manufacturer’s financial results exceeded expectations. The company also raised its outlook, as its order books are full until the end of 2027. After the presentation of the first all-electric Ferrari model, Luce, the stock rose sharply.
STMicroelectronics +14,28%: The chip manufacturer rose sharply after sealing a multi-year partnership with AWS worth several billion US dollars, which also includes warrants on 24.8 million shares. In addition, the company unveiled its Stellar P3E automotive microcontroller with integrated AI acceleration.
Ahold +13,9%: Quarterly figures that exceeded expectations boosted the Dutch supermarket chain. This was complemented by positive margin development in the US and the profitable e-commerce segment. Gains in market share prompted analysts at Bernstein to raise their price target.
Ipsen +13,67%: The pharmaceutical company, which focuses on drugs for oncology and the treatment of rare diseases, posted a significant share price gain this week. In terms of business figures, the increase in sales and the significant improvement in operating profitability were particularly noteworthy. The stock’s performance is also in line with the ambitious targets set for 2026.
Kering +10,19%: The French luxury goods group benefited from a fourth quarter that exceeded expectations. After a difficult 2025 financial year, there are now initial signs of recovery at Gucci. The new collections and the strategic planning promised by the new CEO Luca de Meo convinced the market.
Flops of the week
Adyen -20,94%: The Dutch fintech company’s share price plummeted after the market deemed its outlook for 2026 too conservative. According to investors, the insufficient margin stability contradicts the stock’s high valuation. The share price remains far from its historic level, which only reinforces investors’ concerns about the fintech sector.
Dassault Systèmes -19,91%: After the market leader for product lifecycle management software reported disappointing figures, its shares continued their downward slide. The company was already affected by concerns weighing on software providers in light of the AI boom. Growth prospects remain below market expectations.
Magnum -14,05%: The ice cream brand, which emerged from the spin-off of Unilever, reported declining profits and stagnant growth. Nevertheless, the company is sticking to its outlook and expects a gradual increase in profitability and sales growth.
Delivery Hero -15,23%: The German food delivery service is weighed down by the disappointing forecast for 2026 presented by its subsidiary Talabat (which generates 70% of the group’s EBITDA). As a result, the company is having to cope with a series of share price slumps, and analysts are questioning whether Delivery Hero can still create value in the short term.
St. James’s Place -16,74%: The British asset manager was weighed down by general skepticism toward the sector. Investors fear that AI tools could significantly change financial advice and cause problems for traditional providers.
Eramet -11,83%: It was a difficult week for the mining company: the CEO was forced to resign and the rating agency Fitch downgraded its credit rating to B—a very weak rating, but one that reflects the company’s high level of debt.
Waw materials
Energy: Caution is palpable on the crude oil markets. This can be seen in the weekly price trends for Brent and WTI. The candlestick chart shows significant fluctuations in the latest candlesticks, underscoring the lack of direction in the trend. The price of North Sea Brent rose above the USD 70 per barrel mark again, only to fall back to around USD 67.6. The same applies to its US counterpart, WTI, whose price initially rose to USD 65.80 and then fell to a weekly low of USD 62.90. The decline is due to gloomy demand forecasts combined with easing tensions between the US and Iran. The latest report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) dealt a severe blow to market sentiment. The agency pointed to the growing imbalance in the market, as the current oversupply is offset by forecasts that demand is likely to weaken this year. Meanwhile, fears of an imminent escalation in the Middle East have evaporated for the time being. US President Donald Trump reaffirmed his willingness to continue nuclear negotiations with Iran, but initially rejected Israel’s request to extend the talks to include the missile program. This position has dispelled the specter of direct conflict or a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, at least in the short term. Nevertheless, tensions remain palpable. For example, the United States is deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
Metals: The precious metals sector remains highly volatile. Silver fell by around 2.50%, while the price of gold held up better, with a weekly performance close to zero. The price of gold benefited from the latest inflation figures, which were below expectations, and stabilized at around USD 5,000. In the industrial metals sector, the price of a ton of copper in London fell to around USD 12,875 (spot price).
Agricultural commodities: Following coffee, cocoa prices have now also been hit: sluggish demand for cocoa is causing stocks to pile up and putting pressure on prices. This week, prices fell by around 10%. In Chicago, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has revised its estimate of global corn and wheat stocks downwards. Prices have largely trended sideways compared to last week. A bushel of wheat is currently trading at around 550 cents, while a bushel of corn is trading at around 431 cents (contract maturing in March 2026).
Macroeconomics
Market sentiment: The sector rotation we discussed last week continues in full swing on the US market. When in doubt, investors are looking for the next potential beneficiaries of the AI boom. On the other hand, they are also finding it difficult to identify future winners from this development. At the macroeconomic level, the unemployment figures provided little further clarity: on the one hand, the figures for job creation for 2025 as a whole were revised significantly downward, raising fears that market momentum would fall well short of expectations. On the other hand, the figures for January were well above the forecast level. It was only on Friday that the publication of the consumer price index gave cause for a little more confidence: inflation fell by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year to 2.4% – compared with an expected 2.5%. This means that the US Federal Reserve may have room for further interest rate cuts.
Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin had another difficult week. With a decline of 4.3% over the course of the week to around $67,000, BTC is well on its way to falling to its lowest level since October 2024. It has already lost 25% since the beginning of the year. The first two months of this year brought a sharp decline: BTC lost 10% in January and another 14.7% in February – an unprecedented development in the history of the market-leading cryptocurrency. Since October 2025, the total assets managed in Bitcoin spot ETFs have halved from over $164 billion to $82 billion this week. This is a clear sign that the risk aversion prevailing in the markets, which primarily affects cryptocurrencies, is clearly noticeable. Other major cryptocurrencies followed BTC: Ether (ETH) fell 5.6% to around $1,950, Solana (SOL) fell 7.6% to $80, and XRP fell 4% to $1.37. The total capitalization of the crypto market has also nearly halved since its peak in October, from $4.270 trillion to currently $2.280 trillion.
Outlook
The reporting season is entering its next round. In Europe, BAE Systems, Nestlé, Hochtief, Airbus, and Sika, among others, will publish their figures next week. In the United States, it will be the turn of Walmart, Booking, Analog Devices, and Deere.
On a macroeconomic level, Wednesday is likely to provide the most revealing information with the release of durable goods orders in the US and the minutes of the latest Fed meeting.
Next week will be different from the usual schedule, as Monday is a public holiday in the United States. Markets in mainland China will be closed all week for the Lunar New Year and will not reopen until Tuesday, February 24. For the same reason, Hong Kong will be closed from Tuesday, February 17, through Thursday, February 19.
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
