Among the companies with a capitalization of at least $10 billion, the largest increase last week was recorded by the American company Intra-Cellular Therapies, which produces drugs for diseases of the nervous system, whose shares increased by 33.02% during the last working week. The price of one share reached $126.20. Next up is MicroStrategy Incorporated. Shares of this US business management solutions company rose 20.92% to $396.50 in the past week. Robinhood Markets rounds up this trio with a 20.14% increase. The price of one share of this American online investment platform is $48.15.
FTAI Aviation opens the trio of companies with large capitalization which recorded the biggest loss of the past week. The price of the shares of this aviation services provider decreased by 35.42% in one week and now amounts to $112.38. Next is GameStop. The price of shares of this American company engaged in the retail sale of video games, consoles, and game accessories decreased by 14.86% and reached $27.51. Snap rounds up the trio. The price of shares of this parent company of Snapchat social platform decreased by 12.91% and is $10.86.
In general, American stocks had a fairly successful week ahead of Trump's inauguration. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq posted their biggest weekly gains in two months on Friday. On a weekly basis, the Dow rose by 3.69%, the S&P by 2.92%, and the Nasdaq by 2.43%. This is due to encouraging news on the economy. This week's data eased concerns that inflation will pick up again, meaning the US Federal Reserve will start cutting refinancing rates earlier and more than expected. Intel was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500. The company's shares rose 9.3% after reports that Qualcomm was interested in acquiring Intel.
Small-cap companies’ stocks in the Russell 2000 have been having a hard time since Donald Trump's US presidential election victory. After a strong post-election growth, the Russell 2000 is now down 10% from its November high. Small-cap companies typically benefit from a strong economy, but they are hurt by high interest rates, which make borrowing more expensive and small-cap debts become more problematic. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bonds hit a 14-month high this week, raising concerns about the issue.
On Friday, four days before taking office as White House leader, Donald Trump launched a new meme coin, the $TRUMP, which quickly became popular. Its market value reached over $10 billion in just one hour. The meme coin is a type of cryptocurrency created as a joke or for fun, often inspired by internet memes or viral trends. These tokens usually do not have a serious or practical purpose like other cryptocurrencies, but they can quickly gain popularity and value thanks to social media attention. The token issue started with a batch of 200 million and plans to increase it to 1 billion.
French luxury goods company LVMH regained its position as Europe's most valuable company, overtaking Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk. Novo shares fell 4.3% after the company's popular drugs Ozempic and Wegovy were targeted by the new US legislation. This drop reduced Novo's market value to $355 billion, a billion below LVMH's market value. The year 2024 was a tough year for LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton. The company's share price has fallen 13% over the past year, largely due to reduced consumer spending in China. However, investor sentiment has improved on hopes of a Chinese market recovery. According to the Bank of America, the luxury sector is showing signs of recovery in 2025.
On January 14, 2025, a state bond worth 36,900,000,000 billion drams was placed on the Armenian securities market, which will be repaid on October 29, 2035. The respective public auction had four participants, and the total amount of bids submitted by them was 46,600,000,000.0000 drams. The weighted average price of distributed government bonds was 93.6688 drams, and the yield was 9.9671%.
The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed moderate inflation in December 2024. The CPI—which excludes food and energy prices—rose 0.2% month-on-month, with annual growth slowing slightly to 3.2% compared to 3.3% in November. This was the first slowdown in core inflation since July. The Headline CPI, which includes all goods, rose 2.9% year-on-year, up from 2.7% in November, driven mainly by seasonally higher fuel prices and steady food inflation. The monthly increase was 0.4%. Although inflation is slowing, it remains above the Federal Reserve's 2% target indicator.
A Reuters poll shows that most economists expect the US Federal Reserve to keep refinancing rates at 4.25%-4.50% at its meeting on January 28-29, 2025. Rate cuts are expected to begin in March 2025—although inflation concerns related to Donald Trump's policies may limit the number of cuts. Inflation continues to be a concern, and economists predict it could remain above the Federal Reserve's target of 2% until at least 2027.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its global growth forecast for 2025 by 0.1 percentage points. The IMF expects global growth to reach 3.3% in 2025 and 2026, with US growth driving global growth. The IMF forecasts global inflation to fall to 4.2% in 2025 and to 3.5% by 2026. The US economy is expected to grow by 2.7% in 2025 thanks to a strong labor market and investment, but its growth will slow to 2.1% in 2026. While Europe's growth forecast for 2025 has been cut to 1.0% The IMF revised also China's growth—and upward—with up to 4.6% for 2025 thanks to fiscal stimulus.
Since September 2024, the US dollar has risen almost 10% to a two-year high, largely due to Donald Trump's return to the White House and his economic policies. Investors are preparing for the continued strengthening of the dollar. Trump's policies, such as tariff hikes, are expected to put pressure on global currencies, making the dollar more appealing as a safe haven. Strong economic growth in the United States, high yields on Treasury bonds, and the expectation that the Federal Reserve may stop reducing the refinancing rate have contributed to the rise of the dollar. Goldman Sachs predicts that the US dollar may grow by another 5% this year.
The US government posted a record deficit of $711 billion for the first three months of fiscal year 2025, and this is a 39% increase over the previous year. In the same quarter of fiscal year 2024, the deficit was $510 billion.
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