US import prices reached a nine-month low in September amid a sharp drop in energy prices. This speaks of maintaining a manageable level of inflation, which will allow the Federal Reserve System to continue the process of reducing the refinancing rate.

On October 22, the European Central Bank cut the refinancing rate for the third time in 2024, saying that inflation in the Eurozone is becoming more manageable despite the worsening economic outlook. A reduction of 0.25 percentage points brought the refinancing rate to neutral at 3.25%. The money market expects that the ECB will reduce the refinancing rate 3 times by March next year.

In September, the US retail trade registered a growth of 0.4 percent. This is probably due to free cash flow among consumers as a result of falling gas prices. This confirms the view that the US economy maintains a significant growth rate in the third quarter. The slightly higher than expected increase is due to the increase in the volume of clothing, sales in retail stores, as well as online shopping. Consumers also spent more money on health and care items.

The stock exchange is facing difficulties in the background of negative information received from some large American companies. Traders are also concerned about the fact that the refinancing rate is being reduced at a slow pace. The $600 billion U.S. stock market controlled by the S&P 500 was shaken Tuesday after regular trading on Oct. 22. Texas Instruments Inc, the largest maker of analog microchips, showed a weak outlook even as it beat forecasts, and Starbucks Corp. cut its 2025 forecast after it posted a third straight quarter of sales declines. The fall in the stock prices of McDonald's Corp. is also explained by the fact that its subsidiary was associated with an outbreak of intestinal pox infection in the United States. The stock exchange closed with a slight fall. The S&P 500 posted its first straight decline in 6 weeks, down 0.05%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 0.02%, and the Nasdaq gained 0.18%. On Wall Street, prices are returning to their old levels and the main concern of analysts is whether the Federal Reserve made a mistake by sharply reducing the refinancing rate in September.

According to strategists at Citigroup Inc., the S&P 500 rallied as much as 10% to pre-decline levels. Between August and October of last year, the S&P 500 fell 10% on fears that the Federal Reserve would keep refinancing rates higher for longer to fight inflation. Big tech companies suffered losses during that time, deepening the downturn for the broader market.

Tesla's stock price fell in early trading on Tuesday, bringing its monthly decline to 13%. Investors are awaiting the electric car maker's third-quarter report, hoping it will halt a slide caused in part by disappointment over the launch of the company's latest product, a robotaxi. According to analysts, the profit per share of the company for the third quarter will be at least 58 cents, which is 12.1% lower than the indicator of the same period last year.

SAP's market value increased by more than 15.8 billion euros after the German business software company upgraded its revenue and profit forecasts for next year amid growing demand for artificial intelligence. SAP shares rose 2.1% in Frankfurt on Tuesday, bringing the company's market value to 264.44 billion euros.

Investors are abandoning exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to specific industries, such as artificial intelligence and video games, and investing in broader-spectrum, diversified ETFs that are hitting record highs. The so-called thematic ETF sector, with total assets of $108 billion, has already lost $5.8 billion in investment capital this year, which is a billion more than last year's figure.

Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang, the richest and most famous executives in the field of technology, are the richest people in the world this year.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, NVIDIA CEO Huang's net worth increased by $76.5 billion over the year. Huan is immediately followed by META CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose fortune has grown by $76 billion by 2024.

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