Last week …
Was better than expected with turnover of just under €2.1billion, which isn’t bad at all for August.
Markets hit record highs both in the US and in Europe. The IBEX35, CAC40, DAX40 and AEX25 all broke records last week on the back of strong corporate earnings and an improvement in the situation in the Middle East.
The STOXX 600 is up 10% so far in 2026. The IBEX25 is up 15% and this continues to be the most popular market on Equiduct with over €800million turnover last week.
The week started strongly with Monday being the busiest day thanks to renewed hopes of the Strait of Hormuz reopening. It got gradually quieter as the week went on with Friday seeing the lowest turnover despite unexpected US jobs numbers.
Q2 earnings season is coming to an end but we still saw spikes in trading in Zalando and Siemens last week thanks to their latest results.
This week …
Looks like it could be a quieter one. We are at the tail end of Q2 earnings now and August is generally a quiet month.
US inflation numbers are due on Wednesday and this is the main economic event of the week. US jobs numbers were worse than expected on Friday. Analysts had expected that 80,000 new jobs would be added but the figures revealed that 23,000 were lost. Bad news, right? Not for financial markets. These unexpected low numbers greatly reduced the chances of an interest rate rise at the next FED meeting. Rising interest rates means the cost of borrowing goes up which is bad for investment and growth. If the inflation numbers are also lower than expected then we can expect markets to rise even further.
We also have Q2 updates for several US tech stocks so there is the potential for some tech sector volatility this week.
There has still been no agreement announced to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran are reportedly close to an agreement with Oman to reopen the Strait but if the US is excluded from this agreement I don’t see how this helps resolve the situation. With mid-term elections fast approaching, this has turned into a nightmare for Donald Trump with the US electorate strongly opposed to the war. I fail to see an outcome that doesn’t look like a humiliating defeat for the US. Let’s see what happens this week.
The Stoxx 600 hit new heights last week, along with many of the big European indexes. Q2 earnings for the Stoxx 600 are expected to hit growth of 22%. This is the best since 2022 and very impressive considering the energy shock that European markets have experienced this year. European markets are not as exposed to the AI bubble so have also possibly benefited from rotations away from expensive US stocks. Are they now maybe a little overvalued however?
No weekly view next week as I’m on holiday. Let’s see what’s changed when I get back.
That’s all from me, see you in a fortnight… Happy investing!
Carl
