Among companies with a capitalization of at least $10 billion, Reddit, Inc. recorded the biggest increase last week. This social media platform's shares rose by 26.05% in a week to $188.64 per share. Next is Generac Holdings, a manufacturer of electric generators and energy technologies, with a growth of 23.36% to $193.63 per share. And this top three is completed by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a leader in gene therapy, with a growth of 22.20% to $401.80 per share.

The top three largest-cap companies with the biggest losses last week starts with Novo Nordisk, a global leader in diabetes treatment and GLP-1 drugs, with shares down 32.79% to $48.19 per share. The Danish company, which makes the popular weight loss drug Wegovy, dropped out of the top 10 companies on the European STOXX 600 index due to this decline. Next is digital currency trading platform Coinbase Global, down 19.65% to $314.69 per share. And this top three is concluded by specialty metals and advanced materials producer ATI Inc., down 19.23% to $76.72 per share.

US stock markets fell sharply on the last working day of the week, despite being in strong positions throughout the week. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 2.36%, the Nasdaq dropped 2.17%, and the Dow Jones fell 2.92%. Investors were worried about new US tariffs on a number of countries, including Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan, as well as lower-than-expected labor market data.

European markets also fell on August 1, with the STOXX 600 index down 1.9% for the week and Germany's DAX down 2.7%. This decline was again driven by US President Donald Trump's new, steep tariffs, including a 39% tariff on Swiss goods, which have raised concerns among investors. The decline was fueled also by a sharp drop in the stocks of healthcare companies after Trump had called on European pharmaceutical giants to lower their drug prices in the US.

US equity funds ended last week with a significant inflow, drawing in about $6.34 billion, which was the first positive result in the last three weeks. Investor confidence was driven by optimism about the agreement between the US and major trading partners, as well as strong quarterly reports from major tech companies, including Microsoft and Meta. Bond funds continued their 15th consecutive week of inflows, adding $6.08 billion, while money market funds had an outflow of $1.89 billion.

Amazon shares fell 7% on August 1 as investors are worried that its cloud services division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is falling behind Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. AWS reported a 17.5% increase in revenue in the second quarter, beating market expectations but falling well short of Microsoft's 39% and Google's 32% growth.

Reddit shares rose 15% on August 1 after the company reported quarterly results that beat market expectations. This boosted investor confidence, particularly in its AI-powered advertising tools and active user engagement.

Ferrari shares fell 12% on July 31, the company's biggest one-day drop in nine years. The luxury sports car maker reported financial results that matched forecasts, but said it would cut prices on some models in the US.

Qualcomm shares fell nearly 5% on July 31 as the market is worried about a possible end to its partnership with Apple. The company said Apple will stop using Qualcomm modem chips starting in February 2025, starting with the iPhone 16e model, and this could negatively impact future sales.

Arm Holdings shares fell nearly 13% early morning on July 31 after the company said it plans to invest heavily in its own chip manufacturing, which could reduce future profits. Until now, the company has outsourced its chip design to companies such as Nvidia and Amazon. The new strategy could put Arm in a position to compete with those companies. In addition, the company's revenue forecast fell short of expectations amid rising trade tensions, which are hampering demand in the smartphone market.

On Monday, 5 billion drams of government bonds were placed on Armenia’s stock market, and they will be redeemed on August 3, 2026. The public auction had four participants, and the bids submitted by them amounted to 13.7 billion drams. The weighted average price of the placed government bonds was 92.4277 drams, and the yield was 8.1250 percent.

The US Federal Reserve left its refinancing interest rate unchanged last week, and comments by chairman Jerome Powell have led analysts to conclude that the probability of an interest rate cut in September is less than 50%. He noted that the potential impact of Trump's tariff and economic policies on inflation is too high to justify easing monetary policy.

The “cracks” in the US labor market are deepening: in July, new job growth almost stopped, amounting to only 73,000. This indicates a weakening of the economy due to the caution of employers and a decrease in immigration flows.

The US economy grew 3% in the second quarter, helped by strong export indicators, but underlying weakness in economic activity remains. Experts warn that lesser consumer spending and cautiousness of the business sector could further dampen the rate of economic growth in the near future.

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